ITALO-GREEK COINS
SOUTHERN ITALY
ITALO-GREEK COINS
OF
SOUTHERN ITALY
BY
THE REV. A. W. HANDS
RECTOR OF NEVEN'DOy, ESSEX
THEOL. ASSOC. KING's COLLEGE, LONDON
FELLOW OF THE ROY.\L NUMISM.^TIC SOCIETY, LONDON
AUTHOR OF " COiM.MON GREEK COINS "
AND " COINS OF .MAGNA GRAECIA "
LONDON
SPINK ik SON Ltd
17 & 18' Piccadilly, London, W.
1912
1^
:J
^/7
him
INTRODUCTION
One of the great advantages offered by the study of this series
of Itahan coins is the attainment of a clear perception of tlie relation-
ship of the Roman coinage to that of ancient Greece.
Many students of Roman coins neglect the literature connected
with Greek coinage and thus miss the pleasure of tracing the steps
by which the Roman coinage was evolved from that of the more
ancient and artistic civilization of Greece.
In this somewhat neglected corner of the numismatic field the
student will not only find problems still unsolved but also many
side lights which help to make more clear a somewhat dark and
difficult page of historv. To students and collectors whose means are
limited this series offers the further advantage of a large number of
coins which cost little money, and are easily obtained ; moreover it
is in connection with the types of the common coins that some of
these interesting problems arise, and the relation between the Greek
and Roman series may best be illustrated.
This series of coins throws much light on the deeply interesting
subject of the gradual manner in which the Romans were brought
into contact with the Greeks through their wars with the races ot
Southern Italv.
The chapters concerning the weight standards of ancient Italy
are compiled from the works of D"" Haeberlin, of Frankfort, to whom
I am greatly indebted for several valuable letters concerning the
arrangement of the information here given.
1685008
VI
It is with tlie hope that the work will prove interesting, not only
to students and collectors of the coins of Southern Italy, but also to
readers of Livy and the other authors, who record the wars of the
Romans with these tribes, that these chapters are now published in
book form.
ITALO-GREEK COINS
OF
SOUTHERN ITALY
THE OSCAN ALPHABET ON THE COIN LEGENDS.
In order that the student of this series may read the legends on
the coins it will be necessary to learn the forms ot the letters
adopted by the Oscan citizens of Southern Campania and by the
Sabine citizens of the northern parts.
The most striking in their pecularity are the letters for a, d, r,
and ph, N ^ < and 8.
The following alphabet will be found useful.
a.
N, fl.
I.
V, J, P.
b.
a, B.
m.
]M W, M, III
c- g-
>, D, C.
n.
H, N, r, v\.
d.
n.
o.
0.
e.
3, E.
P-
n, r, 1.
f.
D, 3, t.
r.
a, d, D, <.
z.
I.
s.
z,s.
h.
B, H, h.
t.
< T.
th.
®.
u.
V,V, V.
i.
ihK
ph or f.
8^ (S).
k.
>l.
We find almost all the varied forms of the letters here given on the
coins of Campania, as for instance, on those of Hyria we have all three
forms of '' n ", N H Vi and also of" r " Q
. On the coins of Nuceria and
Capua we find both forms of "' f " D ^.
Hands. i
— 1 —
The points or dots in some examples of the letters V, as in the name
Hyria, suggest that the pronunciation of the first syllable was like
that of U with an O sound, for Strabo calls that city Oup sicv, and the
dot over I may have signified a sound intermediate between
I and E.
This Oscan alphabet was also used by the Italian mints during
the Social war.
Some legends are partly written in Oscan and partly in Greek
letters, as for instance NEOPOUTE^, and others all in Greek, as
YPINA.
The people who used this form of alphabet were a native Italian
race called by Strabo and other Greek wTiters the "O~iv.oi, and by
the Latin writers Opici. The original form is preserved by Ennius
who called them Opsci. They dwelt on the western side of the
Appenines, in the country bounded on the South by the CEnotrian
territory, and on the North by that of the Samnites.
Their language was closely related to the Latin, of w'hich it is an
older and less mixed form. The ablative termination " d ", seen
on the coin legends, is also found in the Duilian and other old
Latin inscriptions. The Samnites or Sabines or Sabellians, who
conquered and mixed with the Oscans, adopted their speech, as we
see in the story told by Livy (X, 20), of how Volumnius overcame
a victorious army of Samnites on the banks of the Vulturnus when
laden with spoils of Campania. He sent spies who could speak the
Oscan language into their camp to learn their proposed move-
ments.
The Samnites were of Sabine origin, as the Greek form of their
name ^xjvX-cc. implies, the letter b in the word Sabine being
changed into v, Savnii^e or Safnitie.
The coinage of the Sabine cities bears witness to their readiness
to receive Greek traditions and art. Livy records their love ot
decorated weapons and bright uniforms for their armies. They were
not simple mountaineers conquered by the armies of a cultured
city, but rather they themselves were the cultured luxurious citizens
conquered by the more simple and warUke Romans. As early as
the year 400 B.C., or about that time, the Samnites had already
settled in Cuma; and Palaeopolis, the old part of Neapolis, and
issued didrachms, wrought by Greek craftsmen ; whereas the
Romans did not issue silver coins until the year 268 B.C.
LIST OF THE CAMPANIAN CITIES WHICH ISSUED COINS.
N. JK. JE.
1 Campanos 400-380 B.C. —
2 Acerra; y;- Aurunca — 270-250 B.C.
— 3 —
M.
^.
JE.
3 AUiba
360-330
B.C.
—
4 Atella
250-217 B.C.
5 Caiatia
-^-
270 B.C.
6 Calatia
—
260-210 B.C.
7 Cales
280-268
B.C.
280-240 B.C.
8 Capua
31
;2 B.C.
335-263
B.C.
335-218 B.C.
9 Compulteria
—
268-240 B.C.
lo Hyria
400-325
B.C.
—
1 1 Nola
360-320
B.C.
—
12 Fensernia
380-335
B.C.
—
13 Iruthia
300 B.C.
14 Nuceria Alat^
iternum
280-268
B.C.
260-240 B.C.
15 Phistelia
380-350
B.C.
—
16 Suessa
280-268
B.C.
280-240 B.C.
17 Teanum
282-268
B.C.
282-268 B.C.
18 Velechia
—
250-210 B.C.
19 ROMANO series
260-203
300-268
B.C.
300-200 B.C.
THE CAMPANIANS.
The coins of tlie Samnite or Oscan cities of Campania present
us with the best imitations of Greek types, and from the import-
ance of the events which took phice in that region, and the abun-
dance of the coins illustrating them, it will be an advantage to our
study of the whole series if we begin with the coins of Campania.
Very many of these types, especially those in bronze, are so common
that they may be obtained by collectors and students with sm.all
means.
The history of the Samnite occupation of Campania is not
recorded with any detail by the ancient writers. Velleius Paterculus
wrote of an Etruscan people who ruled the plains, probably from
Vulturnum, near the site afterwards called Capua ; they were driven
out by the Samnites about the year 438 B . C, , according to others
424 B.C.
Niebuhr (Vol. I, cap. iii), gives an interesting account of what
the ancient writers said of the Ausonians, the old race displaced by
the Samnites. RaoulRochette in his 'Fouilles de Capuz' Qoiirnal des
Savants, 1853), has mentioned Campanian traditions which seem to
have an Etruscan origin, and Latinized forms of Etruscan names in
inscriptions of Capua, as Felsinius — Velleius — Lartius — Maecenas
— Volumnius. The Samnite invasion was facilitated by the quarrels
and jealousies of the Greek colonies and the surrounding cities.
The remains of inscriptions and vases with grafitti in the Etrus-
can language may show merely that some Etruscans lived in the
plains, or that commercial relations with that race were common in
early days. Diodorus of Sicily says, when, about 445 B.C. the
Opici or Oscans conquered the former inhabitants they called the
country Campania from their word for a plain, Campus. —
(XII, xxxi) " When Theodorus was Archon of Athens the
Romans nominated Marcus Genucius and Agrippa Curtius Chilon
as Consuls. In this year there appeared in Italy the nation of the
Campanians, so called on account of the fertility of the neighbour-
ing plains ". A later inroad of the same race from the mountains of
Samnium took place according to Livy in 423 B.C. and three years
later Cum^ fell into their hands. (IV, 37) " Vulturnum, a city of
the Etrurians, which is now Capua, was taken by the Samnites
and was called Capua from their leader Capys, or what is more
probable, from its fertile plains. "
Doubts as to the accuracy of the histories of Livy and Diodorus
have been expressed by Mommsen, Pais, Sambon and others,
because the defeats and checks which the Romans evidently suffered
are not mentioned, and the submissions of the Capuans and others
are recorded at a date long before that submission appears probable
from the evidence of the coinage.
The treaty concluded with Neapolis in 326 B.C. appears to have
been correct^ dated, and the abundance of the coins of that city
shew how greatly the citizens advanced in commercial prosperity
under their conquerors. The influence of Neapolis in the Campanian
cities was naturally great, for its port brought together merchants
from Syracuse, Rhodes and Alexandria. The Campanian cities of
the plains found there an outlet for the produce of the rich soil ;
Capua, Calatia, Atella and Compulteria sent their produce to that
port, while Nuceria, Alfaterna, Nola and Acerr^e used the little port of
Pompei. These cities all used the Oscan letters in the legends of their
coins, but all shewed in their types the influence of Greek artists.
It is probable that traces of monetary conventions may be seen
in the types of two series of coins ; one, bearing on the Obverse a
head of Pallas and on the Reverse a cock, was used on the trade
routes of Campania, Latium and Samnium, while another series,
bearing on the Obverse a head of Apollo, and on the Reverse a
man-headed bull, was used by the cities connected with Neapolis.
Probably about the year 400 B.C. the Samnites became strong
enough to unite in a confederacy which was known as that of the
Ka[xxavoi. The didrachms which bear the legend KAMPANOM are
probably evidence of such a confederation of Samnites settled in
the plains near Neapolis. From their style and fabric they must
have been issued between 400 and 380 B.C. from the mints of
either Cumas or Neapolis, for their types are copied from those of
these cities. No names of leaders or rulers of these early Samnites
— 5 —
are recorded, and probably no one man was sufficiently powerful to
make for himself a name in history. Formerly it used to be thought
that Capua was the city from which these didrachms were issued,
and this was the opinion of Pellerin, Eckhel, Raoul Rochette,
D"" Head and Millingen, but that Cuma; or Neapolis issued these
coins is now the opinion of Avcllino, Imhoof-Blumer, A. Sambon,
De Petra, and others.
As these didrachms are generally found in a much worn condi-
tion it is probable that they were in circulation for a much longer
period than the twenty years between 400 and 380 B.C.
They were being issued at an eventful period, for in the year
400 B.C. the Ten Thousand returned from Asia, and Socrates
died in the year following. In 395 B.C. Plato returned to Athens,
and Xenophon was at Scillus composing his works from about 393.
In 384 Aristotle was born, and two years afterwards Demosthenes.
In 380 B.C. Isocrates wrote his Panegyricus. During this period
from 397 B.C. Dionysius was waging war with the Carthaginians,
and the Lucanians were advancing against the Greek colonial cities
of the South of Italy in alliance with that Tyrant, who died in
367 B.C. After 380 B.C. as the coins bearing KAMPANOM seem to
have been no longer issued, it is probable that the confederacy was
no longer a power, qnd the cities of Campania began to issue their
own special coinage.
It is difficult to trace the boundaries of Campania in the earlier
days of the Confederacy, or to say when the boundaries mentioned
by Straboand the later writers were fixed, but probably at first the
plains near Capua and Cum^^ alone were included, and the hill
country round Suessa. Cales and Teanum was later included in the
region called Campania.
Virgil, Cicero, Pliny, Florus, Strabo and Polybius have all
written of the beauty and fertility of Campania, describing it as the
fairest portion of Italy, the land of delight and prosperity.
The enervating effects of wealth made the inhabitants an easy
prey to those hardy mountaineers who drove out the Etruscans, and
who in their turn fell before the armies of Rome. Neapolis fell in
326, Nola in 313, Nuceria in 308. In 304 the Romans were the
conquerors of Campania, and their second Samnite War came to
an end.
Pyrrhus had passed through the country without obtaining any
hold, but Hannibal was more successful, and after the battle of
Cannon in 216 B.C. took several cities, Atella, Capua, Calatia,
Nuceria and Acerr^e. After 212 B.C. the Carthaginians lost their
hold on Campania, and under the Roman dominion the land
enjoyed prosperity for many long years.
— 6
CAMPANIAN DIDRACHMS FROM 4OO-380 B.C.
Before describing the coins it will be interesting to notice the
legend KAMPANOM.
It was regarded by Mommsen as a genitive plural to be compar-
ed with the legend ROMANOM on coins of Capua. A. Sambon
suggests that the last letter may be a sigma placed on its side, as on
so many coins of Magna Graecia.
The rude legend ^OHAn)IA (5/V) is found on a coin at Munich.
In the British Museum there is a coin with the legend KAMPA-
NON, the nominative neuter with ap-rjpiov understood. It may
be compared with the same termination on coins of Nola and
Cuma;, NHAAION, KYMAION, and on the coins of those cities we
also find NOAAIOI and KYMAIOI.
On some coins at London, Paris, Berlin, Florence, and Naples
the legend appears as OMAnMAH with M underneath (a sigma),
the letter H replacing the guttural K or )l.
In the legend KAPPANOM the M is assimilated to the P as in
many instances such as AAPPAION for AAMPAION.
I. Didrachm. Obverse. Head of Pallas to right, wearing Athenian
helmet with crest, and decorated with a wreath of olive-leaves
composed of a twig with a side-shoot at the back. Sometimes under
the head is a letter, as A or N.
Reverse. A man-headed bull walking to right with the head held
level with the back; before him, or under him, a marsh bird with
long neck and bill. The base composed of a double line.
Above the bull the legend either ^^lOHMAH, or KAPPAMO
M
with M before the bull or ^OMAn>IA, or KAMPANOM, or
KAMPANON.
In the Naples Museum is a specimen with the bull walking to
left and a fish in the exergue.
II. Obverse. Head of a Nymph to right, similar to those on the
later coins of CunicT.
Reverse. Man-headed bull running to right with off fore-foot
raised from the ground on base formed with a double line.
Above the bull the legend KAPPANOl, below the bull a serpent
with its head to right; specimens of this type are to he seen at
Berlin, Paris and Naples.
The weights vary from about 114 to ir8 grains.
No bronze coins bearing this legend appear to have been issued.
— 7 —
AURUNCA or ACERRAE.
Small bronze coins are found in Campania, in size l of an inch,
bearing on the Obverse a head of Apollo laureate, to left, and on
the Reverse a dolphin to left. The legend is partly in the field
above, and partly below the dolphin, and the upper line is partly
illegible on all known specimens, but the lower legend is generally
clear ^ll>l)INI41. This word has been interpreted by Mr. A. Sambon
as the name Maccius, probably that of a magistrate. The name is
rare but has been found on an inscription in Pompei. It is said to
be also written Magidius or Makdiis.
In the British Museum Catalogue, p. 75, these coins are attribu-
ted to Aurunca, and this attribution is also given in D' B. V. Head's
Hist. Num., p. 26.
The legend above the dolphin is readas51V>INVaYN (Auruncud).
Very similar is the reading of the legend, on a specimen in the
Kircher Museum at Rome, by Garrucci AVDIMVTYN. That writer
also attributes these coins to Aurunca.
Avellino, reading the legend as Makriis, thought it might signify
the little town Marcina near Amalfi, but this is probably a mistaken
reading of a poor specimen. Millingen's attribution of these coins to
Arpi, or Salapia, is extremely improbable. Lobbecke and Dressel
thought these coins were issued from Neapolis, but they founded
their opinion on a specimen restruck on a coin of that city, on which
part of that name was visible.
Mr. A. Sambon attributes these coins to Acerr.^ (Acerra), because,
on some specimens, the upper legend appears to be IO>l>IN, or
VONKN or Aa>IN or V>I>IN or midND>IN or m- ••NV>IN.
Until a specimen is found in a condition sufficiently perfect to
make certain of the reading we can only conjecture what it may
have been.
When we try to judge from the history of these two cities,
Acerrae and Aurunca, which city was more likely to have issued
these coins, our judgment as to the time of their issue becomes of
the greatest importance.
Aurunca was the chiefcityof the Aurunci, a branch ofthe Ausones;
the two names are the same, the letter "r " in the former name being
often changed from the " s " ofthe latter.
We learn this from Servius, in his notes on Aen. VII, 727, and
also from Dion Cassius (p. 2).
Festus also tells us the name was derived from Auson, the son
of Ulysses and Circe, the founder ofthe city Aurunca. Livy relates
that the city was destroyed about 337 B. C. by the Sidicini, and
that the refugees fled to Suessa, which was afterwards called Suessa
Aurunca.
According to Mr. A. Sambon the coins bearing the dolphin were
issued between 270 and 250 B. C. ; if this is the period of their
issue they cannot have been minted at Aurunca.
H. Bunbury said the city was never rebuilt, but perhaps he
infered that from the silence of historians in regard to any later
notices of the city. The story of its fall is told by Livy (VIII, 15).
Some traces of its ruins may be seen on the summit of a moun-
tain ridge, now called La Serva or La Cortinella, about five miles
north of Suessa.
The highest part of the hill on which the ruins stand, Monte di
Santa Croce, is 3,200 feet above the sea. Virgil alludes to this
height in Aen., VII, 727 " et quos de collibus altis Aurunci misere
patres Sidicinaque juxta aequora " "to Turnus, lo a thousand tribes
he leads, those who on Massic hills the vineyards tend, those whom
Auruncans from their mountains send ". Abeken has described the
ruins in the Ann. d. Inst., 1839, p. 199-206.
If the legend WI>IklYSYN were well established the question
would arise as to whether it signified the name of the city or of the
tribe, and as we have Suessa Aurunca so we might have Acerr^
Aurunca.
— 9
ACERRAE
Acerrae 'Av.ippx'. or Acerranus was situated about eight miles
north-east of Naples, and the village on the site is still called
Acerra.
In 332 B.C. it obtained the Roman " civitas ". Livysays "The
Acerrani were enrolled as Romans^ in conformity with a law introd-
uced by the Praetor Lucius Papirius, by which the right of citiz-
enship with out the privilege of suffrage was conferred " (VIII, 17).
In the Second Punic war Acerra was besieged by Hannibal in
216 B.C., and when the citizens fled it was plundered and burnt.
When the Carthaginians were expelled the citizens returned, and
rebuilt the city with the consent of the Roman Senate.
From the history of this city, according to Livy, it seems much
more probable that the coins with the dolphin type were issued
from its mint rather than from that of Aurunca. (Livy, XXIII, 17;
XXVII, 3.) Eckhel referred these coins to Acerra.
Specimens are to be seen in the Museums of London, Paris,
Berlin, Naples, Rome (Kircher) and they are found in small
collections.
ALLIBA
The site of AUibaor Allifae, a city of the Samnites, situated at the
foot of the mountain range called Monte Mantese, is now occupied
by villagers who still call their home Alife. A great part of the old
walls and gates still remain, with some ruins of a theatre and
amphitheatre and considerable remains of public baths built on an
extensive scale. Some of these are probably ruins of the time
of Hadrian, but the city must have been of greater importance
than the few notices by Livy would lead us to expect. Its coins
consist of a few rare didrachms and considerable numbers of
obols bearing types which show the intimate relations the Samnite
citizens held with Nola and Neapolis. Allifie was about fifteen miles
east of Teanum, near the river Volturnus, and about twenty miles
south of iEsernia, with which city it is mentioned by Strabo (V, 3,
10) " .^sernia and Allif^, are cities of the Samnites; the former was
10
destroyed in the Marsian war, the other still remains ". Allife is
about twenty miles north-east of Capua. Although it is just outside
the borders of Campania in our ancient atlases it was ennumerated
among the cities of Campania by Pliny (III, 5,9) and by Silius
Italicus (VIII, 537).
At the beginning of the Second Samnite war in 326 B.C. the
city fell into the hands of the Romans. Livy says : " Three towns
fell into their hands, Allifit, Callif^ and Ruffrium, and the adjoin-
ing country was laid waste" (VIII, 25). The Romans however :
seem to have lost it soon afterwards, for we read in Livy (IX, 3 8)
that in 310 B.C. " during these transactions in Etruria the other
Consul CM. Rutilus took Allife by storm from the Samnites, and
many of their forts and smaller towns were either destroyed or
surrendered uninjured". Three years later Livy tells us : " Quintus
Fabius, proconsul, fought a pitched battle with the armies ot
the Samnites near the city of Allif^e. The victory was complete,
the enemy were driven from the field and pursued to their camp,
nor would they have kept possession of that had not the day been
almost spent". Next morning the Samnites capitulated and passed
under the yoke with one garment each (IX, 42).
During the Second Punic War Hannibal passed by Allifas on his
way into Campania (Livy, XXII, 13) and again in 213 B.C.
he pitched his camp in the country around (XXII, 17), while
Fabius pitched his on the hill above the city. We nowhere read of
the destruction of the city, and it is evident that it rose again into
a prosperous condition as soon as the Punic wars were ended,
and continued to prosper throughout the Imperial period.
Dr. B.V. Head in the Hist. Num., says the coins of Allifa; are
all of the first half of the fourth century B.C. ; they were therefore
issued before the city fell into the hands of the Romans.
The obols are found in many small collections, and although
barbarous as works of art are interesting as evidencesof the attempts
of the natives to learn from the Greeks not only the art of coining
money but also the traditions and myths associated with their
coinage.
The appearance of Scylla on these obols, and the bull
with a human head on the few rare didrachms, the obverse of
which is copied from the coins of Nola, caused many numismatists
to regard them as coins issued from some site near the sea.
Millingen thought that the very name on the coins was to be
connected with the region near Cumai, because Suidas thus inter-
prets the word Alibas " 'A/a^x; 6 vsxpbc -q -oxai^.b? iv aoou".
The word is used of sapless, lifeless, dead, by Plato (Rep. 387 C.)
and, in a fragment of Sophocles 751, the name is used of the Styx,
the river of the dead. Avellino noted that there is a mountain called
— II —
Ollibanus near Puteoli, and regarded that name as a corruption of
Alibas.
Lenormant considered Alibas to have been a colony of Cumie.
Friedlander, L. Sambon, and Garrucci all agreed with this idea that
Alibas was near Cumre, but there is nothing strange in the appear-
ance of Scylla in a citv at such a short distance from the sea.
The choice of maritime types at the Samnian Alife is probably
due to its commerce with the maritime cities of Campania which
was assisted by the river Volturnus.
The city of Cumc-e continued to have commerce with the neigh-
bourhood long after the occupation by the Samnites.
The coin which bears the dolphins around the head on the
obverse probably indicates the influence of Syracuse, for after the
repulse of the Athenian armies the Syracusans ruled or influenced all
the country as far north as Alife. It would be interesting to find
any evidence of association with Alifie in the name added to
Nuceria — Alafaterna.
DIDRACHMS.
Three examples of Didrachms may be seen, one at Naples, in the
Santangelo collection, one in the Vatican at Rome, and another
in the Cabinet at Berlin, which was found at Piedmonte d'Alife.
Obv. Similar to that of the coins of Hyria : Head of Pallas
wearing crested Athenian helmet decorated with wreath of olive
on which an owl is perched.
Rev. Man-headed bull walking to left, head in profile erect ;
above AHOHA.
OBOLS.
I. Obv. Head of Apollo to right, laureate, around the head three
dolphins : a border of dots.
Rev. AAAIBANON above the type, Scylla to right holding in the
lowered right hand a cuttle-fish, and in the extended left a shell,
or a fish; beneath a mussel-shell.
II. Obv. Head of Apollo to left, laureate, in front the legend
APHBA.
Rev. Scylla similar to no i , but above and below a swan with
wing extended to right.
Mr. A. Sambon regards these swans as symbols of the demons
of the sea(6a:Xac7(7Y;; 5ai;j.ov£c).
III. Obv. Male head, laureate and bearded, probably representing
Glaucus, sometimes in front, a dolphin : border of dots.
Rev. Similar to no i.
— 12 —
IV. Obv. Head of Pallas to right wearing crested Corinthian
helmet.
Rev. Scylla holding rudder in right hand, the left hand lowered
in front.
There are many specimens of the obols bearing hybrid
inscriptions, with Greek and Oscan letters, such asVAAIBANON,
AAAI8AN0N, AAIBANON, AAaAMON W8H0H-
HEMIOBOLS.
