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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Severus Alexander, post: 3215586, member: 84744&quot;]This coin is also speculated to depict Scipio, but a lifetime issue (24mm, 10.3g).&nbsp; It was minted somewhere around the transition of Carthaginian to Roman power in Spain in 209 BCE, and the portrait does look rather Roman.&nbsp; (Of course, that style of Roman portraiture on coins only became current much later, though.)&nbsp; The thought is that the mint workers had a habit of infusing the commander&#039;s features into the god&#039;s portrait on the coin (Melqart?), and when Scipio took over in Carthago Nova, they continued in the same vein, at least until they were stopped. (Thus the scarcity of the issue.)</p><p>[ATTACH=full]836056[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>Here&#039;s a similarly speculative alleged depiction of Hannibal (1/4 shekel, 1.77g):</p><p>[ATTACH=full]836058[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>Crawford is skeptical that your denarius depicts Scipio, and suggests that it&#039;s Mars.</p><p><br /></p><p>So our coins <i>might </i>depict these great historical figures, but it&#039;s highly uncertain.&nbsp; Unfortunately that&#039;s the best we&#039;re gonna get! <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie30" alt=":bucktooth:" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" />[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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