Roma Numismatics Ltd
E-Live Auction 2 30 Aug 2018
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Lucania, Metapontion AR Quarter Shekel. Punic occupation. Circa 215-207 BC. Wreathed head of Demeter right / Two barley ears with leaves to right; META upwards to left, crossed torch above leaf to right. Robinson, Second, pl. VI, 9; SNG ANS 551; SNG Lloyd 405-6; HN Italy 1636. 1.45g, 14mm, 3h.
Near Extremely Fine. Rev. slightly off-centre. Struck from dies of fine style, lightly toned and lustrous. Very Rare.
Sometime after the defeat of Pyrrhos of Epeiros by Rome, Metapontion came under Roman domination. We do not know precisely when this occurred or the circumstances of the event, but the city was amongst the first to defect to Hannibal after the battle of Cannae in 216 BC. However, it was still occupied by a Roman garrison sometime afterwards, and only in 212 when Hannibal captured nearby Tarentum did the Metapontines expel the Roman garrison and fully declare for the Carthaginian cause. Hannibal quickly utilised the city as a supply depot, garrisoning the town with his troops.
It was during the Punic occupation of Metapontion that this coin was struck, and like other Punic issues minted at this time in southern Italy, the fabric and execution of strike are neat and precise with thin flans and competent engraving. The coin retains the portrait of Demeter on the obverse (in contrast to the half shekels struck at the same time, which bear a head of Athena), while on the reverse the traditional city emblem of the grain ear is augmented to a pair.
After the Carthaginian defeat at the pivotal battle of the Metaurus in 207 BC, Hannibal's hopes for victory in Italy were dashed. Having first relocated the inhabitants of Metapontion to protect them from Roman vengeance, in 202 he withdrew all his forces to Africa to protect the motherland from Scipio. Afterwards the city of Metapontion never regained its former prominence, and by the mid second century AD was, according to Pausanias, totally deserted and in ruins (Paus. vi, 19. § 11).
Near Extremely Fine. Rev. slightly off-centre. Struck from dies of fine style, lightly toned and lustrous. Very Rare.
Sometime after the defeat of Pyrrhos of Epeiros by Rome, Metapontion came under Roman domination. We do not know precisely when this occurred or the circumstances of the event, but the city was amongst the first to defect to Hannibal after the battle of Cannae in 216 BC. However, it was still occupied by a Roman garrison sometime afterwards, and only in 212 when Hannibal captured nearby Tarentum did the Metapontines expel the Roman garrison and fully declare for the Carthaginian cause. Hannibal quickly utilised the city as a supply depot, garrisoning the town with his troops.
It was during the Punic occupation of Metapontion that this coin was struck, and like other Punic issues minted at this time in southern Italy, the fabric and execution of strike are neat and precise with thin flans and competent engraving. The coin retains the portrait of Demeter on the obverse (in contrast to the half shekels struck at the same time, which bear a head of Athena), while on the reverse the traditional city emblem of the grain ear is augmented to a pair.
After the Carthaginian defeat at the pivotal battle of the Metaurus in 207 BC, Hannibal's hopes for victory in Italy were dashed. Having first relocated the inhabitants of Metapontion to protect them from Roman vengeance, in 202 he withdrew all his forces to Africa to protect the motherland from Scipio. Afterwards the city of Metapontion never regained its former prominence, and by the mid second century AD was, according to Pausanias, totally deserted and in ruins (Paus. vi, 19. § 11).