Obv. Head of a lion to right, the mouth open : border of dots.
Rev. The legend NHSN interrupted by the sign I.
This coin is known to have been in the collections of Tuzzi of
Naples, Braun of Rome, and in that of the Due de Luynes, but its
present location is not now known.
— I; —
ATELLA
This ancient Samnite city was situated about eight miles from
Capua on the road to Neapolis, and was intimately connected with
Capua. Some writers have pointed out the evidences of Etruscan
culture in Campania. Atella was famous for the farces or " ludi
Osci" which are said to have been of Etruscan origin.
They were introduced to Rome in the year 363 B.C., at a time
of pestilence, and consisted of pantomimic dances to the music of
a flute. Livy says (VII, 2) that from the Atellan farces were derived
the "exodia", received from the Osci, which the young Romans
kept to themselves and did not allow regular players to perform.
Hence the actors of the Attellan farce were not degraded from their
tribe, and were allowed to serve in the army as having no connec-
tion with the stage. This introduction of farces from Atella is the
earliest notice of the city we have. Atella is often mentioned by
Livy with Calatia, which was only about fives miles from Capua,
and seven from Atella The coins of these two cities appear to have
been issued about the same time, that is, during the last half of the
period of the first Punic war up till the time when these cities were
taken by the Romans in 211 B.C. The year 250 B.C. was the
fifteenth of the first Punic war, and this is about the date when the
mint of Atella was first opened. Three years later Hannibal was
born, and Hamilcar Barca ravaged the coasts of Italy. The
Romans were occupied from 238 with their wars with the Boii and
the Ligurians, and then from 225 to 222 B. C. in their war with
the Gauls. The second Punic war began in 218 B. C, and from
that time the Romans came frequently into the district round
Atella. These wars with Ligurians, Gauls and Carthaginians,
occupied the Romans, and left Atella and Calatia free to issue their
own coinage. After the disastrous defeat at Canna; in 216 B. C,
Livy says (XXII, 61) : " The following peoples revolted to the
Carthaginians : the Atellani,the Calatini, some of the Apulians, &c".
When Capua, Atella, and Calatia fell into the hands of the
Romans in 211 B.C. Quintus Flaccus allowed some Campanians
to go to Rome and plead for their lives before the Senate.
Livy (XXVI, 33) tells the story of their pleading that many
— 14 —
of their senators had been slain, and that many were inter-
married with Roman famiHes. Then M. AtiHus Regulus bore
witness that two women especially had desers^d well of the State,
Vestia Oppia, a, native of Atella, who had dwelt at Capua, and
Faucula Cluvia, formerly a common woman (quie quondam
quaestum corpora fecisset). The former had daily offered sacrifice
for the success of the Romans, and the latter had clandestinely
supplied the starving prisoners with food.
The Senate ordered their goods and liberty to be restored to
Oppia and Cluvia; as to the others they were punished in various
ways and degrees. The Atellanians and Calatians were to be freed
but none could become a Roman citizen, or a Latin confederate,
and a place was assigned to them beyond the Tiber. The goods of
the Atellanians should be sold in Capua, and their images and
brazen statues should be referred to the college of Pontiffs. The
keen sense of their enmity to Rome is seen in the lines of Silius
Italicus (XI, 14) : " Now Atella, now Calatia, their sense of right
being overcome by fear, caused their cohorts to pass over to the
Camp of the Carthaginians ".
Atella seems to have prospered after this terrible time of desola-
tion, for in Cicero's time it was a flourishing town and enjoyed his
special protection (Cic, De leg. Agr., II, 31 : Ad Jam., XIII, 7 : Ad
Q Frat., II, 14).
The coins all bear Oscan legends showing the native name
Aderle. The types are similar to those of Capua, and probably
allude to the victories gained by the Romans over Pyrrhus, and to
the " foedus aequum" made with Rome.
The elephant Rev. type on the coins of Atella may be compared
with the similar type on those of Capua, and may be connected with
the head of an elephant mentioned by Pausanias as preserved in the
temple of Diana near Capua (V, xii, i)
We know nothing of the state of the city during the war
with Pyrrhus, but as he passed through Campania on his
retreat from Latium in 280 B. C, the country round Atella would
suffer all the misery inflicted by an invading army in those days,
and their loyalty to Rome would be strengthened.
BRONZE COINS OF ATELLA.
TRIENS.
O
I. Size 1.25. Obv. Head of Zeus, to right, laureated ; behind §
o
Rev. ^d351N in Oscan letters z.V^3AA (aderl). Zeus in a
— 15 —
quadriga driven by Nike to right, hurling a fulmen and holding a
sceptre. In the exergue oooo : a border of dots.
SEXTANS.
2. Size I.I. Obv. Same type, but with § : border of dots.
Rev. Same legend, in exergue.
Two warriors facing one another, holding swords in their raised
right hands, and with their left hands on a pig : in field, § :
border plain.
UNCIA.
Size
Obv. Bust of Helios full-faced, wearing: dress
). ox^c .75,
fastened in front with large brooch ; in field to left ^ .
Rev. 351N, in exergue. Elephant to right. Specimens in the
Museums of London, Paris and Naples.
4. Size .8. Obv. Head of Jupiter, laureated, to right; behind •
Rev. Victory standing to right, crowning a trophy : in field to
right •
In exergue: MIEJIN; border of fine dots, specimens in the
Museums of Berlin, Paris and Naples.
— i6 —
CAIATIA
The modern name of this city is Cajazzo ; it is situated on the
right bank of the river Vohurnus, near to Suessa, about ten miles
N. E. of Capua.
The city fell into the power of the Romans before the year
306 B.C. Its position, on the via Latina, assured it of a certain
commercial importance to which its coinage bears witness, for the
types, a head of Pallas and a cock, show that it was a member of a
commercial convention on the borders of Latium and Samnium,
about 270 B.C. It was under the walls of this city that the Roman
army was encamped before it was drawn by the Samnites into the
celebrated defile of Caudium. Inscriptions found on the site show
that it was a municipium of some importance during the Empire.
On this site a very rich deposit of gold coins of the Republic was
found about 30 years ago. On the confusion of this name with
Calatia by Livy confer the notes on the history of that city.
In Diodorus Siculus (XX, lxxx) and Livy (IX, 43) this city is
mentioned together with Sora, which is more than fifty miles to
the north.
Diodorus says : " In Italy the Samnites took by assault the cities
of Sora and Atia, allied to the Romans, and reduced the citizens to
slavery. "
Livy says : " In Samnium also in consequence of the departure
of Fabius new commotions arose. Calatia and Sora, and the Roman
garrisons stationed there, were taken, and extreme cruelty was
exercized toward the captive soldiers : Publius Cornelius was there-
fore sent thither with an army. "
Mommsen has suggested that for Calatia here we should read
Caiatia (C./.Z,., 10 p.). The events spoken of happened in the
year 306 B.C.
Bronxe Coins of Caiatia.
Size }. inch. Obv. Head of Pallas to left wearing Corinthian helmet
with crest : border of dots.
Rev. A cock standing to right; behind, in the held, a star of eight
— 17 —
rays; before it, the legend in perpendicular line CAIATINO.
Specimens are in the museums at Paris, Naples, Berlin and Milan.
Sometimes the legend is retrograde ON IT Al AD and sometimes
the letters are formed thus CAIATINfl {sic). No specimen is found
in the British Museum. Only this one type is known.
Hands.
i8 —
CALATIA
Calatia was a Samnite city situated about five miles to the south-
east of Capua, on the via Appia. Like Atella it was intimately
connected with Capua, whose fortunes and misfortunes it shared.
The types of its coins, all of bronze, were copied from those of
Capua, bearing the head of Jupiter, and were issued about the
same time as those of Atella, between 250 B.C. and the fall of the
city into the hands of the Romans in 211 B.C. The site of Calatia
still shows some remains of the Roman buildings and is now
occupied by the little town called Galazze. In the works of Livy
the name Calatia is at least five times put for Caiatia, probably
through the mistakes of copyists.
The following passages have been pointed out XXII, 13, XXIII,
14, IX, 43, IX, 48, ]X, 2.
The city whose coins bear the legend Calatia Kni'NTI in Oscan
letters is referred to by Livy in XXII, 61, XXVI, 16, 34, XXVII, 3.
Strabo speaks of Calatia as still flourishing in his day.
The old name was still retained in the xii''' centuiy in the title
of a church called S. Maria ad Calatium. The story of its fall is
given together with that of Atella in the chapter on that city which
shared its fate.
Bron:;e Coins of Calatia.
TRIENS (260-210 B.C.).
I. Size I. Obv. Laureate bearded head of Jupiter to right;
behind g
Rev. Jupiter in a quadriga galloping to right hurling a fulmen
and holding in his hand a sceptre; beneath the horses OOOO.
In exergue : KNl/NTI ; border of fine dots. Fairly good style of
art.
Specimens in the Cabinet at Naples.
II. Size I. Obv. Same type, but mediocre style, and with .
behind the head.
— 19 —
Rev. Diana driving a higa to right with both hands on the reins,
above the horses, two stars. In the exergue ITNN>I. Plain border.
Specimens in the Museums at London and Paris.
III. Size I. Obv. Same type and style as last.
Rev. Jupiter in a biga galloping to right, hurling fulmen and
holding sceptre and reins. Specimens in Museums at Paris, Naples
and Berlin.
UNCIA.
IV. Size .8. Obv. Laureated head of Jupiter to right; behind • :
border of fine dots.
Rev. A horse galloping, free, to right ; underneath • . In the exergue
ITN>IN)I.
Specimens are in the Museums at Paris and Naples, but not in
the British Museum.
V. Size 8. Obv. Laureated head of Jupiter to right; behind the
head s^ : border of fine dots.
Rev. Victor}^ standing to right erecting a trophy ; in the exergue
ITN^^^K.
VI. Size. 8. Obv. Same type as last.
Rev. Head of a trident to left, TN'I : border of fine dots.
This uncia is of reduced weight and mediocre style. Specimens
are in the Museums at Berlin, and Naples. Conjcr Millingen, Aiic.
Coins, 1.3. and Cavedoni, Bull. Inst., 1850, p. 198.
— 20 —
GALES
Gales was situated on a branch of the Via Latina which led from
Teanum direct to Casilinum, and there joined the Appian way ;
it was rather more than five miles distant from Teanum, and above
seven from Casilinum, on the banks of the river Volturnus, about
fourteen miles from the sea; and eleven N. of Capua. It was one
of the cities of the Ausones, and according to Festus was founded
in the legendary times of Homeric story. He says : " Auson, the
son of Ulysses and Calypso, called that first part of Italy Ausonia,
in which are the cities of Beneventum and Cales... by whom also
they say the city Aurunca was founded. "
Silius Italicus (VIII, 514) ascribes its foundation to Calais, the son
of Boreas who carried off Oreithyia, and by her became the
father of Calais, Zetes, and Cleopatra, the wife of Phineus, who
are therefore called Boreades. Virgil mentions Cales (Ae?i., VII,
728) in his description of the men led to Turnus : " Lo a thousand
tribes he leads, some from the Massic hills, some from Aurunca,
from Sidicinum,... from Cales, from Volturnus' shoals they wend,
from steep Saticulum the sturdy swain, fierce for the fray, comes
down and joins the Oscan train. "
Livy (VIII, 16) relates the story of the capture of the city by
the Romans in 332 B.C. and of their being assisted by M. Fabius,
a Roman prisoner, who escaped from the walls by a rope when
all the Calenians were feasting, and told the general what an
opportune moment had arrived for the attack. An immense amount
of booty was taken, and the legions returned to Rome, where a
triumph was awarded to the Consul by the Senate, and 2,500
colonists were sent to occupy the lands of Cales under Caeso
Duilius, Titus Quinctius, and Marcus Fabius as commissioners
(Arnold, Hist. Rom., II, p. 175). From that date Cales was a Roman
city; in 214 it was the head-quarters of the Consular army, and
though often attacked by Samnites and Carthaginians, it was never
taken. In 209 B.C. it was one of the twelve cities which declared
themselves unable to supply men or money (Livy, XXVII, 9) :
Suessa was in the same condition. At a later date they were
punished by the imposition of heavy taxes (XXIX, 15).
— 21 —
In the days of Cicero we find Cales a flourishing municipium
enjoying the special favour and protection of that great man (Cic,
De Leg. Agr., II, 31, Ad. Fam.,lX, 13, Ad Attic, VII, 14.)
Cales was the birth-place of M. Vinicius, the son-in-law of
Germanicus, and patron of Velleius Paterculus. The prosperity of
the city was due to the fertility of the land around, which was near
the famous " Falernus ager ". Horace mentions " the grapes squeezed
in the Calenian press" (Od. I. 20.9.) and the " molle Calenum "
is spoken of by Juvenal (Sat. I, 69). The city was also noted for
the manufacture of agricultural implements, and of earthenware
vessels called Caleuit (Cato, De agric, 135) the " Campana supellex
of Horace (Sab. I VI, 118), and the "Campana trulla"(Sat. II,
III, 144). The coinage does not appear to have been issued before
280 B.C. A few years ago a small deposit was found which was
buried about the year 270 B.C. ; in this were coins of both
Neapolis and Cales, those of this latter city were almost in perfect
condition while those of Naples were somewhat worn.
The head of Pallas on the silver coins seems to have been copied
from that on the gold coins of Pyrrhus, struck probably at Syracuse
about 276 B.C.
The reverse type of Nike in a biga has been compared with a
vase in the Canessa collection.
Garrucci considered the bronze coins to be older than the silver
because on them the letter L is always seen with the angle acute (^),
but that is not a sign of date to be implicitly trusted.
SILVER COINS (280-268 B.C.)'.
1. Obv. Head of Pallas to left, wearing a crested Corinthian
helmet and decorated with jewellery; behind the head an owl. The
helmet is adorned with feathers fixed by an ornament in the form
of a serpent. Other symbols behind the head are found as follows :
a cornucopic-e, a pentagon, a rudder, a wine-cup, a trophy, a palm-
branch, a club.
Rev. Nike driving in a biga to lett, holding reins in left hand,
and the whip in the right lowered; in the exergue CAl'ENO.
2. Obv. Same but with the head to right, and a symbol, as a
wing behind, two wings, a fulmen, a tripod, a cornucopias, branch
of laurel, a snake, a sheathed sword, a torch, a club, a bow, a
helmet, an Argive buckler, a Boeotian buckler, a sword, a trident,
the letter O, or the head of a spear.
I . The didrachms of Cales, ivbeii not in finest state, may he obtained under 20I.
— 22 —
Rev. The same but the whip in the right hand raised and the
reins in the left lowered.
The inscription on the coins, CAPENO, has generally been consid-
ered as a shortened form of the genitive plural CAl'ENOM or
CAl^ENORVM. M. Sambon however suggests that it may be the
ablative singular, because we find this was the case in the legends
Akudunniad, Aquino, Arimno, Beneventod, Calatino, Suessano,
Tianud ; and it seems strange to look upon some as ablatives and others
as genitives when we know those ending in "d" were ablatives.
The head of Pallas wearing a Corinthian helmet had appeared
on didrachms of Velia, Heracleia, Croton, Metapontum and Cumie ;
also on obols of Neapolis and Cunict, on bronze coins of the Fren-
tanians, of Telesia, and Aquinum. It was therefore a popular type
copied from the coinage of the Greek cities of the South.
THE BRONZE COINS.
The bronze coins of Cales are very common and are found in
most small collections ; they witness to two monetary conventions,
namely, that with the northern cities bearing a cock as the Rev.
type, and that with the southern cities bearing a man-headed
bull on the Rev.
The coins bearing the cock are thought by Blanchet to have
influenced the design of the Gallic coinage {Traili des nionnaies
gauloises, p. 192).
COINS WITH THE HEAD OF PALLAS AND ^L. A COCK.
These coins were probably issued about the year 270 B.C. some
time after the Roman victories in Southern Italy. Tarentum had
submitted in 272 and Rhegium had been taken in 271 B. C. Two
years afterwards the Romans began to issue their first silver denarii.
These coins were issued six years before the first Punic war began.
— 23 —
I. PALLAS TYPE.
Size : | inch. Perhaps Litni.
Obv. Head of Pallas to left wearing
plume : border of dots.
Corinthian helmet with
Rev. A cock standing to right; in front, CAPENO or CAPENO;
behind, a star with eight rays : border of dots. On some specimens
the letter A or A is found behind the head of Pallas on the Obv.
and CAPENO before the head, while on the Rev. only A or A
appears before the cock.
II. COINS BEARING THE HEAD OF APOLLO AND ON I^.
A MAN-HEADED BULL.
These coins appear to have been issued a little earlier than the
former series and from about 280 to 208 B.C., that is from the
time of the arrival of Pyrrhus in Italy, until the twelfth year of
the second Punic war when Hasdrubal was defeated.
280-268 B.C
Size : | inch. Litra?
Obv. A head of Apollo laureated sometimes to right, sometimes
to left. In front of the head the legend CAPENO. Behind the head
various symbols are found, as for instance : an ear of corn, a club.
spear-head, a fulmen, a figure of Nike bearing a wreath, a
helmet, a vase, a sword, a bunch of grapes, a cantharus, a serpent,
an amphora, sprig of laurel, triquetra, cornucopia;, a cock, a bird,
an aplustre, a dolphin.
— 24 —
Rev. A man-headed bull to right with head facing. The following
symbols occur above the bull : a lyre, with a star under the bull.
Under the bull the following letters are found A B T A H I I OA
M n T V U, I 2.
In the exergue CAI'ENO.
III. TYPES WITH A STAR (260-268 B.C.).
Same size.
Obv. Head of Apollo, laureated, to left; before the head
CAUENO : border of dots. Behind the head a star generally, but on
some, a sword, or a club.
On these the star is found on the ^L. under the bull. When the
star is on the Obv. a letter is found under the bull : ArAOKVNP.
On one specimen a small star is on the Obv. and a large star
above the bull on the ^L. In the. Cabinet de France is a specimen
without a symbol.
IV. THE BULL CROWNED BY VICTORY (260-24O B.C.).
Obv. Head of Apollo, laureated, to left; no legend.
Rev. Man-headed bull to right, crowned by a figure of Victory
flying in the air above.
In the exergue CAPENO : border of dots. On some specimens a
buckler is behind the head of Apollo, and on others the letter N.
25 —
CAPUA
The history of Capua is interesting in many ways, for its earhest
legends are connected with the old Etruscan race which founded
the city called by them Vulturnum, and during the period of its
greatest prosperity it was one of the avenues by which the Romans
came into contact with Greek art and thought. The Samnite or
Oscan people called Campanians who made the city powerful were
strong enough to retain their municipal independence during a
period of strife lasting more than a hundred and fifty years. Although
during part of that time its lands were cultivated by Roman colonists,
and for five years it was in the hands of the Carthaginians under
Hannibal, yet the mint was in the citizen's own hands, and their coins
bore Oscan letters from 268-218 B.C. They were civilized enough to
hold friendly relations with the Greek cities of the South of Italy, and
strong enough to be acknowledged the chief city of Campania. Capua
ow^ed its prosperity partly to its favourable position, at the foot of
mount Tifata, on a very fertile plain about fifteen miles north of
Neapolis, and about two miles south of the river Vulturnus.
The historians Livy and Diodorus have left us most inter-
esting accounts of the various fortunes of Capua, but in regard to
chronology and fairness of treatment they fail to satisfy modern
demands. Livy relates that the city fell into the hands of the
Samnites about 423 B.C. but Diodorus speaks of the rise of the
Campanian people as beginning seventeen years earlier. When the
first Samnite War began in 343 B.C., Livy described Capua as
being at that sime " urbs maxima opulentissimaque Italiae "
(VII, 31).
In that year the Capuans asked the Sidicini to help them to resist
an invasion of Samnites, and soon afterwards appealed to the
Romans for assistance. Very full details of their request are given
by Livy in book VII, 30. They then called themselves Campanians,
and hence as Capua was the chief city of Campania the earlier
numismatists attributed the coins with the legend KAMPANOM
to that city. These coins were issued between 400 and 380 B.C.
before the Romans had begun to influence the Capuans, and at
— 26 —
a time when the influence of the mints of NeapoHs and Cumas
was predominant among the Campanians. At that time it is not
probable that Capua had attained its position as head of the cities
of Campania, and though these coins bearing KAMPANOM were no
doubt current coins in Capua, it is not Hkely that they were issued
from its mint.
Period of the roman dominion (330-264 b.c).
When the Romans broke up the Latin confederacy in 330 B.C.
Capua was punished for its accession to it by the loss of its terri-
tory, which was divided by the Senate into portions consisting of
three jugera to each settler. It was through these settlers that the
strife arose with the citizens of Neapolis which ended in the fall
of that city.
Six years later the second Samnite war arose, and when the
Romans were victorious in 3 20 B.C. the Samnite leader Caius Pontius
would not agree to their terms. He had taken the place of Brutu-
lus Papius, who slew himself rather than be given up to the
Romans. The father of C. Pontius had been a friend of Archytus
of Tarentum, and some say he had held discussions with Plato.
This Pontius was probably a more cultured man than any of the
Roman generals, and shewed his generosity and nobleness of char-
acter in the way in which he treated the defeated army of the
Romans at Caudium. The influence of Greek artists in the Capuan
mint at this time is not so surprising when we realize the friendship
of Papius with the Tarentines.
The Roman party in Capua in 320 B.C. was strong enough to
enable them to receive the fugitives from Caudium with every
respect and kindness. The story of the fate of C. Papius according
to Livy is not quite to be trusted, but his power was ended about
this time. When the Romans sent prefects to reside in Capua, about
317 B.C., some of the neighbouring cities became restless, and
Nuceria, Plistica, and Sora revolted, and after the defeat of Fabius
near Anxur a party in Capua was in favour of revolting from Rome.
About this time Suessa and Calatia joined Capua in declaring
themselves in revolt, but the strife was brief, and after the great
victory of the Romans in Campania the leaders of the revolt in
Capua, Ovius and Novius Calavius were given up, and Capua was
again admitted to alliance with Rome.
.About 312 B.C. Capua became the southern terminus of the great
Appian way.
Campania was ravaged in 296 B.C. by the Samnite general
Gellius l^gnatius who fell next year in the battle at Sentinum ; he
was succeeded by another C. Pontius of Telesia, and Campania was
again desolated by war until he was defeated by Fabius the elder.
The war was ended in 290 B.C.. when the Samnites were received
as dependent allies of Rome. During the next ten years the city of
Capua enjoyed peace; then when Pyrrhus, in 281 B.C., invaded
Italy the Capuans and Campanians fought on the side of the Romans.
The country had during the season of peace recovered from the
ravages of the Samnite wars and then presented a rich field for the
Greek mercenaries of Pyrrhus to plunder.
On the retreat of that general from Campania those cities which
had not been loyal to Rome again submitted, but no account thereof
is preserved in the pages of the historians. One effect of this war,
interesting to numismatists, was the abundance of Greek money,
and of the coins of Southern Italy, which the armies of Pyrrhus
brought with them.
From the time of Alexander of Epirus circ. 32(S B.C. Greek armies
had been fighting in Italy ; and the Samnites were not too far north
to feel the influence of these wars. We find that Agathocles had
many Samnites among his soldiers in Africa (Diod., XX, 11, 64)
and those who returned would bring Sicilian money with them.
There was a Campanian body of troops in Rhegium who tried to
possess the city, and when they were conquered by the Romans in
270 B.C, they were taken to Rome, scourged and beheaded. After
the flight of Pyrrhus Campania again enjoyed a few years of peace
until the breaking out of the first Punic war. The coins used by
the Capuans during this period from 330-264 B.C. were the silver
didrachms with the Rev. types of the head and neck of a horse,
the galloping horse and a star, and the wolf and twins, the bronze
coins wth the head of Pallas and a horse's head and neck, those
with an eagle on the Rev., and those with the lion. Whether these
coins were minted in Capua, or in some of the neighbouring
Roman colonies, as Cales, is not yet agreed among numismatists.
Capua was no mere rural township bounded by local interests,
for many and varied were the influences which developed the city
and made it the centre of the Campanian confederacy, many of
which may be traced in the types of the coins.
The citizens were in contact with Rome on the North and with
Tarentum and the Greek cities in the South of Itah'. Through the
ports of Cumce and Neapolis they came in contact with Sicily, and
from the earliest period they had been influenced by the Etruscans
and Latins.
