With the recent posts of Punic Iberian coins by @rrdenarius, @Alegandron, and @bcuda believed to be of Scipio Africanus himself, I knew that I had to have one! It’s not great (pretty worn), but it is one of these coins nonetheless and was in my price range, so I’m happy to have it! Punic Iberia Roman Occupation, 209-206 BC AE Unit, Carthago Nova mint Obverse: Bare male head left. Reverse: Horse standing right; palm tree in background. References: CNH Class XI, 282; SNG BM Spain 127-128; ACIP 609 Size: 22.8mm, 10.49g So, it’s not a complete given (though, I’m a believer) that this is Scipio. Therefore, I wanted to do more research, digging, an reading up on the subject. I found on archive.org a chapter in Essays in Roman Coinage (1956) titled Punic Coins of Ancient Spain and their Bearing on the Roman Republican Series by E. S. G. Robinson and wanted to share an interesting and enlightening segment of it related to this topic (pp 41-43): "It was interrupted by Scipio’s surprising capture of New Carthage in 209, a coup de main so sudden that he was able to take the military installations and workshops intact with their 2,000 artificers. Among the booty was a large amount of coined silver as well as of bullion—presumptive evidence, if such were needed, for the existence of a mint. Scipio at once set the artificers to work, with the promise of liberty at the end of the war if they did well; and it is fair to conclude that among these were the moneyers of the mint; for, if not at once, after a certain interval, there comes a significant modification of the head on the obverse. The hair is no longer rendered in short, tight curls, but close cropped and cut in a straight fringe along the forehead, while the nose has a pronounced bridge to it. At first the relief is as high and the style as careful as in the preceding coins. The relief, however, soon flattens out and the style coarsens; the eye becomes exaggerated and the hair tends to revert to short curls. A hundred years ago that excellent numismatist, W. S. V. Vaux, remarked on the Roman character of these heads, and the contrast with what goes before is indeed striking. The Punic features of Melkart have become Roman. The change from Punic to Roman rule was so sudden that the type need not have been modified instantly. The coinage continued, with the same weight-standard, on the old lines, except that bronze with the ‘Roman’ head appears at the lower end of the scale, and that at the other no more high-value denominations were struck, perhaps because it was now intended for current use only and no longer to build up reserves as well. Among the later issues with the Punic head one or two of those with mint-marks (nos. 7 (e-f)) arc of fighter, fluctuating weight, and might belong to the beginning of the Roman period. The earliest and best of the dies for the ‘Roman’ head (Fig. 4 a, b) have individual features as pronounced as had their predecessors with the Punic head. Strangely enough a rare bronze coin of Canusium (Fig. 4 c, d) carries a strikingly similar head with a charging lancer on the reverse. Neither type is drawn from the Canusine repertory, nor has the head any symbol or adjunct to explain it, and Dressel in his description in the Berlin Catalogue cautiously marked it ‘portrait?’. But a remote and fortunate chance has preserved for us the story of an episode in Scipio’s early career that may provide the clue. After the disaster of Cannae the survivors retreated to Canusium where they were received and entertained by a wealthy lady of the district named Busa. Scipio, one of the survivors, then a young military tribune, took the initiative in suppressing a defeatist plot, and, with a colleague, rallied the troops and received command. When the war was over, Busa received special honours for her patriotic action from the Senate. It may be suggested that after Scipio had become famous, the people of Canusium struck this coin with his portrait to commemorate an event which obviously bulked large in local history; and further that the fresh features that the moneyers of New Carthage gave to the head on their obverse dies are Scipio’s also, just as those of their earlier dies are basically Hannibal’s. The initiative need not have come from Scipio himself, but in any case, the altered type is yet another illustration of his remarkable personal ascendancy. In this connection we may think of the gold stater struck by Flamininus in 196 b.c., when he had settled the affairs of Greece, which bears his portrait on one side and his name with the Victory type of Alexander on the other. The iconography of Scipio is highly unsatisfactory. A family of busts was once thought, mainly on the strength of an inscription on one of them, to represent him in middle-age and quite bald, and the helmeted head on denarii of Cn. Blasio of 91 b.c. was connected with them. O. Vessberg is the last to discuss the question. He rejects the busts, remarking that the inscription has been added in modern times, and that it is very difficult that Livy, who must have been familiar with a score of Scipio’s statues, should stress without qualification his luxuriant hair, even though he may be speaking of his earlier years. He accepts, however, after some strictures on the likeness, the head on the denarii. This really suffers from the same disability, though the moneyer’s middle name, if Cornelius—it is not given—and the reverse type, the Capitoline triad, would help the attribution. It bears little resemblance to our heads, which, if the view here advanced is correct, must give us not only the first Roman portrait but two contemporary portraits of Scipio seen through Italian and Hispano-Punic eyes respectively. Schulten’s objection, quoted by Beltràn, that Scipio would have placed his head on Roman denarii rather than on Punic shekels, besides involving a petitio principii, is invalid in view of the portrait which Flamininus put on his Alexander stater. In any case, if the denarius was not yet invented, as most of us now believe, the possibility could not arise." It appears the author, Robinson, is a believer too, that this coin does depict Scipio, and mentions another Italian coin that too very well could be Scipio. Do you have more to add to this story? Do you have a this coin type? Or one related to this era? Please share!
Congrats on snagging one! I agree the sudden dramatic shift in portrait style around the time of Scipio's victory at Carthago Nova is very suggestive. I'm more skeptical that the Canusium coins depict Scipio. It's also possible that the coin depicts one of the Barcas. Hasdrubal was assassinated in 221 BCE and Hannibal took over his command in Spain. The shift in portraiture could be from Hasdrubal to Hannibal. (Or if the coin is earlier, from Hamilcar to Hasdrubal.) My example:
Agreed on Scipio on the Coins in Spain... I put this out there before: "I enjoy Scipio's history, and how he was preened to be the Barcids', specifically Hannibal's, nemesis. There was also an incredible propoganda war during this time, particularly to Italia... Hannibal had or was winning over several of the Italian tribes. Rome had to show they held power, that they were the best alternative, and that ultimately that they would prevail. I imagine ensuring high-quality coinage, especially being a major propoganda and communications device, was critical. Oh! And additionally, the Barcid's specifically conquered Iberian Spain AFTER the 1st Punic War to get the rich silver mines. Rome and Scipio knew they must grab Carthage / Barcid's financial source virtually at any cost outside of losing Italia!" Read a few books on the Guy... after a while you feel there is NO DOUBT that this personality, during this charged up War-time-fever, that he would had DEFINITELY allowed his contenance on a coin! One good book:
