Featured The Story of the Coin Struck to Fight Hannibal: The First Denarius and its Influence

This thread is fantastic @Curtisimo -- congratulations!

 

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Two responses to this: First, Rome was not a "Greek" city state. You could call it a city state, but not "Greek." Second, your Quadrigatus is a Crawford 28/3, not a 29/3. Quadrigati are routinely misattributed by dealers and collectors alike, so don't feel bad! Crawford did little in his catalogue descriptions to differentiate the styles - you have to dig by reading his short essay on the subject and by studying his plates in depth. Even then, the differences aren't always readily apparent.

 

AWESOME ARTICLE!!!! Are you an author? I learned a lot, and the writing style was great!

 

Thank you Brandon.

I'm not an author though. I'm just a coin and history enthusiast . I am very glad you enjoyed my write up.

Thank you @jamesicus. I have enjoyed your fascinating write ups as well

 

An absolutely splendid article! You are sending me back to my Wheelock's.

LS

 

@Curtisimo your article edifies EXACTLY why I have focused much of my collection on the Roman Republic and the World Wars with Carthage (1st-3rd Punic Wars). These conflicts were Epic, and have gripped my attention on their histories.

One little side-bar was a NASTY little War that Carthage had to fight right after the 1st Punic War. It is one of the reasons WHY Hannibal hated Rome, and prosecuted such a nasty vendetta against the Roman Empire in the 2nd Punic War. Nice little recap:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercenary_War

A small vignette collection for that NASTY HATEFUL Conflict: (These can be hard to find...)


Carthage Zeugitania after 241 DIshekel AE 27 10.8g Libyan Revolt Tanit - Horse r palm MAA 45 SNG Cop 253 scarce


Carthage - LIBYAN REVOLT Rebels 241-238 BCE 9.63g 24mm Shekel Sardinia mint Tanit 3 Grain ears Crescent SNG Cop 247


Carthage - LIBYAN REVOLT 241-238 BCE Sardinia mint Tanit 3 Grain ears SNG Cop 252

 

Nice examples Alegandron. I also have a collecting interest in this period but you are waaay ahead of me on capturing some great historical pieces

The Mercenary War was a prime example that illustrates Romes biggest advantage over Carthage. The Romans used citizen soldiers from Rome and thier Latin allies (none of which defected after Cannae). The Carthaginians used mercenaries that were impossible to control if things went bad. As soon as Carthage lost the first Punic War the bulk of the Carthaginian army revolted. Yikes!

The brutality of that war is shocking to read about. Actually several things about Carthage are shocking to read about. It seems pretty certain (and not just Roman propaganda) that the Carthaginians sacrificed their children to Baal!

For anyone who has an interest I really enjoyed the below iTunes U podcasts from Professor Hunt at Stanford about Hannibal.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/itunes-u/hannibal/id384234015?mt=10

Phoenician history is as fun as Greek or Roman history IMHO.

Thanks @Lutok. Welcome to CoinTalk!

 

Agreed. I understand that these children were from their upper classes. Read some recent books that posited that perhaps they were handicapped and mentally disabled since their their ruling caste often had too much in-breeding...

 

I have read that too and it seems possible. Population control is another theory I've heard.

The rich families that had able bodied children could pay to sacrifice an animal in place of thier firstborn. Polybius says that Hannibal told Antiochus III later in life that his father took him to the temple of Baal as a child to sacrifice an animal and swear hatred of Rome. The subtext is clear. The animal was being sacrificed IN PLACE OF HANNIBAL and his vow was to the god himself! This casts Hannibals motivations in a much more sinister and tragic light to me.

Hannibals name even means "Baal is gracious"... well he could have fooled me

 

What a fantastic thread, thank you Curtisimo and of course all contributors.

 

I feel the French were very much inspired to create this beautiful design on their Gold 20 Franc coin from the Roman Didrachm:


RR 265-242 BCE Didrachm Roma-Victory Crawford 22/1 Sear 25

 

First of all, @Curtisimo , fantastic OP posts. I loved every second I spent reading it.

I don't have an early Denarius like the OP's, but I have some coins to contribute.

First, this coin minted the year after the Third Punic War ended shows that Roman coiners we're still emulating OP's Denarius almost seven decades later. The design was that influential.


M. Junius Silanus
AR Denarius

And my second coin is from the period OP's coin was minted. My Victoriatus was minted for the Roman campaigns against Hanibal in southern Italy, by a Roman military mint, at a time the Roman army was starting to become confident enough to challenge Hanibal in open battle again.


AR Victoriatus
*Traveling Military Mint, Second Punic War.
* Most of the hoard patina is still intact, including soil from the site the coin was burried.

 

Thank you @Sallent. I really like the patina on your Victoriatus. One of the type is definitely on my list.

I think you are right about the design influence. I like collecting world/US coins that are inspired by ancient coins.

The French designers were really good at incorporating ancient symbolism in their coins.

Here's one that shows Hurcules (Strength) protecting Liberty and Equality.

This design was first used in 1792 just a few years after the French Revolution though I'm not aware of a specific ancient coin that it references.

 

This is a great thread, @Curtisimo! Your writing is very entertaining and educational. I've been back to enjoy it several times.

I love seeing everyone's beautiful coins. I searched my world coins and came up with these two that may be appropriate to post because of the decoration of the heads. While one has wheat and the other a vine, neither has wings. But is that a Phyrigian cap on the obverse of the French coin? Me thinks so.

I love these two coins because of their gorgeous profiles.

 

What are the dates of the coins with the 2 headed solider

 

In the attribution. It is a Janus.

 

I like that kindda stuff. Thanks for showing. Different

 

Is mercury female. A god or goddess. Yeah i said it

 

Is mercury female