The types of the coins known to be Capuan bear witness to all
these influences as well as to the native Samnite deities Diana and
Pan; we find the types of the Greek cities, the heads of Heracles,
Pallas and Zeus, the types of Sicily, the horse's head and neck, the
- 28 —
running horse, and the curious Phrygian head-dress on the head
of a female said to be Roma. The very legends, partly in Roman
partly in Oscan letters, shew the complex influences which
dominated the city.
The head of Jupiter appears on many of the coins, and we learn
from Livy (XXVI, 14) that one of the seven gates of the city bore
the name " porta Jovis". It was probably on the east side of the city
facing mount Tifata, on which stood a celebrated temple of Jupiter.
Whether the cult of Jupiter was derived from the Southern Greek
cities before the Romans began to influence the city or not, we
recognize the cult as one which the Romans would share with the
Oscans, and the appearance of the type during the period of Roman
influence is perhaps a sign of the alliance with Rome.
It is noticeable that certain coin-types witness to a knowledge ot
Greek legends, which were evidently at that time sufficiently well
known in Capua to render the types acceptable, although these
legends are now only faintly preserved in the literature which has
come down to our day. Such is the typeofTelephus nourished by
the doe, and that of Heracles dragging Cerberus from the realms of
Pluto, in allusion to the mysteries of Samothrace, and that with a
female head wearing a Phrygian helmet or head-dress.
The legend concerning Telephus of Mysia, son of Heracles and
Auge, the daughter of King Aleus of Tegea, is recorded by Pausa-
nias (VIII, 48).
He says " that Auge hid the birth from her father, and exposed
the child Telephus on Mount Parthenius, and that the forsaken
boy was suckled by a doe. " The legend vv'as illustrated by statues,
paintings and coin-types, as for instance on those ofPergamus.
(O. Jahn, Archaol. Beitrage, p. 160 seq.).
A coin of Tarsus with this subject for its type is illustrated in
MilHn " Galeries Mythol. " plate CXV. Telephus was the father ot
Tyrrhenus and Tarchon, the mythical founder of the Tarquinii
(Schol. Lycophron 1212-1249).
This association of the type with an Etruscan legend is interesting
and may explain its appearance on the coins of a city founded by
Etruscans. For another legend of a stag cherished at Capua, confer
Silius Italicus XIII 115 and Virg. Aen. VII, 483.
Silius tells the story of a white doe caught and tamed by Capys
and nourished by the citizens as an emblem of the local goddess
for many years. At length frightened by some wolves who approach
the city, the doe fled into the country around and was taken by
the Roman soldiers and sacrificed by Fulvius to Latona as an
agreeable victim with prayers that that goddess might aid his enter-
prise. This was looked on as a presage of a siege.
The head of Heracles appears on the Obv. of a small unciawith
— 29 —
the three-headed dog Cerberus on the Rev. On many Campanian
and ApuHan vases ot the fourth and of the beginning of the
third century we see the story of Heracles dragging the dog Cer-
berus from the reahns of Pluto, probably in allusion to the myste
ries of Samothrace which were imported into Italy.
At Cumre there was an oracle of the dead called v£y.po;j,av-£iov, or
•/.sp^s'piov, and there was a similar oracle at Aornus in Epirus, also
illustrated on the coins.
The elephant which appears on the reverse of a coin bearing on
the Obv. a head of Pallas reminds us of a passage in Pausanias
(V, XII, i) ; he says he had '' seen an elephant's skull in the temple
of Diana in Campania. This temple is distant from Capua about
thirty stadia ; and Capua is the metropolis of Campania ". On
another bronze coin is a head of Pan with the pedum over his
shoulder, and he may have been the god of rural shepherds on mount
Tifiita; on the Rev. is a boar. On a rare Teruncius the head of
Ceres crowned with ears of corn appears, and on the Reverse a bull
to right, his head turned £icing.
It is only natural that in a rich corn-growing region this goddess
should be represented on the coinage, and the popularity of this cult
is witnessed to by many inscriptions found near the city (Momm-
sen, Inscr. RegniNeap.).
The ruins of the temple of Ceres are pointed out by J. Beloch, in
his work " Campanien " (Berlin 1879) as existing between S. Angelo
in Formis and New Capua. The temple existed for a long time,
because an inscription of a later date exists giving the name of a
priestess of Ceres.
HERENNIA— M— F SACERDOS Publ. CERERI SACrum.
A Biunx, of good style in low relief, bears a beardless head of
Heracles, and on the Rev. a lion advancing to right with a spear
in his mouth, which he is beating down with his paw. This design
is also seen on the coins of Amyntas III, King of Macedonia, and
on coins of Velia. A Campanian As of the third century bears a lion's
head, full-face, with a spear in its paws. Plutarch describes a similar
design, the Ai(ov zvyr^^-qc, graven on Pompey's seal ring. A similar
t3^pe is engraved on a cornelian in the Cabinet de France.
During the first Punic war, from 264-242 B. C, Capua was held
by the aristocratic party loyal to Rome; then followed twenty-two
years of peace. The plunder from Sicily would bring many Sicilian
coins to Italy, and we see their influence on the types of coins issued
in Campania, perhaps, according to some writers, in Capua itself.
— 30 —
CAPUA UNDER THE CARTHAGINIANS
216 211 B. C.
At the time of the defeat of the Romans at Cannc-e, in 216 B.C.
the popular party in Capua were headed by Pacuvius Calavius, a
nobleman who had married a daughter of Appius Claudius.
His ambition led him to hope that, by the aid of Hannibal, he
might become the ruler of a city greater than Rome, which seemed
to have fallen from its high estate. The aristocratic party in Capua
were all in favour of the Roman rule, but Calavius concluded a
treaty with Hannibal, and admitted him into the city. The story
is told in Livy XXIII, 2-4.
Capua was then so powerful that it could raise an army of
30.000 foot and 4.000 horse, and yet though they had the advan-
tage of the guidance of the great general, Hannibal, the future
course of the war was a series of attempts to defend Capua from
the Romans.
We have no information as to the feelings entertained by Han-
nibal and the Campanians towards each other while the Carthagi-
nians were wintering in Capua. The treaty of alliance had provided
carefully for the independence of the Campanians, that they might
not be treated as Pyrrhus had treated the Tarentines. Capua was
to have its own laws and magistrates, no Campanian was to be
compelled to any duty, civil or military, nor to be in any way
subject to the authority of the Carthaginian officers (Livy, XXIII,
7). There was still a Roman party in Carthage, and one man,
Decius Magius, was sent prisoner to Carthage .
Three hundred Campanian horsemen ot the richer classes went
to Rome from Sicily and were received as Roman citizens.
Pacuvius Calavius is never mentionned afterwards, nor do we
know the fate of his son Perolla, who in his zeal for Rome wished
to slay -Hannibal when he made his public entrance into Capua.
From Livy we learn the names of some of the citizens who took
part in affairs in the last days of Capua, of men who used the
coins in our cabinets. There was Vibius Virrius at whose house
the adherents to the Carthaginians met, to dine and die, before
the Romans were admitted, and the great cavalry officer Jubellius
— 31 —
Taurea who joined the party of Carthage, and won the admiration
of Hannibal for his brilliant fighting against the Romans.
The Meddix Tuticus, the chief magistrate, was one Seppius
Lesius, of plebeian origin, and another important magistrate was
Marius Alfius, slain by the Romans when on his way to the festi-
val at Haniit near Cumae. From 216 to 211 B.C. the inhabitants
must have suffered a time of continual excitement and anxiety.
The camp of the Carthaginians was on mount Tifata for some two
vears; then followed the absence of their leader who went about
from Nola to Arpi and down to Tarentum seeking food for the
besieged Capuans.
In 213 B.C. a hundred and twenty noble families deserted to
the Romans, asking only their lives and their estates. In the next
year the Romans took the provisions stored at Beneventum, and the
Capuans were reduced to despair, faintly cheered by the return of
Hannibal, only for a brief visit, after w-hich he marched to Rome
in vain.
In 211 B.C., the eighth year of the second war, Hannibal tried
in vain once more to raise the siege, and the Romans entered the
city in triumph. From that time no more coins were issued with
Oscan legends, and the city came under the strictest Roman rule.
Twenty-five Capuan senators were sent to Cales, and twenty-
eight to Teanum; all were scourged and beheaded. Many of the
citizens were removed beyond the Tiber, and all local magistracies
abolished. A mixed population of strangers, artizans and new settlers
remained under Roman prefects.
COINS WITH OSCAN LEGENDS.
SILVER COINS OF CAPUA B.C 263.
Issued during the First Punic War.
Obv. Laureated head of Jupiter to right : border of dots.
Rev. An eagle holding a fulmen in its talons standing to
right with the wings raised. In field to right IinN>l : border of dots.
Specimens are to be seen in the Museums of Berlin, Paris, Naples.
Coins issued under Roman Dominion.
BRONZE COINS OY CAPUA 263-2 1 8.
I. Size : i \ inch. Dextans.
Obv. Bustsside by side of Juno and Jupiter. Juno is diademed
and bears a sceptre on her shoulder : border of dots.
— 32 —
Rev. Jupiter standing in a quadriga, galloping to right,
hurling a fulmen with his right hand, and holding sceptre in his
left. In the exergue I]nN>l or ^HN)! : border of dots.
Specimens are in the Museums of London, Paris, Naples, and
Berlin.
II. Size : I I inch. Dextans.
Obv. Beardless Janus head : border of dots.
Rev. Same as no i .
III. Size : i | inch. Quincunx.
Obv. Head of Pallas to right, in Athenian helmet, crested,
and with lateral aigrettes : border of dots.
Rev. Pegasus flying to right, underneath 0000 and DflN)! :
border of dots.
Specimens in the Museums of London, Paris, Berlin, and,
Naples.
IV. Size : i| inch. Quadrunx.
Obv. Laureated head of Jupiter, to right : border of dots.
Rev. A winged fulmen, above 00000, below DHN)! : border
of dots.
V. Size : i inch. Teruncius.
Obv. Head of Ceres crowned with ears of corn ; behind 000 :
border of dots.
Rev. A bull standing to right, head turned facing, above
000. In exergue DDN)! : border oi dots.
Specimens in Museums of Naples, and Paris.
VI. Size : i inch. Biunx.
Obv. Head of Tyche wearing crenelated crown, behind two
stars, and a strigil : border of dots.
Rev. A horseman cuirassed wearing chlamys floating in the
wind, his lance held horizontally.
A shell under the horse's feet. In exergue DFIN)! : border of dots.
There are also Uncias with the same type.
The type may be compared with Syracusan coins of Hieron 11.
Specimens may be seen in the Museums of Berlin, Paris, and
Naples.
VII. Size : i inch. Biunx.
Obv. Laureated head of Jupiter to right ; behind T; : border
of dots.
Rev. Eagle, to right, turning its head, with wings spread,
and a fulmen in its talons ; on either side a star of eight rays indicat-
ing its value as two ounces. In the exergue DFIN)! : border of dots.
Specimens are found in the Museums of Paris, Berlin, Naples,
and Glasgow.
VIII. Size : i inch. Biunx.
— 33 —
Obv. Laureated head of Jupiter to right ; behind ^ : border
of dots.
Rev, Two warriors standing facing each other, in their right
hands a sword, taking an oath over a young pig held in their left
hands. In field to left (J.
In the exergue IHINK : border of dots.
IX. Size : i inch. Biunx.
Obv. Diademed head of beardless Heracles to right, with the
club shewing over his left shoulder : border of dots.
Rev. A lion walking to right biting a spear, on the shaft of
which he rests his left forefoot.
Above 00. In the exergue DFIN)! or ^nn>l.
Specimens are found in the Museums of London, Paris, Berlin,
and Naples.
X. Size : I inch. Biunx.
Obv. Laureated head of Jupiter to right, behind Q^ : border
ot dots.
Rev. Diana ot Mount Tifata driving a biga to right. In field
above ^^. In exergue UriNK.
Specimens in Museums of London, Paris, Naples, Berlin. Some of
these types were engraved by the same artist who executed the
silver coins.
XI. Size : '{ inch. Uncia.
Obv. Head of Pallas to right wearing Corinthian helmet with
double neck piece; behind X : border of dots.
Rev. Victory standing to left holding wreath in her right
hand, and in her left fillets; her body is bare above; in front ¥:.
In exergue ZJriN)! : border of dots.
Specimens in Museums of London, Paris, Naples. The type seems
to be copied from the gold staters of Pyrrhus.
There was probably a temple ofVictory at Capua, for Cicero (^De
dm)iat. I. xLiii) says : " Again, when the statue of Apollo at Cumae
was covered with a miraculous sweat, and that ofVictory at Capua
also, and when the Hermaphrodite was born — were not these things
significant of horrible disasters"?
XII. Size : | inch. Uncia.
Obv. Head of Diana crowned with myrtle, her bow and
arrows seen over her shoulder; behind • or X : border of dots.
Rev . Wild boar running to right. Above • .
In the exergue UriN)) : border of dots.
Specimens in Museums of London, Paris, Berlin, Naples.
The wild boar is seen on terra cotta steles found at Capua .
Hands. 3
- 34 —
XIII. Size : | inch. Uncia.
Obv. Laureated head of Jupiter to right : border of dots.
Rev. Victory standing to right, crowning a trophy; in field
to right ^. In exergue HFIN)! : border of dots.
Specimens are in the Museums of London, Paris, BerHn, and
Naples.
XIV. Size : | inch. Uncia of reduced weight.
Obv. Head or bust of Juno to right, her sceptre over hei
shoulder; she wears a diadem and earrings : border of dots.
Rev. Two archaic idols, Zoava of Artemis? a fillet is hung
over all, and the idols are on a base. In the field to left the
symbol D+C called " object like a tripod "in Brit. Miis. Catalogue;
DHN)! in field to left : border of dots.
Specimens in the Museums of London, Paris, Berlin, Glasgow,
and Naples.
XV. Size same as XIV. Uncia of reduced weight.
Obv. Same as no XIV^
Rev. Ear of barley with two leaves.
In the field DFIN)! : to right the symbol D+C.
Specimens in the Cabinet de France.
XVI. Size : | inch. Semiuncia {}) or Uncia of reduced weight.
Obv. Head of Juno (?), veiled to right, a sceptre over her
shoulder : border of dots.
Rev. Ear of barley with two leaves. In the field HflN)!, to
right the symbol D+C.
Specimens in the Museums of London, Glasgow, Paris, Berlin,
Naples.
XVII. Size : ^ inch. Semiuncia (?) or Uncia reduced.
Obv. Head of Apollo, laureated, to right : border of dots.
Rev. Lyre decorated with fillets, in the field to left CnN>l;
on some specimens to right : border of dots.
Specimens in the Museums of Berlin, Paris, Naples, and
Glasgow.
XVIII. Size : | inch. Uncia of reduced weight.
Obv. Head of Pan beardless to right, the pedum over his
shoulder : border of dots.
Rev. Wild boar running to right; above •.
On the unique specimen in the Museum at Naples there is no
legend in the exergue, but Garrucci gives to this coin the legend
iriN)! in the exergue.
XIX. Size : | inch. Uncia of reduced weight.
Obv. Beardless diademed head of Heracles to right, with
club behind neck : border of dots.
Rev . The three headed dog Cerberus to right.
In the exergue DPR)! : border of dots.
~" :>) —
XX. Size : f inch. Uncia of reduced weight.
Obv. Beardless head of Heracles to right with the club
behind his neck : border of dots.
Rev. Doe to right suckling the infant Telephus, and turning
its head to lick him.
In the Held to right D+C. In exergue HPINE : border of dots.
A specimen in the Cabinet de France.
XXI. Size : ^ inch. Uncia of reduced weight, or Semiuncia.
Obv. Head of Telephus wearing Phrygian cap to right :
border of dots.
Rev. Same as no XX.
Specimens in Museums of London, Paris, Berlin, and Naples.
XXII. Size : ^ inch. Semiuncia (?).
Obv. Head of Pallas wearing Athenian crested helmet to right :
border of dots.
Rev. Elephant to right.
Specimens in the Museums ol London, Paris, Berlin, and Naples.
XXIII. Size : | inch. Semiuncia (?).
Obv. Diademed bust of Juno to right, her sceptre over her
shoulder : border of dots.
Rev. A winged fulmen, above the symbol D4-C, below DFINC :
border of dots.
XXIV. Size : | inch. Semiuncia (?).
Obv. Beardless head to right wearing Phrygian cap : border
of dots.
Rev. Trophy of arms.
In the exergue UNfl)!.
A specimen in the Museum at Naples.
BRONZE COINS BETWEEN 217-2II B.C.
XXV. Size : i^ inch. Dextans (?).
Obv. Laureated head of Jupiter to right : border of dots.
Rev. Eagle standing to right with wings widely spread, with
a fulmen in its talons, below DflH)!, or=jnn>l.
Specimens in Museums of Paris, Berlin, and Naples.
XXVI. Size : i jTrinch, Qiiincunx(?).
Obv. Same as no XXV.
Rev. Same as no XXV but with J in field, to rights signifying
that it is half the value of the former piece.
ELECTRUM COINS. 2 1 7-2 II B.C.
Obv. Beardless head of Janus Geminus crowned with corn
ears : border of dots.
- 36 -
Rev. Jupiter in a quadriga led to right by Victory, in his
left hand a sceptre and spear, in his right a fulmen : border of dots.
Specimens in the Museums of Naples, Paris, Vienna, Rome
(Vatican), London, Gotha, and Berlin.
They contain 29 parts of gold to 71 of silver. From the late
style, and from the absence of the legend ROMA, these coins may
have been issued during the period of the Carthaginian occupation
of the city.
The popular types of the Cock and Man-headed Bull.
On page 346 of M. A. Samhon s Les Monnaies antiques de TItalie,
the types bearing allusion to monetary conventions are :
i". On the Obv. a head of Pallas as on the coins with the legend
ROMANO, and on the Rev. a cock, as on the triobols struck at
Naples about 282 B.C.
This type belongs to the towns which had periodical markets
(Nundinre) on the great commercial routes between Campania,
Latium and Samnium.
2"*^. On the Obv. a head of Apollo, and on the Rev. a
man-headed Bull crowned by a Victory ; this is the Neapolitan type
of the period 270-240 B.C. and it assured the circulation of these
coins (of Suessa) in the different markets of Latium, Samnium,
Apulia and Campania.
We find that three of the cities issued coins with each of these
types : viz : Cales, Suessa and Teanum. The cock type was also
used at Telesia, Aquinum, Venafrum(?) and in Etruria.
The other type with the man-headed bull had apparently a
wider circulation. From Neapolis its use was extended to Nola or
Hyria, Cales, Suessa, Teanum, Alif^e, Compulteria, Fistelia, the
Frentanians, Malventum and Aesernia. A glance at a map will show
that the cities which used these types cannot be placed in separate
groups, as in a geographical division. The cities using the cock type
are all, with one exception, on the North West oftheVulturnus, but
so are the three cities which used both types. The man-headed bull
type probably shows where the influence of the city Neapolis was
dominant, and the cock type may be a more native symbol,
adopted wherever the Samnite influence was in power.
— 37
COMPULTERIA
This city was situated on the borders of Samnium and Campania,
on the right bank of the river Volturnus, about six miles north of
Cahitia, on the rond to Aliffa?. It is twice mentioned by Livy who
in describing the events of 216 B.C. says : " Compulteria, Trebula,
and AusticuLa, towns which had revolted to the Carthaginians,
were stormed by Fabius, and Hannibal's garrisons in them, with a
great number of Campanians, were made prisoners " (XXIII, 59).
Next year we read : "many towns were taken by assault, Com-
pulteria, Telesia, Compsa, Fugifula^ and Orbitanium... In these
cities five-and-twenty thousand of the enemy were captured or
slain. Three hundred deserters were recovered ; these were sent to
Rome by the consul, and were without exception scourged in the
Comitium, and then flung from the rock. All this was done by
Quintus Fabius in a few days " (XXIV, 20).
The name is spelt in various ways in inscriptions : Cubulteria,
Cubulterini, and Cupulterini.
The position of the site was discovered near the village of
Alvignano, by Pellegrini, and is now occupied by the church of
S . Ferrante which was probably built on the site of the temple of
Juno, mentioned on inscriptions found there. The city evidently
recovered from the efii'ects of the Carthaginian wars for it was still
flourishing in the days of Hadrian.
The coins of this city issued between 268-240 B.C., all in
bronze, are very similar to those of Suessa and Teanum, which is
fifteen miles distant westward, and similar to those ot Cales, which
was about ten miles distant in the same direction. They bear on
the Obv. the head of Apollo laureate, and on the Rev. the
man-headed bull with the head facing, crowned by a flying Victory.
They belong to a series of coins which indicate a monetary con-
vention between the cities using this type, copied from the coins of
Neapolis. Perhaps the river Volturnus was used as a highway for
the commerce of the district. In size the coins are f inch in
diameter; perhaps thev were Litrae.
The legends are mVH<3TNl3nV>l on the Obv. On many
specimens the letters 11 are seen below the bull. The following
letters are found behind the head of Apollo O, V, >l.
- 38 -
NOLA
This city, named both Nola and Hj^ria, was situated in the
midst of the phim lying to the east of Mount Vesuvius, between
that mountain and the range of the Apennines, twenty-one miles
south of Capua, and sixteen north of Nuceria.
It is thought to have been originally a city of the Ausones, one
of the earliest tribes dwelling in Campania. The Etruscans influenced
its early history, and then the Samnites took possession of the site.
Inscriptions in the Oscan language have been found there
recording a treaty between Nola and Abella. Nola became the
centre of a confederation of the Samnites and Oscans ruling Cam-
pania, and it grew in wealth and prosperity through its commerce
with Athens, which was carried on through the port of Pompei.
Evidence of this commerce is seen in the large number of beautiful
terra cotta vases, and other objects of Greek art, found in the exca-
vations made on this site. Dionysius Hal. noticed the attachment
of the citizens of Nola to the Greeks. The name Nola is said to be
the same as the Italic Novla and Nova and we may compare this
with the name Neapolis given to the new city arising near the old
Paleopolis. Nova or Nola in a similar way probably was the name
given to a new city arising round the old Hyria. Stephanus of
Byzantium, the grammarian wdio wrote at Constantinople soon after
the time of Arcadius, quotes Hecateus of Miletus, a writer of the
beginning of the VI cent. B.C., making mention of Nola aslloXtc
A'jusvwv, but perhaps the passage is an interpolation; if it is genuine
it is the earliest mention of this city. Among Latin authors Cato
(ap. Veil. Paterculus, lib. I, c. 7), Justinus (XX, i) and Silius
Italicus (XII, 161) all mention this city. Cato tells us it was
founded by the Tyrrhenians, Justin and Silius speak of it as a
Chalcidian colony. Mommsen considers the name Nola to be the
same as Novla (NYVLV on the cippus Abellanus). Garrucci thinks
the city was originally Italian, afterwards occupied by a Greek
colony. The citizens resisted the advance of the Romans, and we
have seen in the chapter on Neapolis how they sent two thousand
men thereto assist the citizens against the Romans in 328 B.C.
The story is told by Livy (in Book VIII, 23, 25, 26), and the fall of
— 39 —
Nolais very briefly related by him (IX, 28). After its fall in 313 B.C.
it became practically a Roman colony. Virgil appears to have had
some land nearNola, for Aulus Gellius {Noel. Al.,VU, xx) preserves
the story of a request made by the poet to the citizens of Nola to
allow some water to flow on to his land, and on their refusal the
poet determined to punish them by taking the name of their city
out of his poem (Georg., II, 225). Virgil had described a good rich
soil, and then proceeded : " Such a soil rich Capua tills, and Nola
near mount Vesuvius, and the Clanius unfavourable to Acerrx- ".
The lines now read in all copies. " Talem dives arat Capua, et
vicina Vesevo ora jugo, et vacuis Clanius non a;quus Acerrio " here
the ''Nola jugo" is altered to "ora jugo " ''the lands near mount
Vesuvius ". In the fifth century A.D. Nola was celebrated as the
home of St Paulinus of Nola, and as the place in which bells were
first used in Churches, the word Campanile being derived from Cam-
pania and Nola.
The style of the Nolean coinage is very varied; a great number
of the coins exhibit an attempt to form a new style, modelled indeed
upon that of the Greeks, but the relief of the modelling is more
accentuated, and the style is capricious, and sometimes very pleasing.
Those heads of Dia-Hebe which most markedly shew the native
style are very rarely badly designed and are seldom without a cer-
tain quaint charm. The types of Neapolis were copied probably to
give a wider circulation to the coinage.
