Roma Numismatics Ltd
Auction XXIII 24-25 Mar 2022
View prices realized
► Sale information
Find similar lots
Lucania, Metapontion AR Half Shekel. Punic occupation, circa 215-207 BC. Head of Athena to right, wearing crested Corinthian helmet / Ear of barley with leaf to right, owl in flight above leaf; META to left. Robinson, Second p. 50, 3; SNG ANS 549-50; Jameson 329; Weber 779; Demeester 10 (this coin); HN Italy 1634; HGC 1, 1092.
NGC graded Ch AU ★ 5/5 - 5/5 (#6156404-002).
This coin published in A. Demeester, Les animaux et la monnaie grecque (2003);
From A Lady's Winged Horse Collection;
Ex Classical Numismatic Group, Electronic Auction 445, 5 June 2019, lot 27;
Ex Gasvoda Collection, Classical Numismatic Group, Triton XXII, 8 January 2019, lot 56;
Ex J. FALM Collection: Miniature Masterpieces of Greek Coinage depicting Animals, Numismatica Ars Classica AG, Auction 82, 20 May 2015, lot 74;
Ex Numismatica Ars Classica AG, Auction 8, 3 April 1995, lot 68.
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 Taras 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. 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. While the coin retains the grain ear on the reverse, the obverse employs a type rarely used before at the city, the head of Athena wearing a crested Corinthian helmet. It is not known the significance of this change, but is paralleled elsewhere at other Punic-aligned cities.
After the Carthaginian defeat at the pivotal battle of the Metaurus in 207, 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).
NGC graded Ch AU ★ 5/5 - 5/5 (#6156404-002).
This coin published in A. Demeester, Les animaux et la monnaie grecque (2003);
From A Lady's Winged Horse Collection;
Ex Classical Numismatic Group, Electronic Auction 445, 5 June 2019, lot 27;
Ex Gasvoda Collection, Classical Numismatic Group, Triton XXII, 8 January 2019, lot 56;
Ex J. FALM Collection: Miniature Masterpieces of Greek Coinage depicting Animals, Numismatica Ars Classica AG, Auction 82, 20 May 2015, lot 74;
Ex Numismatica Ars Classica AG, Auction 8, 3 April 1995, lot 68.
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 Taras 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. 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. While the coin retains the grain ear on the reverse, the obverse employs a type rarely used before at the city, the head of Athena wearing a crested Corinthian helmet. It is not known the significance of this change, but is paralleled elsewhere at other Punic-aligned cities.
After the Carthaginian defeat at the pivotal battle of the Metaurus in 207, 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).