The head of Pallas was introduced on the coins of Nola about
360 B.C. M. A. Sambon says " the first example of this type in
Italy is seen on the coins of Velia". D' Head ascribes the introduc-
tion of this type at Velia to about the year 400 B . C . M . A . Sambon
ascribes a unique coin of Neapolis in the collection ofD' A. Evans
to 450 B.C., and the general use of this type in Neapolis to about
430 B. C . Confer the notes on " The Head cf Pallas " in the chapter
on the coins of Neapolis.
The head of Pallas had been introduced at Nola by the mint-
masters who used the legend HVPIETE^ about 400 B.C.
HYRIA WITH NOLA.
Many silver coins bearing the name Hyria with types similar,
and sometimes the same as those bearing the name Nola, are found
in small collections. From an examination of the deposits we
learn that the coins bearing this name were in circulation
throughout Campania, and even in Apulia and Lucania. These
coins of Hyria were, we know, minted in the city called also Nola.
Cavedoni {Bull. Inst., 1850, p. 199) proposed to explain the
— 40 —
fact of the city having issued coins with two names by suggesting
that the city was inhabited by two tribes or peoples.
Friedlander and Mommsen regarded the name Hyria as that of
the first inhabitants, and Nola as that of later settlers, and with
this opinion D' B.V. Head agrees, attributing the coins signed
Nola to the period 430-268 B.C. D' Head quotes Mommsen as
saying : " This town Hyria is supposed to have been the Palaeopolis
of Nola ".
The influence of this city among the Samnites in Campania must
have been great because the abundance of their coinage shews that
their wealth was greater than that of any other Samnite city.
Their earliest coins shew an aff'ectation of archaism which pre-
vailed a little earlier than the year 400 B.C. The same hammer
was used to strike the Obv. types of coins bearing the legend
NOAAinN, and of others bearing VDINAI on the Rev.; this fact
aftords evidence that the coins were issued from one mint, at one
time, with the tv/o names of one city.
The Samnites often changed the names of their cities, or at least
substituted their patronymic for the city name, on their coins. For
examples, confer the Mamertines at Messana, Alaesa, EntellaNacona.
The Samnites placed the legend KAM PIANOS on their coins issued
from Naples or Cumas, and so the Hyrietes placed their name on
their coins issued in Nola.
Friedlander has shown that the coins of Hyria may be classified
in three periods.
1. The coins of the Hyrietes, 400-380 B.C.
2. Those of the Hyrietes and Nolaeans, 380 to 335 B.C.
3. Those of the men of Nola, 335-327 B.C.
From the artist's point of view these coins are very interesting,
and many are beautiful.
If the men who wrought these dies were really of Samnite
birth their work shews how quickly they were able to learn from
the Greeks, and that they were capable of forming a good style of
their own.
The highest development of this style may be seen on some of
thecoins with the legend NOAAIHl-
These mint-masters cared not only for the appearance of the
types, but also for the weight and general technique. Some speci-
mens bear as a border on the obv. a raised rim which protected the
type from being rubbed or worn ; the types of these are all fine.
M. A. Sambon on p. 297 of his Les Monnaies antiques de I'llalie,
speaking of the coins of Hyria, says : " il y en a de fort belles qui
ont un caractere particulier et sont bien I'oeuvre d'artistes italiques
ou de Mixto barbari, et I'art des Mixto barbari en Campanie n'est
point a dedaigner. Cet art est ne de la fusion d'elements etrusques,
italiotes etosques ".
— 41 —
When however the coins of Hyria and Nola are compared with
those of NeapoHs the resemblance between them is so great that it
would be very difficult to say in what points any signs of Etruscan
or Oscan art can be shown.
The ideas expressed by M. Sambon seem to be derived from the
expectations which arise from the knowledge of the history of the
city rather than from a study of the coins from an artist's point of
view, if we may judge from the coins seen in England.
The influence oi Athens upon the citizens of Hyria may be seen
not only in the great number of Greek vases and other articles
discovered on the site of the old city, but also in the adoption of
the head of Pallas with the owl on the Athenian helmet, as their
Obv. type; but the native cults were not left without representa-
tion, for on the corns bearing the legend AHISY we find the head
of the goddess Hera Lacinia, and on the coins of Nola, that ofDia-
Hebe.
A celebrated temple of the Hera of Southern Italy existed near
Poseidonia. Strabo begins his sixth book with a mention of this
temple, saying : " After the mouth of the Silaro is Lucania, and the
temple of the Argive Hera, founded by Jason ; near to this within
fifty stadia is Poseidonia ". The Greek name " "Hpa " is probably the
same as the Latin Hera and signified " Mistress ", the masculine
form Herus was also used for Master.
Her festivals were called Heraea (Livy 27, 30, 9). The head of
Hera Lacinia was placed on the coins of Croton between 420 and
390 B.C., probably a little earlier than the date of their issue in
Hyria. For further notes on this Italian cult confer the chapter on
the coins of Croton and Pandosia, and for notes on the Dia-Hebe
confer the chapter on the coins of Neapolis.
On p. 295 of M. A. Sambon's work Les Moniiaies ayitiques de
ritalie a misprint occurs which might mislead and is therefore
worth mentioning here : " The most beautiful coins of Hyria are
copied from those of Crotona and Poseidonia" (sic^ but the printer
should have printed Pandosia for Poseidonia.
— 42 —
HYRIA
CLASS I.
The earliest didrachms of H3Tia issued a little before 400 B.C.
may be distinguished at once by the legend on the Rev.
HVPIETE^.
1. Obv. Head of Pallas to right wearing crested Athenian helmet
decorated with wreath of olive.
Rev. Man-headed bull running to right, the head in profile and
slightly lowered, the left, or otf foreleg raised as in running.
Above, HVPIETE$; below ^S-l. M. A. Sambon considers this
last letter 4, to be no letter, but a harpoon, and D' Imhoof-Blumer
a plant. The letters AS are also found on didrachms of Neapolis.
2. Obv. Head of Pallns similar to no r. but differing in the
addition of an owl on the helmet above the wreath. The heads are
generally to left but are also found to right. They are generally of
good Greek style but some are barbarous.
Rev. Man-headed bull walking to right with head in profile not
lowered.
In the field above bull the legend varies in detail as follows
RV\iay, RVVKV, RVVKY, AVVKV
RV^IQY, RV\iaY,
YDINA, Y>InA, YPINA
The legends on the coins of barbarous style are
YDINAI, Y>INAI, YDirAI, VDINAh Y>INA.
YPirA, YPINR YDINR YDINA.
There is in the Cabinet at Florence a fine didrachm evidently
copied from that signed of Thurium with the little bird alighting
under the bull with the legend Rl/IKV.
Some coins of poor style bear the varied legend RME<]Y.
The letter P is found on some specimens on the Obv. behind
the head and below the bull on the Rev.
The letter O is found also below the bull.
The monogram /E is also found below the bull.
CLASS II, FROM 380-35O B. C.
I. Obv. Head of a nymph in profile to right copied from similar
coins of Neapolis.
— 43 —
The hair is arranged in a band broader at the back than in front.
Earring in ear.
Rev. Similar to class I, n° 2. RUTOY.
2. Obv. Head of a nymph in profile to right, her hair dressed in
a broad band.
Rev. Man-headed bull to left, above YDIURI-
CLASS III, CIRCA 380-340 B.C
I. Obv. The head of Hera Lacinia, three quarter face inclined to
right, wearing necklace, the hair blown around the head, escaping
from the high sphendone decorated with bas reliefs of two griffins
and palms.
Rev. Man-headed bull walking to right, head erect, above, the
legend AMHY or AHMY or AMIQY.
The A is sometimes R or A. The Y is sometimes y or Y.
M. A. Sambon notices one with the legend YPIAN02. At Parma is
a specimen with f on both Obv. and Rev.
CLASSIFICATION OF COINS BEARING NOLA.
CLASS I. 390-325 B.C.
Obv. Head of Hebe to right, of fine style, wearing earring
and sphendone broader at back than in front where it is knotted
or has an ornament.
Rev. A man-headed bull walking to left, the head bearded and
facing. Above in the field a figure of Victor}^ flyi"g 'iiid placing a
crown on the human head. In the exergue NHAAIOI or NHAAION
or NOAAinN.
CLASS II. 360-320 B.C.
Obv. Head of Pallas to right wearing crested Athenian helmet
ornamented with a crown of olive on which is perched an owl.
Rev. Man-headed bull walking to right. On some coins the
letter O is seen under the bull, on others the monogram ^, or /E,
or an uncertain sign i. Behind the head of Pallas Z or i and under
the bull /E, and above NHAAinN.
CLASS III.
Obv. Head of Hera Lacinia similar to that on the coins bearing
the legend AHHY.
Rev. Man-headed bull walking to right, the head and human face
slightly bent as if to receive the crown which a flying Victory
places over the head. The legend is confused, FA YKA Cl\ in the
exergue. This coin is in the Cabinet of France.
— 44
FENSERNIA
Some rare coins to be seen in the Cabinets of London, Paris,
Parma, Naples and Vienna, bear the head of Hera on the Obv.,
some of which are thought by D' Imhoof-Blumer to have been
issued from the mint of Nohi because they seem to have the same
Obv. type apparently struck by the same hammer as that used for
some of the Hyrian types.
Eckhel attributed them to Croton, and Avellino to Cerfennia or Cen-
sennia or to Tifernum, but Millingen, Garrucci, and D' Imhoof-
Blumer recognized that they must be attributed to some Campanian
city. It was noticed that the type of the reverse bearing the Chimaera
was probably suggested by the volcanic nature of Vesuvius, and
Pindar's words in Olymp. XIII, 128, describing the Chimarea as
" fire breathing " (xjp-veiu-a) were quoted in illustration. This
reverse type is also illustrated by the design of a Campanian vase
on which we see Bellerophon slaying the Chimaera (A. Sambon,
Fascs antiques. Paris, 1904, p. 41).
CLASS I WITH OSCAN LEGEND, CIRCA 360-335 B.C.
Obv. Head of Hera nearly full face but slightly turned to the
right wearing a high diadem ornamented with bas reliefs of griffins
and palms, the hair blown around the head, a necklace of pearls,
similar to the design on coins of Hyria.
Rev. Bellerophon on Pegasus who is flying to the right. The hero
wears a petasus, and raises his right hand on which he holds a lance
preparing to pierce the Chimaera. Legend around >41VHa3^li38.
A Phocaean didrachm, about 1 13 grains or 7.38 gram.
CLASS II WITH GREEK LEGENDS 380-335 B.C.
Obv. similar to above.
Rev. similar to above but with the legend ^EN^EP. Some
specimens bear f in the field on right of the head on Obv. and on
Rev. to right of Pegasus. The style is often very good.
The r appears likely to be the signature of an artist.
— 45 —
BRONZE COINS WITH THE LEGEND ID8HH OR IDN®h.
A. Sambon and Garrucci thought there was a town called Irnum
near to Salerno on the banks of the river Irno. The coins bearing
tills legend are always found in Campania, and two specimens have
been found in the Oscan tombs ot Pompei {Gioiii. dcgli Scavi,
1874, n. 21).
The type is copied from the coins of Neapolis, and from those
of Cum:t, and although they are of very rough workmanship they
seem to have been issued before 300 B.C.
Confer 5. M. Catalogue, p. 127, "uncertain oscan coins".
1. Obv. Size .65. Obv. Head of Apollo to right laureate, back hair
in form of ringlets.
Rev. Man-headed bull to left, in field above IDN®I, one specimen
has I® ^Q. The head of the bull is very much larger in proportion
than usual.
2. Obv. Size .32. Similar to no. i, but back hair curled back and
upwards.
Rev. Mussel shell hinged to right, around which three dolphins,
a border of dots; no legend. No 9, p. 127, B. M. C, also at Berlin,
Paris, and Naples.
VELECHA
There are two bronze coins in the Museum at Berlin, a Sextans,
and an Uncia bearing the legend CEAEXA. This city is known only
by these coins. Some conjecture that a series of the aes grave(semis,
triens, sextans and uncia) bearing the letters HE may have been
issued from the same unknown city.
Garrucci suggests that the name Valekans may be taken from the
god Vulcan, just as the Mamertines were so called from the god
Mamers. A. Sambon suggests that: " On pent penser aussi a des
incursions des Volsci, pres du pays des Hirpiniens ".
I . Size I . I Obv. Head of Helios flicing, a dot on either side, i :
border of dots.
Rev. Elephant to right CEAEXA.
II. Size. 8. Obv. Head of Helios facing : border of dots.
Rev. A horse's head to risiht CEAEX : border of dots.
- 46 -
NUGERIA ALFATERNA
Nuceria was situated sixteen miles from Nola, on the banks of
the Sarnus, about nine miles from the sea, at the junction of the
road from Nola to Salernum with that from Neapolis. It was an
Oscan citv belonging to a tribe called the Alfaterni mentioned by
Pliny (III 5) as among the " populi " of Campania.
We are not told by the historians when the citizens entered into
alliance with Rome, but it was probably about 332 B.C., when
Cales fell into the hands of the Romans. The earliest mention of
Roman influence at Nuceria is that made by Diodorus (XIX, 6),
" The Romans when at war with the Samnites took Ferentum, a
city of Apulia. The inhabitants of Nuceria, called also Alfaterna,
influenced by some of their fellow citizens, renounced their
friendship with the Romans, and made alliance with the Samnites".
This happened in the year 315 B.C. : seven years later we learn
from Livy (IX 41) " Fabius having marched to Nuceria rejected the
application of the people of Alfaterna, then suing for peace,
because they had not accepted it when oftered, and by force 01
arms compelled them to surrender. A battle was fought with the
Samnites, and they were overcome without much difficulty ". In
the previous chapter Livy had described the luxurious dresses, and
armour decorated with gold and silver, of the Samnites, and how
these arms, when taken as spoil, were used to decorate the silver-
smiths' shops in the Forum. For more than fifty years the Nucerians
remained quiet under Roman rule. About 280 B.C., when
Pyrrhus began his war with Rome, the citizens began to issue the
coinage with Oscan legends, and a type designed in allusion to a
native myth.
Their silver coins were according to M. A. Sambon not issued
after 268 B.C., the year of the introduction of the Roman silver
denarii, but the bronze coins continued to be issued until the
destruction of the city by Hannibal in 216 B.C. In that year
when the Carthaginians had been repulsed at Nola they came to
Nuceria along the road from Neapolis and^ laying siege to the city,
starved it into subjection. The resistance was long, and many
attempts were made by the Carthaginians to win over the different
— M —
parties in the city. When the end came most of the citizens were
found to have fled to the neighbouring cities, and Nuceria was
given over to the soldiers, who plundered and at last burnt it to the
ground. The Carthaginians then returned to Nola and Acerrae
(Livy XXIII 15). When in 210 B.C. the Carthaginians left
Campania, the refugees complained to Fulvius of their homeless
condition, and he sent to ask the Senate what should be done for
them. It was decreed that Acerrae should be restored, and the
request of the Nucerians to be allowed to settle in Atella, granted,
the Atellans being removed to Calatia (Livy XXVII, 3).
The city destroyed by Hannibal is that in which we are interested
on account of its coinage, but it is interesting to note that another
city was built on the site of Nuceria, and flourished in the days ot
Cicero, as we see in his work Dc Leg. Agr. (II 31). Appian (B.C.
I, 42) tells us it was ravaged in the Social War by C. Papius, and
Florus describes its capture by Spartacus (III 20.5).
The name of the old Oscan city which appears on the coins
signifies the new town of Alfaterna 3AM or 3VM (nov) with
the suffix <]>| (cr) according to Mommsen Die iinterit. Dial.,
p. 283).
On the Obv. of the didrachms is a man's head decorated with
ram's horns, which has been variously interpretated. Avellino
explains the type by reference to a passage in Suetonius (^De clar.
rhet. c 4) concerning an ancestor of the rhetorician Epidius who
flourished towards the end of the Republic and was a teacher of
M. Antony and Octavius.
" This Epidius used to claim that he was descended from Epidius
Nuncione (Nucerino ?), who they say was once cast into the river
Sarnus, and soon afterwards appeared with horns, but immediately
afterwards disappeared, being held among the number of the Gods".
Millingen suggests that we should see in this horned head a
figure of the hero Sarnus who gave his name to the river.
Duchalais regarded this as a head of Apollo Karneios, and other
writers have looked upon it as a Libyan Dionysus, because it
resembles the head on coins of Cyrene.
Garrucci notes that the horns on the figures of river-gods are
generally bull's horns, whereas the horns on the.se coins are those
of rams. There seems to have been some intercourse between
Cyrene and the port Pompei, for an important find of coins of
Cyrene has been discovered in Calabria. Two vases in the Hermitage
mentioned by Reinach show a similar head belonging to the
Dionysiac cycle.
-48 -
DIDRACHMS.
The legends are in the genitive plural.
a) Obv. ^i1Vkl<3TN0N>IN mvm<>l=lVH (Alafaternum
Nuvkrinum) or IIIVHI=JVM mVH<3TNIPI or mVM^'^Flhn.
On some specimens, behind the head on the Obv., symbols are
found, as a dolphin, a dolphin and pecten shell, a goat, a cantharus,
a bee. These coins have no legend in the exergue.
BRONZE COINS.
260-210 B.C.
I. Size I inch. Litra (?).
Obv. Young male head with long hair, bound with a fillet around
mVM<]3TN8nvlN, H1VMIOI3VM : border of dots.
Rev. The Dioscuri galloping to left and raising the right hand.
In the exergue in two lines HIVMNMnU-
— 49 —
n< \MyV\\3>'< = Regvinum Ravalanum. Specimens in the
Museums of London, Berlin, Naples.
II. Size I inch. Hemi-litra (?).
Obv. Young male head to left, perhaps Apollo. Around
^V1V|/||<)I=1VM : border of dots.
Rev. A hunting hound running to right, around kHVM<3T-
NSn^in ; some specimens add I41VHI<>IDVH.
A specimen in British Museum.
Hands,
— 50 —
PHISTELIA.
Among the most common ot the small silver coins of Southern
Italy are those bearing a beardless virile head, facing, with an Oscan
legend on the Rev., and sometimes a Greek legend on the Obv.
0I2TEAIA. Many are the conjectures which have been made as to
the site from which these little coins were issued, but few are the
facts by which they may be tested. The most important is that
the greatest number of these coins have been found in excavations
in Samnium. Von Duhm in 1878 published (in the Bull. Inst. p. 3 i)
his notes on the excavations in the necropolis of Piedimonte d'Alife,
in which quantities of obols of Phistelia were found, and he
also examined the collection of Canon Pacelli of Telesia. Minervini
published (in Bull. Arch. Nap. N. S. Ill 130) notes on the
excavations of a necropolis at Campo Laurelli, near Campo Basso,
in which obols of Phistelia were found in abundance. Telesia
is a few miles north-west of Capua on the east side of the river
Vulturnus ; a little to the south of Telesia is Phstiae which
some think may have been Phistelia. Allifa, wdiere many of these
coins have been found, is to the north of Telesia. Avellino (Op. Ill,
p. 86) thought Plistia was the same as Phistelia. This city is
mentioned by Livy (Bk IX, 21) " The Samnites being forced to fly
into their camp, extinguished their fires at night, and went away in
silence, and giving up all hopes of relieving Saticula, sat them-
selves down before Plistia, which was in alliance with the Romans,
that they might if possible give back equal trouble to their enemy".
The fact that these coins hear legends sometimes in Greek on the
Obv., and Oscan on the Rev., points to a site near the borders ot
Samnium and Campania, such a condition is sufficiently fulfilled
in the site of Plistia. The Samnites, settled in Campania, generally
used Greek for their legends, but the coiners of these obols of
Phistelia always used Oscan and only sometimes added the Greek
legends to the Obv. of their coins.
This general use of Oscan legends shows that the coins were
issued for the commercial use of Samnites. M. A. Sambon regards
the art exhibited on these coins as more distinctly Samnite than that
of any other mint.
— 51 —
Another evidence of the Samnite origin of these obols is the name
^IRHV, Opsins written retrograde, which is found on an obol in the
collection of D' A. Evans.
Millingen, Lenormant, and Mommsen attributed these coins to
Puteoli, but none have been found there in any excavations, and
those obtained in the neighbourhood of Naples were probably
brought there from Samnium, that city being the nearest market
for such antiquities.
DIDRACHMS
1. Obv. Head of Nymph three quarter face to right with hair
blown around the head, no sphendone or fillet visible.
Rev. Man-headed bull walking to left, with head in profile erect.
Above, in the field, the legend ^IVT>I^I8. In the Cabinets of Berlin
and France, varieties of poor style; imitations by Samnites bear the
legend 81^ \^WS or BRTUVR or SISTI^WIS.
One variety has a dolphin in the exergue of the Rev. Weight :
I [6. 4 gr. Brit. Museum, no 2.
2. Obv. Head of Hera with high diadem or sphendone.
Rev. Man-headed bull to right, head in profile erect. Above, in the
field a Victory flying to right and holding crown over the bull. No
legend. This coin is attributed to this city by M. A. Sambon on
account of the close similarity of the work with the above-mentioned
coins.
Mr. Poole attributed it to Naples, p. 94, C. B. M.
OBOLS.
I. Obv. Youthful male beardless face, with short hair, fuU-
tace like a mask without a neck.
1
Rev. A barley corn and mussel shell around which the legend
^IVnIT^IB or^ll'VT^IS or VVTI8.
In the British Museum is a similar obol without legend.
2. Obv. Similar face but with neck, around the legend Z\yi —
— 52 —
Rev. A dolphin and barley corn and mussel shell.
In the Collection Cazaniello, from Piedimonte d'Alife.
>^'
3. Obv. Similar, three-quarter face with neck, around which
ct>llTE— AIA. At Naples one specimen has OIZTE — AAD.
Rev. Dolphin, barley-corn and mussel shell, and the legend
^IVv^T^IS around.
A varietv, in the Cabinet of France, has the legend above
IVslT$l8.
4. Obv. Similar head, to left O.
Rev. Same as last, but under type ^IV
5. Obv. Similar head of different style, to right N-
Rev. Mussel shell and barley corn, above which ^IV'^T^IS.
6. Obv. Head of Pallas to right with Athenian helmet decorated
with olive-wreath on which an owl is perched.
Rev. Forepart of a man-headed bull to right swimming, above,
the legend V>I3T^I8. Cabinet at Berlin. Minervini notes a specimen
with the same types, but the legend $IV"^TI5^^.
HALF OBOLS.
1. Obv. Youthful male beardless head facing, around which the
name of a magistrate ^IRDV (Opsins).
Rev. .^IV^T^I^ The letters divided in pairs in the spaces formed
by the figure I.
Found at Piedimonte d'Alife.
2. Obv. Head ot Pallas, facing, her helmet decorated with three
feathers.
Rev. ^IV>IT^I8 the letters as on no. i divided by the design or
figure I. C. of Berlin, and C. of France.
— 53 —
aUARTER-OF-AN-OBOL.
I. Obv. Youthful male beardless face around which ^IV"J^I8.
Rev. A wheel with a globule in each space between the spokes.
Coll. Evans.
Found at Piedimonte d'Alife.
LEGENDLESS COINS.
The following coins are known to have been found chiefly in
Samnium and from the similarity of the workmanship may most
probably be attributed to Phistelia.
OBOLS.
1. Obv. Female head nearly facing, the hair in waves around, a
necklace of pearls on the neck.
Rev. A lion running to left, sometimes to the right; in exergue a
serpent.
The lion is imitated from that on coins of Heraclea; the reverse is
often concave.
On p. 129. B. M. Cat. under '^ UNCERTAIN OF CAMPANIA."
Weight of obol in Brit. Museum of this type 9.7 grs. ; size .45.
2. Similar types to No. i but above the lion a star of eight rays.
This type has been found at Piedimonte d'Alife.
3. Similar types, but the lion is represented with the head
looking backwards, above, in the field, a helmet, and in the exergue
a thyrsus with fillets.
A specimen is in the Cabinet at Berlin.
For notes on these coins confer Dressel, Hist, unci Phil. Atifsal~e
;^M Ebreii E. Ciirtiiis, pp. 250-258, and the Zeitsch. fur Niiiiiisni..
XIV, 1886, p. 170.
54 —
SUESSA
Although Suessa was just within the border of Latium it was, in
the earUer days of its history, looked upon as one of the Campanian
cities, and is included among them by M. A. Sambon in his work
'' Les monnaies antiques de ritalie".
Suessa was founded by the citizens of Aurunca, when their old
home, about five miles to the north, was destroyed by the Sidicini
in the year 337 B. C. It was five miles south of the Liris, about
eight from the sea, and seven from Teanum. Cales lies about ten
miles to the South-East, and Capua about twenty miles distant in
the same direction. According to Livy (VIII, 21) the country between
the Liris and the Volturnus was subdued by the Romans in 340
B.C., but no Roman colonists settled in the lands of Suessa until
313 B.C. During the wars with Pyrrhus and the Carthaginians
the Romans left considerable liberty to their southern allies, and
permitted them to coin silver with the legend SVESANO and
bronze coins with types copied from the Greek coins of Magna
Graecia. A sign of their superintendence may perhaps be seen in the
legend PR&OM or PR^OM on the bronze coins which Garrucci
considers as equal to ' probum metallum ' or ass.
The Aurunci (AjpcuY/.c',) were the people called by the Greeks
Ausones, the two names being different forms of the same, the
letter s being changed to r. Servius identifies them in his notes
on Virgil's Aen. VII, 727.
Festus makes the mythical hero Auson, son of Ulysses by Circe,
the founder of the race.
Suessa suff'ered so much during the wars that followed the landing
of Pyrrhus, and those with the Carthaginians, that it was numbered
among the twelve cities which declared their inability to provide
the men and money needed by the Romans, and was afterwards
heavily taxed in consequence (Livy XXVII, 9, XXIX, 15).
Their silver didrachms, issued according to the Neapolitan
system, were all of one type. The Obv., a head of Apollo, seems
to have .been copied from coins of Croton, the Rev. looks like an
imitation of the coins of Tarentum, which may have become well
known to them by the money brought northwards by the armies
of Pyrrhus. The Bronze coins may be divided into three classes;
those issued for local use, and those used in trade with the northern
and southern neighbouring cities.
— 55 —
The local coins bear on the reverse Heracles strangling the lion,
and are evidently copied from the coins of Heraclea.
These are the earliest, and date from about 280 B.C. The second
class comprises those bearing acock on the Rev., and the type is
that used by the towns which held periodical markets or fairs
(nundina;) on the great commercial routes between Campania,
Latium and Samnium. The third Class consists of coins bearing
on the Rev. the man-headed bull crowned by Victory, and this typ6
ensured their circulation in Campania and Apulia.. These two types
are about ten years later than the local type.
DIDRACHMS.
There is only one type known, varied only in the symbol behind
the head.
Obv. Head of Apollo, laureate to right, except in two specimens
on which it is to left ; one is in the Cabinet of France, and the
other at Naples.
Behind the head is a svmbol ; the following is a list of those
known : a l_yre, a triskelis, a crescent, the head of a trident, a
sword, a pentagon, a shield, a Macedonian helmet, an owl, a lion's
skin, a tripod, the head of a spear, or perhaps a leaf, a trophy, a
fulmen, a star with eight ravs, a wing, a pecten shell, a vase with
two handles.
Rev. A mounted nude Desultor with pilos on his head, holding
in his left hand a palm branch decorated with fillets (/>•/; ;xvby.:'.) and
leading a second horse. In the exergue SVESANO.
Some understand this as a gen. pl. = Suessanorum, others as the
ablative sing, of 2"'' declension, as Tianud = Tiano, compare Aku-
dunniad Aquino, Arimno, Beneventod, Caiatino, Caleno, Romano,
with these names is understood " a popi^ilo ".
LOCAL BRONZE COINS.
Types struck during Pyrrhic wars, circ. 280 B.C.
Obv. Head of Mercury to left, wearing the petasus with small
wings on top, the cap is tied under the chin with a knot or how,
in front of face the legend ri>^OVIVI or TROBOM or TRO^OM.
- 56 -
The Obv. legend is ver}' varied in spelling PR&OM and
PROBOVM are also found.
^fA*''
Rev. Heracles nude, standing to right, strangling the Neniiean
lion. In the field between the legs of the hero a club.
The legend, to left, SVESANO.
CAMPANIAN BRONZE TYPES.
I. Obv. Head of Pallas to left wearing crested Corinthian helmet :
border of dots.
Rev. Cock to right ; behind a star of eight rays ; before SVESANO :
borders of dots.
7
It A^-*s,
On a specimen at Naples a club is seen behind the head on the
obverse.
On some specimens the helmet is decorated with a serpent.
2. Obv. Head of Apollo to left, behind a fulmenor T or O, or N,
or the letter K, or M before SVESANO or $VE$ANO.
Rev. Man-headed bull to right, the head flicing, crowned by a
flying Victory. Between the legs of the bull N- or 12 or M or P.
3. Obv. Similar head of Apollo, behind head O, perhaps it is a
patera.
Rev. Similar to last with SVESANO in the exergue.
— 57
TEANUM SIDICINUM
The strength of tribal influence among the Ausonians is shewn
by the names of the tribes affixed to several of their chief cities,
Nuceria of the Alfaterni, Suessa of the Aurunci, and Teanum ot
the Sidicini. All these cities used the same Oscan alphabet for the
legends on their coins, and the two types of the cock and the man-
headed bull common to these and to Caiatia, Gales and other cities
further north, as Aquinum, Telesia, and Aesernia point to consider-
able commercial activity among them.
Strabo (V,- p. 237) gives the following account of Teanum :
"Teanum called Sidicinum shows by its name that it belonged to
the nation of the Sidicini. These people are Osci, a sur\'iving
nation of the Campanians, so that this city, which is the largest
of those situated on the via Latina, may be said to be Campanian
as well as Gales, another considerable city which lies beyond. "
Livy speaks of the power the Sidicini once had in the valley of
the Liris, and the territory of Fregellae (VIII, 22) and Virgil asso-
ciates them with the Auruncans and the men of Gales. The terri-
tory of Teanum seems to have been fertile and was especially
famous for olives, which Pliny speaks of as among the best in
Italy. In 343 B.G. we learn from Livy (VII, 29, 30) the Samnites
attacked Capua and the citizens called on the Campanians to assist
them, and afterwards asked for help from Rome, and thus gave rise
to the First Samnite War. In spite of the variying fortunes of the
following vears they managed to keep their independence, for in 338
B.C. they attacked and destroyed Aurunca, whose fugitives fled to
Suessa. (Livy, VIII, 15). The Sidicini sided with the men of Gales
in their war with the Romans which ended in 332 B.C. by the
territory of Teanum being subjected to Rome. The exact date oi
the fall of the city Teanum into the power of Rome is not known.
Arnold says 316, (p. 233), but it was some time before 297 B.G.
when we read that Decius Mus attacked the Samnites " per agrum
Sidicinum ".
Arnold (II, p. 176), savs : "Although Gales was made a colony
and garrisoned with 2500 colonists, yet the Sidicinians held out
during the two following years, and their lands were wasted, but
- 58 -
their principal city, Teanum, was not taken, and as neither victories
nor triumphs over them appear in the annals or in the Fasti, and
the termination of the war is never noticed, we may suppose that
they after a time obtained favourable terms, and preserved at least
their independence".
During the war with Pyrrhus 281-275 B.C. they were left by
the Romans with sufficient freedom to coin money, both silver and
bronze with Oscnn legends and types, which show their freedom
to join in the monetary federation of the neighbouring cities. In
216 after the battle of CannK the Roman Dictator was at Teanum.
The silver coins bear on the Obv. a head of Heracles which is
thought to have been chosen with reference to the idea that Heracles
presided over the mineral springs in the neighbourhood of the city.
The Rev. type Victory in a triga appears to be a local design. A
triga appeared in 90 B.C. on the denarii of the Mallia gens, and
in 81 B.C. on those of C. Naevius Balbus. Dionysius of Halicar-
nassus says (VII, 73), the Romans borrowed the custom of yoking
three horses to a chariot from the Greeks. These coins of Teanum
are an illustration of how the Romans came into contact with Greek
ideas long before the days of the Mallia coins.
The rare bronze coins with the head of Mercury instead ot
Apollo are perhaps evidence of their intercourse with Latium
where the cult of that god was popular. The other types with the
cock and the man-headed bull on the Rev. bear witness to their
commerce with the surrounding cities. After 268 B.C., when the
Romans began to issue their first silver denarii, no silver coins were
issued from Teanum, and the bronze coins appeared with the legend
in Latin letters TIANO instead of the Oscan legend ^VMNhT.
In the Punic wars the city suffered much, for Livy (XXVI, 9)
tells of Hannibal crossing the Volturnus and next day going on
to Cales "in agrum Sidicinum". Silius Italicus (V, 551) praises the
valour of the cohort of Sidicinum and gives the name of their leader
as Viredasius (confer also lib. XII, 524).
In 216 B.C., after the battle of Cannx, Marcellus sent a legion
to Teanum to secure the via Latina (Livy, XXII, 97). In 211 B.C.
it was in the hands of the Romans, for they confined there the
senators of Capua while they were awaiting their sentence from
Rome. Fulvius slew them before the sentence arrived (Livy, XXVI,
15). From that time it was a Roman municipal town, and was
flourishing in the time of Cicero, as we may gather from his Dc
leg. figr.,' 31, 35, and ad Attic, VIII, 11. d.
— 59 —
SILVER COINS.
282-268 B.C.
Didrachms. 107 grains.
I. Obv. Head ot Heracles to right, beardless, and wearing lion
skin head-dress, before 51VHNI-T ; border of dots on edge.
Rev. \'ictory driving a triga to left, holding out whip in her
right hand; the centre horse has the head turned. In exergue
Specimens in Museums of London, Berlin, Naples, Paris; those
at London and Paris are " fourres".
IL Didrachms on large flan about 111-107 grains.
Same types as no i. but no legend on Obv. and with flVHNHT
or 51VHnhT on Rev. in exergue. Specimens in the Museums ot
Milan, Berlin, Naples, Paris and London. These are not so rare as
No I.
In the Museum at London is one with the head of Heracles
turned to left, with an oak-leaf behind (fourree).
Other symbols found behind the head of Heracles are a
cantharus, a pedum, an owl, a hermes, a heron, a cornucopia.
BRONZE COINS.
I.
HEAD OF APOLLO AND MAN-HEADED BULL. 280-268 B.C.
I. Size I inch. Litra (?)
Obv. Head of Apollo to right, before 51VHNI-T; border of dots.
Rev. Man-headed bull walking to right with the head facing,
above a lyre. In exergue flVUDIIflR.
Symbol above bull, sometimes a star; various letters are found
behind the head of Heracles.
— 6o —
II
SIMILAR TYPES WITHOUT SIDIKIXUD. 27O-24O B. C.
Size f inch. Litra(?)
Obv. Laureated head of Apollo to left before J^VMNhT :
border of dots.
Rev. Man-headed bull walking to right, with head facing, crowned
by a flying Victory ; below a pentagon on some examples.
Behind the head of Apollo on some specimens T or O, or a buckler,
or a patera.
On one specimen at Paris there is no flving Victory.
These are common coins.
Ill
OBVERSE TYPE. HEAD OF MERCURY. 28O-268 B. C.
Size I inch. Litra(?)
Obv. Head of Hermes to right, with flowing hair, wearing winged
petasos and chlamys fastened at the throat with a brooch ; over his
shoulder the caduceus; behind head, a star of eight rays: border or
dots.
Rev. A man-headed bull walking to right, head facing; above a
star of sixteen rays.
Specimens in Museums at London, Paris and Berlin.
IV
COINS WITH LATIN LEGENDS. AFTER 268 B.C.
Size I inch. Litra (?)
Obv. Head of Pallas to left, wearing a Corinthian helmet ; on
.some specimens an owl behind : border of dots.
Rev. A cock to right: behind a star of eight rays; in front
TIANO : border of dots.
Specimens at Berlin, Naples, Paris and London.
6i —
ROMANO-CAMPANIAN COINS.
Although this series of eight types is common enough to be
frequently found in small collections it is of uncommon interest
both in regard to its artistic and historic associations. Other Cam-
panian coins illustrate the influence of the Greek cities upon the
Oscan or Samnite races, but these early silver Roman coins shew
us the effects of the dawn of Greek thought and art upon the more
powerful Roman race. Arnold has called the period during which
these coins were issued " the spring-time of the Roman people ".
This was the period during which many Romans won greater
victories than those gained in war. These coins were used by such
men as Curius and Fabricius, whose characters were not spoiled
by the wealth which the coins represent.
The reply of Curius to the Samnites who tried to bribe him is
famous: "I count it my glor}^ not to possess gold, but to have
power over those that do". As well known is the reply of Fabri-
cius under like circumstances. "While I am master over mj^ five
senses, and sound in body and limb, I need nothing more" {Fal.
Max., IV, iii, 5, and 6).
Pyrrhus bore noble witness to the moral grandeur of Fabricius
when he received from him the letter of the traitorous physician
who proposed to poison his master, " This is that Fabricius whom
it is harder to turn aside from the ways of justice and honour
than to divert the sun from its course" (Eutrop, II, 14).
Cineas, the ambassador of Pyrrhus to Rome, bore similar
witness to the Roman character at that time, when he said,
"Rome is a temple, and the Senate an assembly of kings " (Florus,
I, 18).
D"" Arnold said of the years which preceded the first Punic war,
" This ten years was probably the time of the greatest physical
prosperity which the mass of the Roman people ever knew. "
The result of their victories had enriched all classes, and the life
and character of the Roman people were being changed, the means
of acquiring wealth unjustlv proving a temptation which sorely
tried the national character.
An illustrated classified list of these eight types will prove a help
to those who are entering upon a study of this series, and will
enable the student to enter upon the difficult questions of dates and
mints with the aid of something tangible.
— 62 —
CLASS I.
I. Obv. Head of Mars to left.
Rev. Bust of horse bridled, ROMANO
Weight: 118.36 to 112.65 grains or 7.67 to 7.33 grammes;
average 7.23.
II. Obv. Head of Apollo to left, ROMANO.
Rev. Cantering horse to right ; a star above.
Weight: 11 2. "6 5 to 104.94 grains or 7.30 to 6.80 grammes;
average 715.
III. Obv. Head 01 youthful Hercules to right.
Rev. The she-wolf and the twins, ROMANO.
Weight: 112.65 to 106.48 grains or 7.30 to 6.94 grammes.
CLASS II.
IV. Obv. Female head with Phrygian helmet to right.
- 63 -
Rev. Victory tying taenia to palm-branch, ROMANO.
Weight: loi to 98 grains or 6.68 to 6.48 grammes.
The weight of six scriptula would be 6.82 gram, or 105 .25 grs.
V. Obv. Head of Apollo to right.
Rev. Horse galloping to left. ROMA.
Weight: 101.99 to 101.08 grains or 6.70 to 6.53 grammes.
VI. Obv. Helmeted head of Mars to right; club behind.
Rev. Horse galloping to right, above a club, below ROMA.
Weight : loi .99 to 97.22 grains or 6.72 to 6.29 grammes.
VII. Obv. Helmeted head of Mars to right.
Rev. Bust of horse to right, bridled, a falx behind, ROMA below.
Weight : 101.99t0101.08 grains or 6.71 to 6. 54 grammes.
CLASS III.
VIII. Obv. Janiform beardless head.
Rev. Jupiter in quadriga to right. ROMA below.
Weight from 106.48 to 100 grains or from 6.96 to
6.17 grammes.
The abundant and interesting coins bearing the legends ROMANO
and ROMA illustrate a period of Roman history difficult to
understand on account of the lack of historical literary evidence
upon which we can depend. All modern students of Roman history
realize how uncertain is the light which Livy has thrown upon
-64 -
this period^ and how difficult it is to reconcile his statements with
the evidence of the coins issued in Campania about the year
300 B.C.
Some numismatists have attributed this series of coins to Capua,
others to the cities of Cales, Arpi, and Beneventum, while
M. Babelon has suggested that they were military coins, issued by
the Roman generals from whatever city they happened to inhabit
when an issue of coinage was needed for military purposes.
This suggestion appears to explain the legend having reference
to the Roman people rather than to any particular city.
Unless a design is the well known emblem of a city or the head
or figure of a deity associated intimately with a city, the type will
witness to the artist who engraved it rather than to the city in
which he worked.
Especially is this the case with the coins of Southern Italy, for
there the artists worked not in one city only, but sometimes for
several mints. If we find a coin bearing the legend ROMANO similar
to a coin which we know to have been issued from Cales or Arpi
it does not follow that it was minted in those cities; it may
signify that the coin-engraver who worked in Cales or Arpi
also wrought for the Romans, but where he did his work, or
whence the coin was issued is not revealed by the type. Moreover
among the Oscan cities the coin-engravers were most probably
Greeks who had learned their art in Greek cities, and copied their
types. This would explain the frequency with which the types of
Tarentum were copied, and the beautiful work of the Sicilian mint-
engravers imitated.
Sir A. Evans would attribute to the year 338 B.C. the didrachms
with the head of Mars, and to the year 310 those with the head
of Hercules, and to the year 300 those with the helmeted head of
Roma. These dates appear to M. A. Sambon too early, and he
would attribute them to the years between 303-270 B.C., a time
when the Samnites were subdued, and the Romans sought during
the six years' peace 305-298 B.C. to rule the commerce between
Cales, Arpi, and Venusia. In 291 B.C. Venusia was colonized by
20.000 Roman colonists, to form a strong post on the road to Taren-
tum from Samnium.
M. Sambon then turns to examine the subjects of the types on
these ROMANO coins, and shews that they are copied from Sicilian
types. Those with the head of Mars seem to be copied from bronze
Syracusan coins of the time of Timoleon with the head of the hero
Archia, and he refers to the important commercial treaties made
with the Carthaginians in 275 B.C. (Polybius, iii, 25).
About 305 B.C. the Romans had begun to repair the old defect
in their military arrangements, the lack of cavalry.
- 65 -
The types of the head of Apollo and the unbridled horse were
copied from Sicilian coins.
Moreover the types of the bridled horse's head, and the galloping
horse, were signs of the growing interests of the Romans in the
use of cavalry, an interest which probably arose from their connec-
tion with the Tarentines.
The " transvectio equitum ", connected with the cult of Castor
and Pollux, was instituted in 304 B.C. (Livy, ix, 46) " ab eodem
institutum dicitur, ut equites Idibus Quintilibus transveherentur ".
The didrachm with the head of Hercules is similar to those ot
Svracuse with the legend AlOI EAAANIOY, probably issued about
287-278 B.C., and similar to the coins bearing the head of Heracles
coined during the brief government of Pyrrhus.
The type bearing the head of Roma, and the iigure of Victory,
alludes to the battle at Ausculum 279 B.C., which, although claimed
as a victory bv Pyrrhus, was indecisive enough to reanimate the
courage of the Romans after their defeat at Heraclea, when Pyrrhus
was obliged to return to Tarentum. This type of the Victory is
seen also in a bronze coin of Ausculum, and the head of the figure
is bent as if mourning for the fallen heroes of the fight.
The other coins bearing the legend ROMA shew signs of the
commercial relations with the Bruttii ; for instance the youthful
head of Mars is similar to, and probably copied from, the head of
Achilles on the coins ot Pyrrhus.
Dr. HAEBERLIN S FIRST PERIOD 335-3 12 B.C.
The bronze had no relation to the silver convenient for
exchange, the didrachm corresponding to 3 1 asses. The bronze
coinage was mere token money.
Silver.
Campanian didrachms ot normal weight 116.98 grains.
I (a) Obv. Head of Mars, bearded, to left.
I^. Bust of horse to right, behind it a corn-ear. ROMANO,
b) A silver litra corresponding.
II Obv. Head of Apollo to left, ROMANO.
^. A horse to right, above it a star.
III. Obv. Head of voung Heracles, to right.
I^. Wolf and twins, ROMANO.
Hands.
— 66 —
SECOND PERIOD.
Silver.
The FIRST ISSUE consisted of didrachms only, no gold or
smaller coins.
I. Obv. Head of Roma in Phiygian helmet, to right.
^L. Victoiy fastening taenia to a palm branch : ROMANO.
LATER ISSUES. Three types of silver, gold, and bronze.
II. Obv. Head of Mars to right, beardless; behind, a club.
I^. Horse to right; above, a club, ROMA.
Libella; of same types.
III. Obv. Head of Mars to right, beardless.
^L. Bust of horse to right, behind, a sickle, ROMA.
Drachms and Libelht of same types.
IV. Obv. Head of Apollo, to right.
^L. Horse, to left, ROMA.
Drachms and Libell^ of same types.
TABLE SHEWING RELATION OF BRONZE TO SILVER IN HAEBERLIn's
SECOND PERIOD.
1 Scriptulum weighed 17.44 gr. ^^' ^-^37 gi*'^"!- X i20=Semis
2 Scriptula = 35.3 — or 2.274 — X 120= As of
light Pound.
3 — = drachm of 52.62— or 3.41 — X 120= i^ As
4 — =70. — or 4.55 — Xi20= Du-
pondius
6 — = didrachmofi05.25 — or6.82 — X 120 = Tressis
or three Asses
Gold.
6 Scriptula A/". = 15 didrachms = 30 drachms = 45 Asses
4 — A/'. = 10 didrachms = 20 drachms = 30 Asses
3 — A/". ^= 7I didrachms ==15 drachms = 22 | Asses
I Didrachm = 2 Drachms = 6 scriptula JR.. = Tressis
4 — — = Dupondius
— — = I ^ Asses
1
3
2 r= I As
I — — =^ I Semis
The connection between the silver and bronze pieces is also
marked by common types such as the head of Roma and the dog
on the Quadrans of the Wheel series, and by the symbols, the club
and the sickle.
- 67
NOTES ON TYPE I OF EARLIEST PERIOD.
Didrachm ; weight about no to 112 grains.
I. Obv. Bearded and helmeted head of Mars either to right or to
left ; behind an oak leaf and acorn. The head may be copied from
that of Leucippus on the coins ofMetapontum.
Rev. Head and neck of a horse bridled, to right, on a narrow
base on which is inscribed the legend ROMANO, the N is sometimes
N\ behind the head, an ear of barley.
The type may have been copied from Siculo-Punic types.
The style is good, and the design well executed.
Compare the bridled horse's head on Bronze coins of Ausculum,
and those of Luceria.
The head of Mars was a most appropriate type for a Roman
coinage of the period of the Samnite wars. Mars was also regarded as
the father of the Roman people, because he is said to have been the
father of Romulus and Remus, and the husband of Rhea Silvia. His
name was often joined to the word father as Marspater. The horse's
head is appropriate also for the Reverse type, for horses were offered
as sacrifices to this god. There is evidence that in 295 B.C., about
the time when these coins were issued, there was a revival of this
worship in Rome, forLivy (x, 23) tells us the Ogulnei Cnaeusand
Quintus being aediles, " the road from the Capuan gate to the
Temple of Mars was paved with square stones. " The temple was
probably that vowed in the Gallic war, cir. 365 B.C. (Livy, vi, 5),
and dedicated by Titus Quinctius duumvir for performing religious
rites.
Many of these didrachms were found in the deposit discovered
near Beneventum, and described by Dr. A. Evans. They were
mingled with coins of Tarentum, Metapontum, Neapolis, Nola, and
Velia.
Dr. A. Evans attributes these coins to the year 338 B.C. Willers
in the Corolla Niiinism. observ^es that the vigorous style of these
first issues leads us to attribute them to a date a little earlier than
the first isue of Roman denarii, and the symbols found on the
series are also found on some of the earliest of the denarii.
We must compare the head of Mars with the types of the bronze
coins of Syracuse of the time of Timoleon, on which we sec a
similar head of the hero Archia (Cat. B. Mus. no 308), and also with
the Sicilian coins of the Carthaginians.
At the time these coins were issued the Romans were in friendly
alliance with the Carthaginians. In the deposit of Tortorato (Piceno),
Sicilians coins were found together with these ROMANO coins.
— 68
NOTES ON TYPE II.
Obv. Laureated head of Apollo to left, in front ROMANO :
border of dots.
Rev. Unbridled horse galloping to right, above in field a star of
sixteen rays. Sometimes the ground is slightly indicated.
D' Dressel (Zeitschr. fiir Ntimism., XIV, 1886, p. 161), has
pointed out that certain bronze coins of Beneventum appear to
have been engraved by the same artist who wrought this type ot
Apollo.
The head was apparently copied from coins of Syracuse issued
from 345-317 B.C. during the time of Timoleon. Compare these
coins with no. 252 of the Brit. Mus. Catalogue. The Pegasus type
distinguished the Carthaginian coins, and the unbridled horse those
of the Campanians. Apollo had long been worshipped by the
Romans. Livy relates (IV, 25) how a temple to this god was
vowed in the year 430 B.C. on account of a pestilence, and dedi-
cated during the next year, by the Consul Caius Julius (IV, 29).
In the year 350 B.C. either this old temple was restored or another
built (Livy, VII, 20).
M. A. Sambon says : " The head of Apollo on the didrachm
wnth the legend ROMANO offers three varieties, having a striking
analogy with the coins of Beneventum, Suessa, and Cales. A
similar head is also found on Campanian Asses which have been
attributed to Capua, but which may also have been issued from
Suessa.
The Reverse type may be not only a symbol of the Campanian
people but also a reference to the cavalry supplied to the Roman
armies by the Campanian allies.
We may compare this type of the horse and star with the silver
coins of Arpi in Apulia, a city which concluded an alliance with
Rome in 326 B.C. (Livy, IX, 13) and was loyal to the Romans
throughout the wars with Pyrrhus.
- 69 -
NOTES ON TYPE III.
Obv. Head of Heracles to right, \\ith very slight beard, his hair
bound with a fillet. The skin ot a lion bound round his neck, and
the club resting on his shoulders : border of dots.
Rev. A she-wolf to right, suckling the twins and turning her
head towards them. In the exergue ROMANO. The letter A in the
legend appears in many varied forms.
The type of the Obverse is very similar in style to that on the
Syracusa'n coins with the legend AlOl EAAANIOY issued between
282-278 B.C. Confer Brit. Mus. Catal. no. 468, ^69, 470.
They are similar also to coins issued by Pyrrhus circa 278 B.C.
Confer Brit. Mus. Catal. no 493. There is evidence that the Romans
about this time were interested in this cult, for Livy (IX, 44) tells
us that in 305 B.C. "the great statue of- Hercules was erected on
the Capitol and dedicated. "
We are all fomiliar with drawings and photographs of the
bronze wolf preserved in the Capitoline Museum at Rome, and it
is natural to ask whether there can be found any connection
between that fomous bronze group and the type on these didrachms.
Helbig has shown (Die offcntlichen Sammhingen klassischer Allcr-
thiimcr in Rom, p. 478) that at all events the supposition that this
bronze is to be identified with that set up in Rome, by the ^Ediles
Cnaeus and Quintus Ogulnius, in the year 295 B.C. is wrong;
because the Romans, who had by that time so much knowledge of
the Greek art in Magna Graecia, could not then have executed any
work in such an archaic style as that flmiiliar bronze exhibits.
But the new statue set up by the Ogulnian family shews that at
the time when these didrachms were issued this was a popular
subject in Rome; moreover the old bronze on the Capitol shews it
had long been popular, at any rate since the sixth century in Rome.
Although the coin-tvpe is probably purely Roman in its associations,
yet it is interesting to note that the Greeks knew a similar story
which they also commemorated on a coin-type.
Romulus and Remus are not the only heroes who are said to
have been exposed and saved by being nursed by a she-wolf, and
— 70 —
indeed this subject forms the type of a Greek coin issued from
Cydonia in Crete about 350 B.C. The legend to which that coin-
type refers is told by Antoninus Liberalis who flourished about
150 A.D. He quotes this legend from Nicander of Colophon, who
was flourishing in 150 B.C. (Ant. Lib., p. 40, ed. 1832). " Acacalis,
the daughter of Minos, bore a son to Apollo in Crete, whom she
cast forth in the w^oods, through fear of Minos. The wolves
continually visited this child whom according to the counsel of
Apollo they guarded, and supplied with milk in turns. Afterwards
he was found by some herdsmen who took him to their home and
brought him up. When the boy grew up fair and sturdy and Minos
through jealous (ear sought to slay him, he, Miletus, embarking
by night on a light boat, by advice of Sarpedon, sailed to Caria,
and there became the founder of the city Miletus".
Ovid in his Metamorphoses does not mention the wolves when
he tells us (IX, 440) of the flight of Miletus; speaking of Minos
he says " but he was then an invalid and stood in fear of the son
of Deione, Miletus, proud of the strength of youth and his father
Phoebus : and though believing that he was aiming at his kingdom,
yet durst not drive him from his father's house. " Then follows the
story of his flight in a swift ship over the Aegean waters, and his
founding the city Miletus.
It is not unlikely that these Cretan coins may have been brought
to Italy by merchants or by the Greek armies during the Pyrrhic
wars, and it is possible that the Romans may have been reminded,
by the type, of their own legend concerning Romulus and Remus.
It is because so many of the other types of this Romano-Cam-
panian series are copied from Greek coins that it seems possible
that this tvpe also was derived from a Greek source.
NOTES ON TYPE IV.
Obv. Head of a female wearing Phrygian helmet to right, the
helmet is described as of leather. At the top of the crest is a small
griffin's head. Behind is a cornucopi;e : border of dots.
Rev. Victory standing to right, tying a crown to a palm-branch ;
to left ROMANO : to right one of the following letters A or A,
A, H. I- I or H, A. M, O, P, I, T, or BB or AA or II.
The weights vary from loi to 98 grains.
In a work by Conite Alberic du Chastel de la Howardries, "Syra-
cuse, ses monnaies d'argent et d'or, la coiffure antique ", on Plate X
no 1 1 6, we may see a similar head described as " Tete coiffee du
bonnet phrygien. "
The Ke\erse has a lion to left with palm-tree behind. The head
is called by some that of Dido and the coins are Carthaginian, but
the head-dress is not really the same as that on the Roman coin.
Early Electrum coins of Phocaea of the fourth century B.C. bear a
head very much more similar.
Confer Haeberlin's remarks on this type in the Corolla Ntmi.,
p t86 and the illustrations on Plate VI.
This head of Roma in the Phrygian helmet is interesting as a
very early piece of evidence of the reception by the Romans ot
Greek legends concerning the history ot Rome. The story of Aeneas
settling in Italy can be traced back to the poems of Arctinus, one
of the earliest poets who followed the Homeric age. The legend
was made popular in S. Italy and Sicily by Stesichorus of Himera,
the Sicilian poet, who died about 550 B.C.
Mommsen (B"" II, c. ix) says " It was the great remodeller of
myths, Stesichorus, who first, in his ' Destruction of Ilion' brought
iT!neas to the land of the West, that he might poetically enrich the
fiible-world of his birth and of his chosen home, Sicily and Lower
Italy, by contrasting the Trojan and Hellenic heroes also there. With
him originated the poetical outlines of the fable as thenceforward
fixed, especially the group of the hero, with his wife and his little
son, and his aged father bearing the household gods, departing from
burning Troy, and the important identification of the Trojans with
the Sicilian and Italian Autochthones". The poet was guided by
the feeling that the old races of Italy were less widely removed
from the Greeks than were other barbarians.
According to Hellanicus of Mitylene, who wrote about 400 B.C.,
Odvsseus and ^Eneas passed to Italy from the north through Thrace
and Epirus, and he relates the story of the Trojan women burning
the ships, and of Romulus founding the city and naming it after one
of the women. Aristotle tells a similar story of burning the ships,
and of the mixture of races producing the Latin nation. Callias in
280 B.C. mingled the stories of Odysseus, iLneas and Romulus,
making a woman named Rom^ marry Latinus and become the
mother of Romulus. Mommsen says : " The person who really
completed the conception subsequently current of this Trojan
migration was Timaeus of Tauromenium in Sicily, who concluded
his historical work in 262 B.C. It is he who represents iEneas as
"72
first founding Lavinium with its shrine of the Trojan Penates, and
therefore founding Rome ". Timaeus also introduced the story of
Dido, and said Rome and Carthage were founded in the same year.
The works of Timaeus were highly prized by Cicero (de Orat.
II, 14) and although he was severel}^ criticized by Polybius, we
gather that he attempted to record the ancient myths as much as
possible in the words of the earliest writers known to him. His care
for chronolog}' may be seen in his invention of the plan, always
afterwards adopted, of dating events by the Olympiads. He could
not apply this method to the events before the year 776 B.C.,
when the first Olympiad was held, and therefore the story of the
Trojan settlements which took place about 1 184 B.C., according
to the poets, was not treated by him as chronologically as the later
events, and he disregards the date given by the Roman annalists
for the founding of Rome in the Olympiad VI, 4, that is 753 B.C.
The Roman annalists may have applied the Greek story to
Lavinium and Alba Longa and still regarded 753 as the ^^ear when
Rome was founded. Thus thev escaped the absurdity ot talking of
the son of iEneas being alive more than 400 years after the fall ot
Troy.
The coin with this earliest head of Roma is therefore a witness
to the influence of Greek culture among the Romans who conquered
Campania. The earliest Roman historians wrote in Greek and
probably copied the story of ^Eneas from Timaeus ; such was the
case in regard to Quintus Fabius Pictor, whose history was however
written some ninety or at least sixty years after the issue of this
coin.
There is evidence that the Roman claim to Trojan descent was
publicly received in Rome as early as 258 B.C., for when C. Duillius
erected a column in the city, to commemorate his victories over
the Carthaginians, the inscription claimed the people of Segesta in
Sicily as kindred on account of their Trojan descent. This may be
a reference to Thucydides VI, 2. Velleius Paterculus (I, viii) in
30 A.D. dates " the foundation of Rome in the sixth Olympiad",
"This event took place tour hundred and thirty-seven years after
the taking of Troy ". He had shewn, in the earlier portion, his
knowledge of the Greek stories of the Trojan settlements in Sou-
thern Italy.
Niebuhr sa3^s Sallust is the only Latin historian who traced the
foundation of Rome to the Trojans (Sail. Cat. 6); the thirteenth
chapter of Niebuhr's ' History of Rome ' gives some account of the
literature relating to "Aeneas and the Trojans in Latium".
The poems of Naevius and the history of Q. F. Pictor and other
famous Roman works now lost may be regarded as so many links
between the stories of Troy as told by Homer to the Greeks and
those told by Virgil to the Romans of the Augustan age.
— 73 —
In this type the head of Roma is shewn for the first time in the
sphere of figurative art, and is characterized by the Phrygian hehiiet,
intimating the Trojan source of the citizens. The head is ideahzed
as that of a young victorious heroine, but not merely as that of
one who has conquered, but as one who by her power to rule
gave peace. This is further intimated by the design of the
Reverse, which shows the Victory tying the fillets on the trophy
hung on the palm-branch of peace.
D'' Haeberlin considers that this head was afterwards changed by
making the helmet more like that on the head of Bellona on the
uncias, on which we see a round helmet without wings. Bellona
was associated with Mars, and her name was among those of the
gods called upon in the old form of invocation " O Jove, Jupiter,
Mars-pater, Bellona " &c.
REVERSE TYPE.
M. A. Sambon has noticed that the coins bearing this type are
distinguished by letters and symbols often identical with those on
the coins of Cales. Dr. A. Evans attributes these coins to the year
300 B.C.
M. A. Sambon considers that the victory to which the Reverse
type of these coins alludes was that of the battle of Ausculum
279 B.C. From Livy (X, 33) we learn that when L. Postumius
Megellus was Curule Aedile he built, and in his second consulship
dedicated, a temple of Victory in Rome. He was consul for the
first time in 305 B.C., according to the Fasti, but some annalists
place the date two years earlier.
It was this Megellus who took Sora and Arpinum in the valley
of the Liris. In 295 B.C. he was made propraetor, and remained
in Rome till after the battle of Sentinum. He was consul for the
second time in 294 B.C. It was he who recommended the esta-
blishment of a Colony at Venusia.
Dionysius (i, 33) informs us that an older temple of \'ictor3'
once stood on the Palatine hill, on the site on which Megellus
built his temple.
Confer the figure of Nike on bronze coins of Ausculum.
NOTES OF TYPE V.
— 74 —
Ohv. Head of Apollo laureate to right : border of dots.
Rev. A horse unbridled galloping to left, slight indication of
earth : ROMA.
In style some specimens are fine and carefully wrought.
NOTES ON TYPE VI.
The youthful head of Mars may have been copied from the head
of Achilles on the coins of Pvrrhus.
Obv. Helmeted head of Mars to right, with slight whiskers ;
behind a club : border of dots.
Rev. A horse unbridled galloping to right, slight indication ot
earth : above, a club : below, ROMA : circle plain.
In style these are inferior to the earlier types.
NOTES ON TYPE VII.
Obv. Helmeted head of Mars to right with long horse-hair crest
pendant. The face is sometimes hairless and on some coins slight
whiskers appear.
Rev. Head and neck of a horse bridled, to right; behind, a falx or
sickle : beneath neck, ROMA. Weights from loi to 98 grains.
These. types seem to be copied from the early didrachms of this
scries.
The weight, style and fabric however are very different; in weight
they are lighter, in style less bold, in execution feebler, in fohric
thinner and flatter.
7)
NOTES ON TYPE VIII, THE JANUS TYPE.
The last of these eight types, that bearing the head of Janus, is
generally thought to have been minted in Capua, and the type of
the deity who presided over the commencement of all Roman under-
takings would have been just what we should expect if we regard
these as the first coins issued from a new mint.
There is however another aspect of the cult of Janus which is
peculiarly appropriate to Capua, namely that of which we read in
the notes of Servius on Virgil Ain. 1.294 • "Now indeed the gates
of Janus were open in time of war that the view of the god might
be opened upon the war, in whose power would be the going forth
and the return, for that very idea was represented by his effigy as
the leader of those who went forth, and who returned. Moreover
Numa Pompilius made this temple formerly, whose gates he closed
in the time of his reign. "
Janus was the " Rector viarum" the god who presided over the
departing and returning wayflirers. Now Capua was at the Southern
end of the Appian Way, and the god who presided over that way,
and over the return homewards, was a most suitable deitv to he
represented on the coins of such a city. Macrobius I, ix, 7 calls
Janus " Portarum custos et rector viarum. "
If however we associate this type with the other types which
show the warlike spirit of the Romans, such as the head of Mars,
and the horse types, emblems of the Roman cavalry, then the head
of fanus may be regarded as that of the deity whose gates were called
"the gates bf war " : (Plut. Num. XX, i) Virgil (JEn., VII, 607)
writes also of the "geminae port« belli".
His temple was open during war, that the genius of war might go
forth with the armies, leaving the gates open to welcome the victors
from the field.
The cult of Janus appears to be one of the most ancient of all
those which obtained in Rome, and may be compared with that of
\'esta, the goddess of the hearth. Janus was the god of the door,
and as the temple of Vesta was the hearth of the city, so that of
- 76 -
Janus was the gate of the city. The idea was probahly common to
the most ancient inhabitants of central Italy, and was not an impor-
tation from Greece. As to the name Janus, we find the ancient
authors were as divided in opinion as the modern, and nothing
certain is known.
However as Janus was the "Rector viarum " it seems hkely that
Cicero was right in deriving the name from the verb to go, " ire",
this is the view of Roscher. But Buttman, Schwegler, and Preller
follow the lead of Nigidius Figulus, a friend of Cicero who has been
called " a Pythagorean Mystic", and who derived Janus from Jana,
a form of Diana, making the masculine form Janus.
The root idea would be Dius, meaning the clear sky. So Varro
also (De re rust, i, 27). Others, as Corssen, have suggested that the
name should be derived from the root "div", divide, and regard
Divanus as the original form of the name.
The Janiform heads are not however found only in Italy, for they
occur on coins ofTenedos from 500 B.C., but on those, one of the
heads is bearded and the other temale ; similar types are also found
on coins of Lampsacus of the same date, and, on some issued
between 412-350 B.C., both heads are beardless.
There are five different silver coins bearing the head of Janus.
1. Didrachm. Obv. janus geminus, beardless, laureated : border
of dots.
Rev. Jupiter in a quadriga galloping to right, driven by Victory.
He holds a sceptre in his left hand, and hurls a fulmen with his
right. Underneath is a tablet on which is the legend ROMA in
incuse letters : a plain circle around. This incuse legend is similar
to that on the earliest Roman denarii. Weight : 108 to 96 grains.
2. Didrachm. Similar types, but diff'ering only in that the legend
ROMA is in relief, not incuse.
3. Drachms weighing 37 to 34 grains with the same type as
no 2.
4. Drachms in good style weighing 52 to 50 grains.
Obv. the same as the former coins.
Rev. An unbridled horse galloping to right; underneath, ROMA.
5. One fifth of a drachm, weighing nearly 15 grains. Types
same as no 4. Museum of Naples. (Coll. Santangelo.)
These coins seem to have been long in circulation, for Trajan
issued a restoration of this type and at Vienna is a specimen coun-
termarked by Vespasian.
On p. 1 1 of the Brit. Museum Cat. is an illustration of a large
bronze coin, size 1.85, bearing on the Obv. a beardless head of Janus
wearing a pointed cap. On p. 48 of the same Catalogue is a
descripnon of an As of Central Italy : size 2.95, bearing on the
Obv. a beardless Janus bound with diadem.
— 77 —
This Janus type is also found on coins of Volterm and of Rhe-
gium and Capua with Oscan legends. M. A. Sambon dates these
bronze coins of Capua 268 to 218 B.C.
The Obverse of the gold coins with the legend ROMA and the
sacrificial scene on the Rev. also bears this Janus type. The style of
these silver coins is very variable, some are of fine Greek style,
others very poor.
On page 371 of vol. XX of the Rivista Italiana di NiiDiisniatica,
1907, M. Arthur Sambon gives some valuable notes on these Janus
coins. He refers to the suggestion of Willers (^Corolla Numism.,
p. 310), tliat Tiberius Veturius reproduced the type of the aureus
ill memory of L. \'eturius who received in 209 five hundred pounds
ot gold and took part in the war against Hasdrubal, and therefore
he thinks these gold coins were issued in 209 B.C., and he refers to
Pliny (H.N.33,47).
The Obv. may be compared with didrachm noIV. yK.
Compare the Obv. type of coins of Etruria with a cross incuse on
^L. where we see the same head as on Obv. of this coin.
These are the eight different types of bronze litra; unconnected
with the Roman As, issued in Campania.
PERIOD III. FROM 269 B. C.
In this third period we find a new series quite independent of
the litrct, bearing marks of value shewing their relation to the
Roman copper series of the As and its parts. From the section of
the flan of these coins we see the flan was cast, but the die was struck,
and as these are the earliest struck coins of the As series they
probably were not issued before the introduction of the denarii in
269 B. C. The types however shew that they are Campanian coins,
for they differ altogether from the Roman series, which was never
varied in regard to its types.
Haeberlin says : " In this third period the bronze unit becomes
subordinated to the silver unit, and in this change lies the secret of
the Roman reductions. The Roman As, equated with the silver unit
ot the scriptulum loses half its weight, and is issued on the semi-
libral standard ".
" Corresponding to the quadrigati is a bronze coinage (struck
pieces with ROMA, from triens or 4 libelliK to half uncia or sem-
bella) which has hitherto not been regarded as Capuan, and which
was a true coinage, not mere token money, like the small bronze of
the previous period. The Roman As of this period is divided deci-
mally, not duodecimally " (Num. Cbron., p. 117, 1907. Part. I,
Fourth series, no 25). This paper by Mr. G. F. Hill is a most
- 78-
valuable epitome of the work of Dr. E. J. Haeberlin published in
1905.
" The subordination of bronze to silver, the fact that the As
represented now not so much an independent amount in itself, as
a certain amount of silver, brought about its loss in weight ;as long
as the State guaranteed its equivalence to the silver unit there was
no reason why it should not be reduced in weight.
"This reduction was not a case of state bankruptcy; such a view
of it was excusable only so long as the bronze coinage, gradually
filling in weight, was supposed to be the only coinage of the
capital ". " Silver is to bronze as i : 120 ".
Table of the coins of the Heavy Pound Series (327.45 grammes).
III. Neo-Roman Pound.
Scriptula; of 1.137 grammes 17.55 grains.
As =
288
Semis =
144
Triens ==
96
Quadans =
72
Sextans =
48
Uncia =
24
Semiuncia =
12
Quarter uncia =
6
This date appears too late for the didrachms which M. A. Sambon
thinks were issued in 269 B.C. and says we know but little of the
history of the Veturii.
This brief account of the eight silver coins of Rome's heroic age
only serv^es to show how little we know of the mint cities and
their government by the Romans. The greatness and wealth of
Capua have so impressed some writers on the subject of the coinage
that the divided condition ot the citizens and the many notices of
enmity and disloyalty to Rome have been apparently underestimated.
Some coins such as those bearing the Janus head were most
probablv issued in that city, but that the Capuan was the only mint
outside Rome used by her colonists in the South seems most
unlikely when we regard the evidence of the eight types here
described. Let us hope that some one will harmonize the valuable
studies of Haeberlin, Sambon and Bahrfeldt and present us with a
more clear and well-founded account than has yet been written.
— 79 —
THE ROMANO-CAMPANIAN BRONZE COINAGE
For some time before the influence of the Greek Colonies began
to aftect the coinage of the cities in Campania to the north of Capua
the citizens used ingots and heavy bronze coins stamped with a
wheeh
On the ingots we see an eagle on a thunderbolt and on the ^L
a figure of Pegasus and ROMANOM. These heavy coins and ingots,
however, do not belong to the series with which we are concerned
in these chapters, as they are not among the coins influenced by
the Greeks. They are very rare and costly, and those who wish to
study them will find them well illustrated in the work by Garrucci
and in various illustrated catalogues.
A translation of the valuable information given by D' Haeberlin
may be seen in the Rivisia Italiana di Numisiiiatica,p. 203, vol. XIX,
1906.
PERIOD J.
The bronze coins issued with the silver of the First Period of
the Romano-Campanian coinage influenced by the Greeks consist
ot Litrge and Double litr^e, bearing three different types, and may
be regarded as money of account, or tokens of a value not the
same as the intrinsic value of the metal. We do not know how
many litnt passed for a didrachm, nor what was the weight of the
pound divided into litra;, nor how many went to the pound.
No attempt was made to make this coinage correspond in any
way with the Roman series of the As and its parts. Up to the time
of Timoleon's expedition, in the year 344 B.C., bronze coins had
always, in Magna Graecia and Campania, represented a conventional
value, and their weights are so irregular that no satisfactory tables
have ever been made of their relative value to the silver coinage.
We do not know for certain what was the relative value of silver
and bronze in Campania during this first Period. In Sicily ten litr^
had been valued as a didrachm ; confer the tables, on p. 43 of M"" G.
F. Hill's Handbook of Greek and Roman Coins ; in Campania it
seems probable that twelve may have been the number, but no
definite proof seems to be shewn.
— 8o —
Here is a problem which we hope may some day be solved, but
at present we must be content to recognize our ignorance ; even
the name Litra applied to these coins is only a moder-n assumption.
In this Romano-Campanian series we have eight types of bronze
litrze, three of which belong to the first and the other five to the
second Period.
Although thev are with one exception all common coins and may
he bought for a few shillings, they are nevertheless interesting from
their association with the Roman armies who conquered Campania
and from the problem of their relative value to the contemporary
didrachms.
TYPES OF THE LITRAE, (SCC.
I. Double litra. Size slightly over an inch in diameter. Weight of
specimen in Brit. Mus. : 236 grains; the ideal weight we should
expect would be 240 grains and the specimen in the Museum may
have lost quite the 4 grains needed to make its original weight.
Obv. Head of Pallas, in Corinthian helmet decorated with a
griffin, to left.
ROMANO in front of the face.
Rev. An eagle standing on a fulmen with wings spread. In the
field to left ROMANO with a symbol like a club or sword in sheath.
As the eagle is standing on a fulmen we may conjecture that it
signified the bird of Zeus rather than a Roman symbol.
These are rare coins ; specimens may be seen in the public
Museums at London, Berlin, Vienna, and Naples.
Bahrfeldt attributed these coins to Capua, Carraci to Locri,
Babelon to Consentia in Bruttium. Although the eagle is found on
silver coins of Capua with the legend II DN)! the style of these
bronze coins is very different.
II. Litra. Size nearly three-quarters-of-an-inch in diameter; weight
120 grains.
Obv. Head of Pallas to left in Corinthian helmet : without
legend.
— 8i —
Rev. Head and neck of horse bridled to right, on a shght shallow
base, the mane hogged, or close cropped : ROMANO behind.
In the Bahrfeldt collection is a specimen of a Hemi-litra with the
legend OH AM Ofl. Some specimens of Hemi-htr« in the Cab. of
Berlin, London, and Copenhagen have the head of Pallas to right,
ROMANO on Obv., and on the Rev. the head of the horse turned
to left.
Some barbarous specimens of these coins are found. The head
of Pallas is similar to that on coins of Syracuse struck circa 317 B.C.
Many specimens were found at Vicarello.
III. Litra. Size, the same. Weight trom [2o to 123 grains.
Obv. Head of Apollo to right with hair bound with taenia.
Rev. A lion to right with tail raised as if lashing the air, his head
turned facing ; he is biting a spear, or, as some think, a serpent. In
the exergue ROMANO.
There is great variety in the style of work, some specimens being
much finer than others, some almost rude.
Specimens are to be seen in the British Museum, at Turin,
Berlin, Gotha and Naples. Some specimens are to be found with
the head of Apollo turned to left at Gotha, Glasgow, Berlin, London,
Copenhagen and Naples. One example is known restruck on a coin
of Luceria ; it was found in the deposit of Vicarello.
BRONZE COINS OF PERIOD II WITH ROMA.
In the second Period the struck bronze coins are still to be looked
upon as a token currency " but they are smaller, consisting of tenths
and twentieths of the scruple, i. e. libellae and sembellae"; this is
Hands. 6
— 82 —
D"" Haeberlin's remark upon these coins as given in page 1 1 5 Num.
Chron. (Part. I, 1907, series IV no 25).
But when we go to look at these coins in the British Museum
we find them called Litrae, Hemi-litr«, and Quarter litrae.
There are five types, four of which are copied from the silver
coinage with which they were issued. The Litni; appear to weigh
about" 100 grains, the Hemilitrae 50 grs., Quarter-litri^ 25 gr.
The word Libella is a diminutive of libra or litra. Varro (L. L. 5
36,43) says " numi denarii decuma libella quod libram pondo aeris
valebat", "and Pliny (33, 13) " librales unde etiam nunc libella
dicitur at dupondius appendebantur asses ". Hence proverbially or
colloquially " libella " was used for any small coin ; hence " ad
libellam "meant exactly, our " to a farthing". The " sembellae"
were half libellae (semi libells). Varro says (L- L-^ 5, 3 6, 4> 8)
" sembella quod libelk^ dimidium quod semis assis ".
But apparently from Varro (10, 3, 169), these w^ords were used
of small silver coins. " Eandem rationem habere assem ad semissen
quam habet in argento libella ad sembellam ". D' Haeberlin pro-
bably used these words in their general colloquial sense of a
small coin.
IV. Litra. Weight of specimen in Brit. Mus. 99 grs. Size - inch.
Obv. Head of Hercules to right.
Rev. Pegasus flying to right ; no ground line.
ROMA in field under Pegasus. A club in field above. Compare
coins of Capua with similar §L. type and DHN)!.
Compare also bronze coins of Frentrum, and didrachms of Syra
cuse issued 345-337 B.C.
V. Hemlitra; weight about 50 grs. ; size ; ;^ inch.
Obv. Head of Mars to right, wearing Corinthian helmet ; behind
a club : border of dots.
Rev. A free horse prancing to right, above, a club, below,
ROMA.
- 83 -
Similar to the didrachm no M. A\.
In the Museum at Naples is a bronze figure of a prancing horse
of the third century B.C. very similar.
VI. Hemilitra. Same size as no II.
Obv. Head of Mars to right wearing Corinthian helmet : border
of dots.
Rev. Head and neck of horse to right ; behind, a fiilx. ROMA in
exergue.
Similar to the type of didrachm no VII. iR. With these bronze
coins we may compare those of Coza, and Velechia.
VII. Hemilitra called Libella bv Haeberlin. Size I inch ; weight
50 grs.
Obv. Head of Apollo to right laureated.
Rev. Horse, free, prancing teft; ROMA beneath the body, or
above.
Similar to type of didrachm no V. ^R.
VIII. Quarter litra called Sembella by Haeberlin. Size j-j! inch.
Weight 25 grs.
Obv. Head of Roma in Phrygian helmet to right, border of dots.
Rev. A dog to right looking up with his off fore-paw raised. The
head is like that of a greyhound. In exergue ROMA with varied
shapes of letters.
- 84 -
TYPES OF THE SEMILIBRAL SERIES.
The As and the Semis of this series have not been found.
I. Triens. Size 1 1 inch. Value 96 Scriptula of the Heavy Pound
of 327.45 grammes.
Obv. Head of Juno (?) to right wearing diadem with winghke
side decoration, and with sceptre over shoulder ; behind 0000 :
border of dots.
Rev. Hercules standingnearly facing, wielding club in right hand,
and grasping by the hair the centaur Nessus, turned to right ; in
front" 0000. In exergue ROMA or A.
The story of Hercules slaying the centaur who carried Deianeira
across the river Evenus is told by Sophocles in his play
Trachiniae (556) and by Apollodorus (II, 7).
The familiarity of these Campanians with this Greek legend is
noticeable.
Specimens may be seen in all the national Cabinets.
II. QuADRANS. Size 1'^ inch. Value 72 Scriptula. Weight of
specimen in Brit. Mus. : 627 grs.
Obv. A beardless male head wearing a wolf's skin or boar's skin
cap ; behind 000 '• border of dots.
Rev. A bull galloping to right, his head turned facing, above 000,
below a snake with crested head advancing also to right. In exergue
ROMA.
A similar head in a wolf-skin or boar-skin cap may also be
seen on coins of Etruria. At first sight it resembles the head of
Heracles in the lion's skin, and one naturally asks whether the
change to the wolf's skin, if it is a wolf's skin, was an Italian artist's
idea or whether the head may be meant for some other Italian
deity.
The head-dress on the obverse is called a wolf's skin by
M. A. Sambon, but is by others called a boar's skin, because of the
tooth curled upwards plainly seen on some specimens. It is thought
to be the head of Heracles wearing the skin of the Erymanthian
boar (Apollodorus, II, 5, § 4. Diodorus, IV, 12).
The significance of the Rev. type, the bull and the serpent, has
not yet been satisfoctorily explained. It has been suggested that the
bull was an emblem of power, and such may have been its mean-
ing on coins of Augustus. On coins issued during the Social war
we see the bull goring a wolf; there evidently the bull signified the
power of the Italian party, and the wolf that of Rome.
Is it not possible that the common bronze coins bearing the bull
copied from the coins of Neapolis may have suggested the adoption
of this type as a symbol of Campanian power ?
- ^5 -
If this was the case we see an old emblem used with a new
meaning, the symbol of the nature power of moisture, used as that
of the warlike power of the worshippers of Dionysus.
The bull may be seen on didrachmsof the Epirote republic issued
before 238 B. C. They are illustrated on p. 274 of D'' Head's ///j/o/m
Niiin. On them the bull is surrounded with a wreath ; they are
however later than the Campanian coins, and whatever idea that
represented, the Campanians did not copy it.
The serpent is not being trampled under the hoofs of the bull,
but advancing with it.
At that time the serpent was a symbol of life, not of evil to be
trodden under foot. The meaning of the type is still a subject of
enquiiy, and any help in interpreting this type will be welcomed
by numismatists. Some have thought this coin might be compared
with the common denarius of Julius Caesar on wdiich is seen an
elephant trampling on an object which has wrongly been called a
serpent ; it is a carnynx or Gallic trumpet.
On bronze coins of Samnium after 268 B. C. issued in Aesernia
we see an eagle fighting with a snake, and there the snake may be
the symbol of Samnium as the eagle was of Rome. Compare the
similar design on a coin of Etruria illustrated on p. 77 of A. Sambon's
v/ork Monnaies antiques de FItalie. On didrachms of Elis an eagle
contending with a serpent is seen from27i-i9i B.C., but this may
be a reference to a passage in Homer, and is quite independent of
the Campanian series.
III. Sextans. Size i l inch ; value 48 scriptukt. Weight of
specimens in Brit. Mus. : 450 grs.
Obv. A wolf to right suckling the twins and turning the head to
caress them. In exergue O O : border of dots.
Rev. An eagle to right with closed wings, holding a leal of a flower
in beak, behind O O, before ROMA : a circle around.
An eagle on a fulmen occurs on coins of Capua but with wings
open and the legend DFIN)!.
An eagle with closed wings is seen on the small silver coins of
Alba Fucens, and on staters of Agrigentum issued 472-415 B. C.
An eagle with closed wings is seen on coins of Elis 392-322 B. C,
and on didrachms of Croton, but on these the bird is the symbol
of Zeus.
Confer the eagle's head on a coin of Elis with a leaf in the beak
figured on Plate i of ' Catalogue of Greek coins of an American
Collector', 20''' April 1909, Sotheby Wilkinson and Hodge, Well-
ington St., Strand, London.
May we regard the eagle on these sextantes as the symbol of Roma?
IV. Uncia. Size i inch. Value 24 Scriptukv. Weight of specimen
in Brit. Mus. : 225 grains.
Obv. Radiated head of Helios, full-face ; O on left of neck : border
of dots.
Rev. A crescent with ends upwards and two stars of eight rays
each, in field above the mark of value O, between the stars.
Under the crescent ROMA; a circle around. A similar head ot
Helios is found on coins of Velechia and also of Atella.
A crescent-moon is also seen on coins of Etruria ; some also bear
the two stars.
V. Semiuncia. Sizefinch, value 12 Scriptulie, weight of specimen
in Brit. Mus. : 123 grains.
Obv. Head of female deity wearing turreted diadem, to right
(perhaps the Tyche of the city) : border of dots.
Rev. A horseman galloping to right wielding a whip; below the
horse ROMA : a circle around.
On some specimens the breasts of the figure on the horse are
much developed.
VI. Perhaps Semiuncia.
Obv. Head of Ceres to right ; behind, an uncertain letter,
perhaps S : border of dots.
Rev. Heracles with the doe of Ceryneia in Arcadia. Perhaps
copied from the celebrated bronze in the Museum at Palermo ; a
specimen is in the Museum at Turin. The story is told bv Diodorus
Sic. (IV, 13).
QUADRANTAL SERIES.
ISSUED AFTER 264 B. C.
The year 264 B. C. was the first year of the first Punic war. In
the fourth year of the war the Carthaginians ravaged the coasts of
This quadrantal series which seems to be represented only by
quadrantes, was issued some time during this war.
The types are the same as those of the quadrantes of the third
Period, the distinguishing mark is the ear of corn added to the tvpe
of the reverse; above the sign of value 000.
No other parts of the As belonging to this series are known.
Size I ~ inch, weight varying from 242 to 107 grs.
The writer has seen a smaller specimen.
-87-
ROMANO-GAMPANIAN BRONZE.
The Libral As of 335-286 B. C. weighed 272.875 grammes.
4210.04 grains.
Semi-hbral As of 286-268 B. C. weighed 136.44 grammes.
2105.02 grains.
Sextantal As of 268-217 B. C. weighed 54.58 grammes.
842. grains.
The Uncial As of 217 B. C. weighed 27.29 grammes.
421. grains.
I
D' Haeberhn shews that the original Roman As of the Metropo-
lis never weighed 327.45 grammes. The heavier specimens, which
were thought to belong to this heavy weight, w^ere pieces of the
old Roman Pound over-struck with the types of the As of 272.875
grammes. The great majority of the specimens existing weigh about
272 grammes. D'' Haeberlin found, by weighing over iioo spe-
cimens of the Roman As, that the mean weight was 267.62 grammes
which represents a loss of about 5 grammes through wear.
The Pound of 327.45 grammes w^as only used outside the metro-
polis and it appeared in the form of the heavy Janus with ^.
Mercury series, in Latium.
This weight was exceeded frequently, and many specimens are
over-struck, some weighing 360 grammes, and one specimen in
D' Haeberlin's collection weighs 400 grammes. The origin of the
theory that there was a Quadrantal series may be traced to the fact
that struck coins of the later reduction only weigh about half of the
coins of the earlier period, and several sextantes of the later period
are over-struck on Unciae of the earlier Period.
The true explanation of these facts is that the bronze coinage was
brought into harmony with the six scruple Romano didrachms at
Gapua about 312 B. C. The scripulum of 1. 137 grammes in the pro-
portion of I : 120 was the equivalent of the Roman Semis of the
Oscan pound of 136.44 grammes (2105.02 grains) and the scripu-
lum became the sjlver unit of Rome. All the Asses of reduced
weight, whatever their weight may be, are in one sense to be classed
as Semilibral ; because their value is the silver Scripulum, the value
of the old Semis ; they are in tact ' token money '.
— 88 —
This unsatisfactory condition of the bronze coinage came to an
end in 268 B. C. when the Denarius was introduced, viz. Denarius
of 4.548 grammes (or 70.22 grains) X 120= 54575 grammes
of JE, that is to say it equals ten Asses of 54.58 grammes.
Phny's remarks are not to be received as a reasonable explanation
of the reduction of the As ; he imagined that the state was in
such a miserable condition owing to the drain upon its resources
during the Punic war, that the As was reduced trom 288 scrupula,
i. e. from 327.45 grammes to a sextans, and that the State made
from this proceeding a profit of five-sixths.
The State never made the slightest profit to the detriment of the
private citizen in making this alteration of the coinage, and when
we understand it correctly, we see that all these values rest on the
solid basis of strict Roman law.
It will be seen from the Tables given in this paper thatN°'I,
III and IV were duodecimal, but No II decimal, while the scruple
had ten libellae and the semilibral As was nothing else than the
scruple expressed in bronze.
On account of this the semilibral Unciae (=foOf 13 6.44 grammes)
have the weight of ^ of 327.45 gram., that is to say a semilibral
sextans of 27.29 grammes weighs exactly the same as the ounce of
the pound of 357.45, which likewise weighed 27.29 gram. With the
coinage of the Denarius in 268 B. C. the new pound of 327.45 gram,
was introduced in the Metropolis. The Sextantal As represented
therefore one-sixth and the Uncial As one-twelfth of this.
It has been suggested that the type of the bull and the snake on
the quadrans of the semilibral series may have some connection
with the Persian myth of Mithras, but this does not seem to be at
all probable, because that myth was never received by the Greeks, and
the earliest notices of Mithras in Italy are much later in date than
the period at which these coins were issued. The cult of Mithras is
mentioned by Herodotus, Xenophon,and Strabo, but only as a foreign
cult of the ancient enemies of the Greeks. The earliest mention oi
this cult in Italy is that made by Plutarch.
Then there is the last line of Book I of the Thebaid of Statins
written about 90 A. D. " seu Persei sub rupibus antri indignata sequi
torquentem cornua Mithram ". The earliest Mithraic inscription is
that of a freedman of a Flavian Emperor. The earliest marble
sculpture of Mithras in Italy is one dedicated by a slave of
T. Claud. Livinianus, a prefect of Trajan. The best and latest work
on the subject is by Franz Cumont, " Textes et Monuments figures
relatifs aux-Mvsteres de Mithra".
- 89 -
THE SIX DIFFERENT POUNDS OF ITALY.
The study of Metrology presents so many difficulties and is
associated with so many doubts as to the very foundations of the
science that it is unpopular and ver}' generally neglected.
All therefore who wish to know something of the relative values
of the coins of this series must feel that they owe a debt of grati-
tude to Dr. Haeberlin for publishing the results of his studies. With
the help of his work on " the Metrological foundation of the Middle-
Italian Systems of Money ", we may draw up tables of w^eights
which are in harmony with the older Eastern systems from which
they were derived, but the weights of the coins themselves vary so
much and the various writers who have treated the subject differ so
widely that we cannot hope to arrive at any satisfactory result
without more trouble than most students are willing to take. Perhaps
we are wrong in expecting the precision of modern work in the
systems of men so recently emerging from barbarism.
Dr. Haeberlin has shewn in his work " Die Metrologischen Grund-
lagen der altesten Mittelitalischen Miinzsysteme " published in the
" Zeitschrift fiir Niimisfuatik'' (XXVll Band) that there were six
different weights called Asses, Libr£e or Pounds, in Middle and
Southern Italy, a long time before the introduction of money in
Rome and the other territories of Central Italy.
He has named them : i) the Oscan, 2) the Xeo-Roman, 3) the
Phoenician or East Italian, 4) the Italian, 5) the Umbrian, and 6)
the Sicilian Pounds.
It is interesting to notice that all these systems are of Babylonian
or of Phoenician origin, and were brought from the East by the
Phoenician traders. The figures given in the following tables are
the exact proportions aimed at rather than those attained, for the
coins preserved to our day in perfect condition seldom weigh
exactly what they should do according to the Tables. The process
of coining copper and silver was rude in comparison with modern
methods, but the gold coins were more carefully treated and are of
good weight.
TABLE OF THE SIX POUNDS AND THEIR TALENTS.
I The Osco-Latin 272.875 = 1/120 32745. Light Bab. JR..
Common Norm.
II The Neo-Roman 327.45 =1/100 —
III The Italian 34110 ^ i/ioo 34110. Light Bab. JK.
Royal Norm.
— 90 —
IV The Phoenician 379.00 ^=1/100 37900. Phoenician heavy
JR.. Royal Norm.
^' The Umbrian 255.82 =1/120 30698. 44LightBab. weight
Royal Norm.
\l The Sicilian 218.30 =1/100 21830. Light Phoen. JK.
Common Norm.
N°^ I and II differ only in dividing the same Talent in different
ways. No I into a Mina of 1/60 and No II into a Mina of 1/50.
The division into 1/60 is earlier than that into 1/50.
Out of the Common Norm there arose three heightened or
Royal Norms of the original Talents :
That raised by 1/20 = the Royal Norm A;
That raised by 1/24 ^= the Royal Norm B ;
That raised by 1/36 = the Ro3'al Norm C.
The Talents of Nos III, IV and V are all of the Royal Norm B.
The introduction of the Babylonian and Phoenician weight
systems into Central Italy has been treated by D'' Haeberlin in the
Berliner Mun:^jlatter of 1908, in an article entitled " Roms Eintritt
in den Weltverkehr ".
In this article Dr. Haeberlin shews that three different weight
systems were introduced, and on these the systems of weighing gold,
silver and copper were founded.
I. The double system of the Light Babylonian Silver Talent.
a) The light Babylonian Silver Talent of the Common Norm ot
32745 gi"-
b) The light Babylonian Silver Talent of the Royal Norm of
341 10 gr.
II. The Heavy Phoenician Silver Talent of the Royal Norm of
37900 gr. derived as 5/6 of a Talent of 4580 gr.
III. The light Bahvlonian Weight Talent of the Royal Norm of
30698.44 gr.
The Sicilian litra is i/ioo of the Common Norm of the light
Phoenician Silver Talent of 21830 gr.
THE THREE ORIGINAL WEIGHT SYSTEMS.
I
The Tzuo Light Babylonian Silver Talents.
I. The Talent of the Common Norm of 32745 gr. spreading
to South Etruria, Rome, Latium, Campania from which was derived
in Bronze two Libra! As systems.
a) The Osco-Latin Pound of 272.375 gr. = 1/120 of the Talent.
The Roman reduction to half the weight.
b) The Neo-Roman Pound of 327.45 gr. = i/ioo of the Talent.
Pounds Nos I and 11.
— 91 —
2. The Talent of the Royal Norm B of 34110 gr. spread as
No 1, Apulia and Samnium.
A. In gold and silver.
a) The heavy Etruscan Silver system with a stater of 11.37 R''-
Litra of 1.137 gr. = scriptulum ; gold of 1/4 stater and lighter.
b) The Romano-Campanian Six scruple system. Silver and gold
Didrachms and Drachms of 6.82 and 3.41 gr.
B. In Bronze an As system according to the Italian Pound ol
341.10 gr. = i/ioo Talent.
Pound No III.
II
The Talent of 37900 gr. =^ the Phoenician reduced Talent (5/6
of the heavy Phoenician Silver Talent of the higher Norm B of
45480 gr.)." ! . . .
This was spread over Campania, Apulia, Vestini, Picenum,
Eastern Etruria, and in the North West to Volterra.
1. In Silver the Phoenician Didrachms and Drachms of 7.58 and
3-79 gr.
2. In Bronze two As systems. Pound No iv.
a) According to the East Italian, Picenian or Phoenician Pound
of 379 gr. = i/ioo of the Talent.
b) According to 1/5 of the heavy Mina of 758gr. = 151.60 gr.,
the As weight.
Ill
The Talent of 30698,44 gr. = Light Babylonian Weight Talent,
heightened Norm B.
1. In Silver the light Etruscan Silver system. Stater of 8.53 gr.
2. In Bronze two As systems.
a) According to the pound of 255.82 gr. ^= 1/120 Talent.
b) According to 1/5 of the heavy Mina of 1023.28 gr. Pound
No V. 204.66. As weight.
NOTES ox THE THREE SYSTEMS.
A. To the first of the three systems belong the Pounds of 272.875
gr., 327.45 gr. and 341.10 gr. numbered I, II and III in our list ol
the six pounds.
I. Talent of )2J4J gr.
i) Divided in 60 Minas of 545.75 gr., roo Half Minas of
272.875 gr. (Oscan-Latin Pound).
2) Divided in 50 Minas of 645.90 gr., 100 Half Minas of
327.45 gr. (Neo-Roman Pound).
II. Talent of 341 10 gr.
Divided in 50 Minas of 682.20 gr., 100 Half Minas of 341.10 gr.
(Italian Pound). To these belong the following Libral - As Series :
— 92 —
To I, I ; the Roman Series (of the " urbs ") with the prow,
circa 335-286 B.C.
The light Roman-Latin Series (cast hy Romans at Capua for the
use of the Latins, circa 312-286 B.C.) :
a) The Latin Wheel-series.
b) The Series with the head of Roma without symbols, or with
the club on botli sides.
c) The light Mercury and Janus series with the sickle on reverse.
d) The light Apollo series with bunch of grapes on both sides ;
the Kantharos series of the Roman Colony at Cales, after 312 B.C,.
a certain portion of the autonomous Aes grave ot Central-Italy ; at
last the Roman Reduction : As in weight of the Libral-Semis =
136.44 gr., between 286 and 268 B.C.
To I, 2 ; the Heavy Mercury and Janus series without symbols,
286-268 B.C., another portion of the autonomous Aes grave of
Central Italy.
(In the year 268 B.C. the pound of 327.45 gr. was introduced
also in the Capital ; it is the basis of the new bimetallic system ;
Sextantal-As = 1/6; Denarius = 1/72, Quinarius ■= 1/144,
Sestertius = 1/288 of this pound).
To II; the heavy Apollo series without symbols, circa 286-268
B.C. in Apulia the Libral series of Luceria and of Venusia ;
The Romano-Campanian silver and gold struck by Rome since
the year 312 B.C. Didrachm 6.82 gr. = 1/50, drachm 3.41 gr.
= i/ioo of the Pound of 341 gr.
The heavy Etruscan silver standard : Stater of 11.37 gr. and its
Litra or the scripulum of 1. 137 gr. ; since circa 400 B.C., vide p. 10.
B. The second system Talent of 37900 gr. :
i) Divided in 50 Minas of 758 gr., 100 Half Minas of 379 gr.
2) Divided in 50 Minas of758gr., 250 As of 15 1.60 gr.
In regard to i) The Phoenician silver Standard, Didrachm
7.58 gr. = 1/50, Drachm 3.79 = i/ioo of the Pound ; in Cam-
pania various autonomous cities, and the older Roman-Campanian
silver (335-312 B.C.), in Apulia = Arpi, Teate.
The heavy Libral series (As of 379 gr.) : Vestini, Hatria, (Pice-
num), Ariminum (Umbria), after 300 B.C.
In regard to 2) The light Etruscan As series (As of 151.60 gr.
•= 1/5 Mina), after 300 B.C.
C. To the third system, Talent of 30698.44 gr.
i) Divided in 60 Minas of 511.64 gr., 120 Half-Minas of 255.82
gr. (Pound).
2.60 double Minas of 1023.28 gr. divided each in 5 Asses of
204.66 gr.
In regard to i) the light Etruscan silver standard, Didrachm
8.53 gr. ■— 1/60 Mina, since circa 450 B.C. the Libral series of Tuder
(Umbria), As of 255.82 gr., circa 300 B.C.
93 —
In regard to 2) the heavy Etruscan As series (As of 204.66 gr.
= 1/5 of the heavy Mina), after 300 B.C.
/. e. the heavy Etruscan As of 204.66 gr. is not to be regarded
as 2/5 of the Hght Mina of 51 1.64 gr. but as 1/5 of the heavy Mina
of 1023.28 gr.
I. THE OSCO-LATIN POUND.
This is sometimes called the older light Roman Pound. The
weight of this pound was 272.875 gr. and its origin was from the
Light Babylonian Silver Talent of the Common Norm.
Talent
Mina
Half Mina
Stater
Half Stater
32745.00
545.75 ^^ 1/60 ot the Talent
272.875 = 1/120 —
10.915 = 1/50 of the Mina
5.458 i/ioo
This pound, we know from Dionysius of Halicarnassus, was in
use in Rome as early as 477 B.C.
It was likewise the Pound of Southern Etruria, of Latium, and
of the Oscan part of Campania. On this pound was founded the
libral As series of Rome, and the As reduced to one half.
The division of the Libral series was duodecimal.
THE AS OF THE OSCAN POUND.
Libra! As and Duodecimal divisions.
Tressis
818.
625 gram, or
12630.12 grains
Dupondius
As
545-75
272.875 —
8420.08 -
4210.04 —
Semis
136
•44 —
2105.02 —
Triens
Quadrans
Sextans
90.96 —
68.22 -^
45.48 —
1403.34 —
1052.31 —
735- —
Uncia
Semiuncia
22
1 1
•74 —
•37 —
350.92 —
175.46 —
mi-libral As and D
ecimal divisions.
Decussis
Tressis
Dupondius
1364.40 gram.
409.31 - 6315.06 grains
272.875 - 4210.04 —
As
Semis or 5/10
136.44
68.32
2105.02 —
- 1052.51 —
Triens or 4/10
54.58
~ 842
Quadrans or 3/10
Sextans or 2/10
40.93
27.29
631.50
421 —
Uncia or i/io
13.64
— 210.50 —
Semiuncia or 1/2C
>
6.82
- 105.25 —
Quartuncia or 1/40
3.41 -
— 52.62 —
— 94 —
The names for parts of the decimal As, Quincunx, Teruncius,
Biunx were not used in Rome, only in Eastern Italy.
The relative value of silver to bronze was i : 120. The reduced
As was divided decimally because it was the copper equivalent of
the silver unit, the scripulum, and silver was reckoned decimally.
Since the Aerarium was obliged to exchange each reduced As for
a silver scripulum the weight of the As was gradually diminished,
but even the lightest As of 50 gr., or even less, had the value of the
full semilibral standard. Of the Libral system the Triple and Double
Asses occur onlv in the Roman Latin Wheel series while durine; the
period of the Reduction the Decussis, Tressis and Dupondius were
also cast in the Capital, but not of full weight, because they were
not cast at the beginning of the period.
II. THE NEO-ROMAN POUND.
The weight of this pound was 327.45 gr.
It was adopted by Rome in the year 286 B.C. as her coinage
for Latium and is represented by the Heavy Janus and Mercury
series. It is the half Mina of the common norm of the light Babylo-
nian Silver Talent of 32745 gr. This talent is the centumpondium
of the Pound.
Talent, 32745 gr.
Mina, 1/50 Talent 654.90 gr.
Half Mina, 1/ 100 Talent 327.45 = the Pound or As.
The various proportions of the As.
As 3-7-45 grammes or 5050 grains.
Semis 163.72 — 2525
Triens 109.15 — 1684 —
Quadrans 81.86 — 1262 —
Sextans 54-58 842 —
Uncia 27.29 — 421 —
Semuncia 13.64 ^ 210.5 —
In the year 268 B.C. this new Pound was introduced also into
the Capital, and was the basis of the bimetallic system.
JR.. Denarius X 4.548 grammes = 4 scripula = 10 Asses
sextantal
Quinarius V 2.274 — =2 scripula =5 —
Sestertius IIS 1.137 — = i scripulum = 2 1/2
JE. Sextantal AS = 54.58 grammes or 8^2 grains.
Semis 27.29 — -|2i
Triens 18.19 — 280 —
— 95 —
Quadrans i v64 — 2io —
Sextans 9.09 — 1^0 —
Uncia 4-548 — 70.2 —
One Denarius = 120 uncise, each of the same weight as the
Denarius, so silver was to bronze i : 120.
III. THE ITALIAN POUND.
Weighing 341.10 gr. This pound is i/ioo of the light Bab3-Io-
nian Silver Talent of the royal norm of 3410 gr., heavier 1/24 than
the same talent of the common norm of 32745 ; therefore both
talents are in the proportion of 24 to 25.
In the original Babylonian division into 60 Minas we hnd this
talent in Etruria, then in Campania divided in 50 Minas.
Etruscan division :
Talent 34 no gr.
Mina, 1/60 Talent 568.49
Half Mina, 1/120 — 284.25
Stater, 1/50 Mina ii-37
1/2 Stater, i/ioo — 5-685
i/ioStater, 1/500 — (scripulum) 1.137
Roniano-Canipanian division :
Talent 34^ 10 gr.
Mina, 1/50 Talent 682.20
HalfMina, i/ioo (Pound) 341.10
Didrachm, 1/50 Pound 6.82
Drachm, i/ioo — 3.41
Scripulum, 1/300 — 1-137
The Stater of 11.37 P'- i^'' ^^'^^ stater of the heavy Etruscan silver
system from about 400 B.C.; in this system the value of 2.274 t^^'-
viz. the heavy or the double scripulum is the silver equivalent of the
Oscan-Latin copper pound of 272-875 gr. and therefore of great
importance for Rome, whose system of libral aes grave was founded
on this pound. Rome herself in the reform of her Campanian silver
currency in the year 312 B.C. instead of the didrachm of 7.58 gr.
(Phoenician standard) issued the didrachm of 6.82 gr., with the
drachm of 3.41 gr. and divided the drachm in three scripula of
1. 1 37 gr. After this time the scripulum was the silver unity of
Rome and remained as such a unit also in the denarius-currency
under the name of " sestertius ". Being the silver equivalent of the
libral Oscan Semis of 136.44 gr. the scripulum had such an influence
- 96 -
on the bronze currency of the Capital, that the Roman Libral As
of 272.375 gr. was reduced to the Half (136.44 gr.), so that the
Semi-libral As and the scripulum represented the same value in
bronze and in silver. That is the beginning of the Roman bimetallic
system, which we find continued also in the denarius-currency during
the sextantal and uncial currency of the As. The types of the six-
scruple didrachms are the following :
a) in the second period (312-286 B.C.) :
Head of Roma in Phrygian helmet and Victoria ROMANOM ;
Head of Apollo and his horse, ROMA;
Head of Mars and club, and Horse and club ROMA ;
Head of Mars and Horse's bust, sickle ROMA;
b) in the third period (after 286 B.C.) :
Head of Janus and Jupiter in quadriga ROMA (Quadrigatus).
Together with the introduction of the quadrigati at Capua in
the Capital begins the Semilibral-Reduction with the division of
the As in 10 ounces, so that the 10 ounces of the reduced As are of
the same value as the 10 bronze libellae ' of the quadrigatus struck
in the following pieces all with the inscription Roma :
Roman reduced ounces.
4 Libellae = Head of Juno, etc. 34-58 gr. = 4
3 — Head of Heracles, etc. 40-93 = 3
2 — Eagle, etc. 27.29 = 2
I — Head of Sol, etc. 13-64 =1
1/2 — Female head turreted and
horseman 6.82 =1/2
The six-scruple Didrachm of 6.82 gr. contains 6 X 20 = 120
1/2 libellae of 6.82 gr., silver to copper also at Capua = i : 120.
In the aes grave we find the pound of 341.10 gr. as well in the
west as in the east of Italy.
a) In the west in one of the two heavy Roman Latin series, the
heavy Apollo series, with division of the As in 12 ounces (circa 286-
268 B.C.).
b) In the east applied by two Apulian cities, Luceria and Venusia,
(Latin Colonies) as part of a decimal system (circa 300 B.C.).
DUODECIMAL SYSTEM OF BRONZE COINS.
As weighing 341.10 grammes or 5264 grains.
Semis, 1/2 — 170.55 — 2632 —
Triens, 1/3 — ii3-70 — 1754-6 —
I. B. The libella is i/io of the scripulum, 1/60 of the quadrigatus ; the quadri-
gatus of 6,82 gr. therefore contains 60 Hbells of 13.64 gr. or 120 hbellse of
6.82 gr.
— 97 —
Quadrans, 1/4 — 85.27 — 13 16
Sextans, 1/6 — 56.85 — 877.3
Uncia, 1/12 — 28.43 — 438.6
Semiuncia, 1/24 (none issued).
DECIMAL SYSTEM.
As,_
weighing
341.10 grammes or
5264
Quincunx,
1/2
—
170.55 —
2632
Quatrunx,
4/10
—
136.44 —
2105.6
Temncius
3/10
—
102.33 —
1579.2
Biunx,
2/10
—
68.22 —
1052.8
Uncia,
i/io
—
34.11 —
526.4
Semiuncia,
1/20
—
17.6 -
263.2
grams
IV. THE PHOENICIAN POUND.
This pound of 379 gr. is the half of a Mina of 758 gr., the 1/60
of the heavy Phoenician Silver Talent of the royal norm weighing
45.480 gr. But since in Italy each pound is accompanied by its
centumpondium, we have reason to believe that in Italy out of
50 Minas of 758 gr. was constructed a " derivated Phoenician"
Talent of 37.900 gr.
Phoenician construction :
Talent
45480 gr.
Mina,
1/60 Talent
758 -
Half Mina,
1/120 —
^79 —
Stater,
1/50 Mina
15.16 —
1/2 Stater,
i/ioo —
7.58-
1/4 Stater,
1/200 —
3-79 —
Italian construction :
Talent
37900 gr.
Mina,
1/50 Talent
758 -
Half Mina,
i/ioo Pound
379 —
Tetradrach
m
vacat —
Didrachm,
1/50 Pound
7.58-
Drachm,
i/ioo —
3-79 —
The Didrachm of 7.58 gr. in various autonomous cities of Cam-
pania was already in use before the Roman occupation and was
applied also by Rome in the first period of her Campanian silver
Hands.
— 98 —
currency, circa 335-312 B.C. The Didrachms struck by Rome during
this period, all with the inscription ROMANO, are :
a) Head of bearded Mars helmeted, horse's bust;
b) Head of Apollo, prancing horse and star;
c) Head of young Heracles, wolf and twins.
The drachm ot 3.79 gr. was not coined, but there exists a rare
litra (i/io didrachm) of 0.76 gr. of the type a. As often in the
later emissions of ancient coins we find a diminution of the weight.
This is seen on Roman brass, and also on the later didrachms of
Cales, Suessa, Teate, Nuceria, etc., which seldom surpass a weight
of 7.20 or 7.30 gr. Of this light weight are also the didrachms ot
two Apulian cities Arpi and Teate.
Of a heavier weight are the drachms of Velia of 3.94 gr. That is
the weight of Phokaea and of Karthago (double elevation of the
common norm = -j- 1/12) and therefore we may distinguish in
Campania three silver standards :
Didrachm of 7.88 gr. =Phokaean or old Campanian standard.
— of 7.58 — = Phoenician or new Campanian standard.
— of 6.82 — = Roman or Romano-Campanian (6 scruple
= standard.)
In the acs orave on the pound of 379 gr. are founded the series
of the Vestini, of Hatria (Picenum), and of Ariminum (Umbria)
all after 300 B.C. Here in the east of Italy the division of this
pound is always decimal.
As = 379 gr. Biunx 75.80 gr.
Quincunx = 189.50 — Uncia 37-90 —
Quatrunx = 151.60 — Semuncia 18.95 —
Teruncius -= 113.70 —
Also the light series of the Etruscan aes grave belongs to the
system of the heavy Phoenician Mina of 758 gr. In Etruria the As
is not identical, as in the other parts ol Central Itah^ with the
market pound ; it is not a copper pound in the sense of a Half of the
light Mina, but is the fifth part of a heavy Mina. The As weight of
the light Etruscan aes grave is 1/5 of the Mina of 758 gr. = 151.60
gr. and therefore the Qiiincussis is the full Mina. The system is the
following :
Quincussis = 5 As 758 — gr. Triens 1/3 As 50.53 gr.
Dupondius ^ 2 — 303.20 — Quadrans 1/4 — 37-90 —
As 151.60 — Sextans 1/6 — 25.27 —
Semis =1/2 75-8o — Uncia 1/12 — 12.63 —
To this system belong the wheel and anchor series ; wheel and
amphora; archaic wheel on both sides; archaic wheel and three
— 99 —
crescents, and the aes grave of Volterra, further the oval series. The
Qiiincussis occur only in the wheel and anchor series. The whole
Etruscan aes grave seems to be not older than 300 B.C.
V. THE UMBRIAN POUND.
The Umbrian pound weighed 255.82 gr. It is the Half of the
Mina of the royal Norm B. of the Babylonian weight talent of
30698.44 gr.
Talent 30698.44 gr.
Mina 1/60 Talent 511.64 —
Half Mina 1/120 Pound 255.82 —
Stater 1/60 Mina 8.527 —
1/2 Stater 1/120 — 4-264 —
This is the original Babylonian division : Talent := 60 X 60
= 3600 Staters. This Talent was in use in a great part of Etruria
and in the South of Umbria ; but since the pound in the form of
the As only existed in Umbria, this pound was called by Dr. Hae-
berlin the Umbrian Pound.
In Umbria the city of Tuder founded her libral aes grave about
300 B.C. in conformity to this pound, divided into 12 ounces.
As
255.82 gr.
Quadrans
63-95
Semis
127.91 — .
Sextans
42.64
Triens
85-27 -
Uncia
21.32
In the lucst of Etruria the Stater of 8.53 gr. is the Stater of the
light Etrurian silver system, and there is no doubt that Populonia
commenced this currency at a very early period, about 450 B.C.
The stater is signed with X = 10 litrae, later with X X, when
the litra of 85 gr. was diminished to the half = 4.3 gr.
In the east of Etruria the coins of the heavy series or the Etrus-
can aes grave are founded upon the same system ; they are the fifth
part of the double (heavy) Mina of 1023.28 gr. The As weighing
1/5 = 204.66 gr. This division is duodecimal :
As 204.66 gr. Quadrans 51.16 gr.
Semis 102.33 — Sextans 34- n —
Triens 68.22 — Uncia 17.06
To this system belong (about 300 B.C.), the three heavy wheel
series : wheel on both sides ; wheel and kantharus ; wheel and
bipennis; also the series with sacrificial instruments.
— lOO
VI. SICILIAN COPPER POUND.
This pound is derived from the light Phoenician Silver Talent
weighing 21.830, divided in 50 Minas as in the following Table :
Talent 21830 gr.
Mina 1/50 Talent 436.66 - Attic Mina.
Half Mina i/ioo — 218.30 — Sicilian Copper Pound,
Stater 1/50 Mina 109.15 — Sicilian Copper Litra,
Stater 1/50 Mina 8.732 — Didrachm or Numos,
1/2 Stater I / 100 — 4.366 — Drachm,
i/ioStater 1/500 — 8732 - Sicilian Silver Litra.
The dividing of the Talent into 50 Minas is not Greek ; the Greek
or Attic Talent belonging to this table has a weight of 26.196 gr.
and is constructed out of 60 Minas of 436.66 gr. The Sicilians did
not cast aes grave, but from a very remote time their account was
based on the copper pound, the heavy Litra of 218.30 gr., later on
the light Litra of 109.15 gr. (1/2 = Pound). In the proportion of
1:125 ^he light Copper Litra is the equivalent of a silver weight of
8732 gr., Silver Litra. From the beginning the Sicilian coinage was
in silver, and therefore we find the Litra coined in silver. An excep-
tion is found only in the coinage of the isle of Lipara (circa 400 B.C.)
with its copper Litra of 109.10 gr. (struck, not cast, divided in
2 Hemilitras, 3 Tetras, 4 Trias, 6 Hexas and 12 Oncias). Also the
silver litra. In fact a copper value was divided duodecimally in
12 ounces. The Attic values of Drachm, Didrachm, Tetradrachm
etc., were adopted on the island as being 5 X 10 X 20 X, the Silver
Litra and therefore the Sicilian division of these monies is not the
division in obols (i Attic Drachm = 6 Obols) but the division in
Litras.
In the proportion of i : 125 a silver quantity of the weight of
the Sicilian pound of 218.30 gr. was the equivalent of 100 Osco-
Latin pounds copper, or 100 Roman Libral-Asses.
— lOI —
APULIA
The region called Apulia extends along the south-eastern coast of
Italy for about a hundred and forty miles, and is about forty miles
broad from East to West. The northern half, from the river Tifernus
to the Aufidus, consists almost entirely of a great plain, sloping from
the Apennines to the sea ; the hilly and well wooded southern
half was as thinly inhabited in the third century before Christ as it
is now, except for a stretch of fertile plain, about ten miles broad,
and fifty miles long, near the sea shore, which has always been well
populated. On the great northern plains flocks of sheep and herds
of horses were tended, and from these sheep the finest wool in Italy
was supplied. There were three distinct national elements in the
population; the Apulians dwelling in the northern plains, members of
the Oscan or Ausonian race, were always hostile to the Samnites.
The inhabitants of the southern plains were Daunians of Pelasgic
origin, and preserved legends of that race, such as that concerning
Diomed ; thus it was only natural that they should receive Greek
culture with readiness, and cultivate friendship with the Greeks of
Tarentum.
The men of the third race, the Peucetian, were called Poediculi ;
their language was quite distinct from the Oscan, and more allied to
the Greek, yet sufficiently different to show it was not a mere
corruption of that language. They probably came from the opposite
coast of the Adriatic.
From Strabo we learn that in the earliest times the Daunians and
Peucetians each had their own kings, and were friendly with the
Tarentines.
No Greek colonies appear to have settled in Apulia, but the
influence of Greek culture which spread as far north as Arpi and
Canusium is evident, not only from the coinage, but also from the
number of bronzes and vases which have been discovered in many
of the Apulian cities.
They are said to vie with the richest finds of Campania, although
they are generally specimens of the period of decadence in Art.
The intercourse of the Apulians with Rome began about the time
of the Second Samnite War, circa 326 B.C., when Livy informs us
the Apulians made an alliance with Rome (Mil 25.), which, however,
they very soon afterwards appear to have broken.
In 338 B.C. when Alexander the Molossian came to help the
— 102 —
Tarentines he united under his banner contingents of the Poediculi
from round Rubi who sought his protection from the Sabellians ;
accordingly Alexander subdued the Daunians round Sipontum and
the Messapians in the eastern peninsula ; he then commanded the
land from the western sea to the Adriatic^ and began to arrange
with the Romans to attack the Samnites in their native hills, but
his project for uniting the Greeks of Magna Gr^ecia failed on account
of the jealousy of the Tarentines, and he fell at Poseidonia in
332 B.C., thus releasing the Samnites to face Rome with all their
might. The Apulians, the ancient and bitter antagonists of the
Sabellians, thus became the natural allies of the Romans.
There seems to have been no combination of the various tribes
or cities, each city acting on its own authority, some taking the side
of the Romans, others that of the Samnites.
In 317 B-C. all Apulia was brought into subjection to Rome
(Livy, VIII, 37 ;IX. 12, 13, 16, 20)."
In 297 B.C. Livy mentions a slight defection to the side of the
Samnites, but Apulia had rest until the arrival of Pyrrhus, in
279 B.C., when he carried the war into Apulia, and took several
cities ; the others remained loyal to Rome, and helped the Romans
in the battle of Ausculum (Zonaras, VIII, 5 ; Dionysius, XX).
During the Second Punic war the Carthaginians ravaged Apulia,
and after the defeat of the Romans at Cannae many cities opened
their gates to Hannibal. The revolted cities were afterwards severely
punished by the Romans, and from that time the prosperity ot
Apulia gradually faded.
Before the Apulians came into contact with Rome, during the
period of the supremacy of Tarentum, the coins of that city were
used throughout Apulia, and when some of the principal cities,
such as Arpi, Caelia and Rubi, began to coin silver, the type of the
Tarentine diobol, the hero Heracles strangling the lion, was adopted.
The didrachms and drachms of Teate were also imitations of those
of Tarentum.
Arpi 2 dr. no grs. ^ i^r. 28 grs. Nummus 17 grs. ^ Nummus 9 grs.
Caelia — -- — —
Canusium — — — —
Rubi _ _ _ _
Teate — drachm — —
The JEs grave of Apulia appears also to have been based on the
Tarentine nummus of 22 grs. for the proportion of value between
silver and bronze was as i : 250 and the weight of the bronze was
about 5000 grains, 22X.250 = 5500. In Apulia the weight of
the As was greater than on the western side of the Apennines.
D'' Head says in his Historia Numormn that the Tarentine coins
— 103 —
were replaced by the Apulian coinage about the year 300 B.C.,
when didrachms, halt drachms, diobols and obols were issued at
Arpi and other cities. The didrachms were assimilated in weight
to those of Campania, but the lesser coins seem to be of 1 aren-
tine origin.
The Bronze coins of the Roman Colonies Luceria and Venusia
were reduced to correspond with the reduction at Rome, but the
other Apulian cities continued to issue bronze coins without marks
of value and with Greek legends.
By degrees these Greek bronze coins were superseded by the
Roman sextantal and uncial systems with marks of value.
The marks of value being Nil = double nummus.
N = the nummus. The five dots 00000 ^= the Quincunx.
0000 = the Triens, 000= the Quadrans.
00= the Sextans OS = the Sescuncia.
O = the Uncia and Z = the Semuncia.
ARPI.
Arpi, one of the oldest and most important of the Apulian cities,
was situated in the midst of the great northern plain on a branch
of the river Candelaro flowing into the Adriatic, near Sipontum,
which was about 20 miles distant from Arpi. The nearest city ot
importance was Luceria, about thirteen miles to the west. The few
remains of the city still existing are to be seen about five miles
north of the modern town of Foggia. Ptolemy called it "Ap-:i,
Pliny Arpanus, and Livy Arpinus.
The Greek legend of its foundation by Diomedes was the origin
of the Greek name Arg}Tippa by which it w'as called by Strabo
(M . Casaub 283, c. Ill, §9): " It was originally called Argos
Hippium, then Argyrippa, and then again Arpi ". But we have no
other evidence that the natives ever called their city Argyrippa, and
their coins all bear the name "Ap-av^t; moreover the city was not
a Greek colony, and is not mentioned in the list of such colonies
made by Scylax or Scymnus Chius.
Bockh (explicat. ad Pind. Nem. X, p. 463) conjectured that
Diomed is an ancient name of a Pelasgian divinity, afterwards con-
founded with the Greek hero of that name, who is said to have
come to Italy after the siege of Troy, and to have died in Daunia.
The legend agrees with the fact that very early Greek settlements
were made in Italy.
The names of two magistrates of Arpi, Dasius and Pullus, are
found upon the coins. Dasius seems to have been a not uncommon
name. The Dasius of Salapia mentioned by Livy (XXVI, 38) who
was killed in a massacre of the Punic garrison bv Blattius is however
— 104 —
probably the same ruler of Arpi. Besides the Attinius Blasius of Arpi
Livy mentions a Dasius who was in command of the garrison at
Clastidium in 213 B.C. The name may perhaps mean " the irritable
one ", or "the biter ", from boazM, the first letter being omitted, as
in the adverb ca; for oo:z;. In the year 213 B.C. Fabius the Consul
came into Apulia, and Altinius Dasius came into his camp from
Arpi by night attended by three slaves and offered to betray Arpi to
him for a reward. As Dasius had deserted from the Romans after the
defeat at Cannae and drawn Arpi into revolt, some of the officers
thought he should be scourged and slain as a deserter, but Fabius,
the father of the Consul, suggested that he should be bound and
kept at Cales.
When Hannibal found out what had happened he summoned
the wife and children of Dasius to his camp, and having burnt
them alive, seized all the property of the wealthy traitor (Livy,
XXIV, 45).
The legends TOYAAI, or PYAAOY, or nVAAY, represent the
Roman name Pullus. In 249 B.C. L. Junius Pullus was Consul
with P. Claudius Pulcher in the first Punic War. As this name
(Pullus) does not seem to be at all common — the only other
known as bearing this cognomen being Q. Numitorius Pullus of
Fregellae, who betrayed his native town to Opimius in 125 B.C.
— it seems probable that Junius Pullus may have been the Roman
governor of Arpi at the time when these coins were issued. He is
chiefly known by his naval misfortunes, which were attributed to
his neglect of the auspices.
The story is told by Valerius Maximus (I, 4, § 3) : "P. Claudius
in the first Punic War, being ready to join battle, on seeking to
know the signs after the old custom, when he that kept the
birds told him that the chickens would not come out of their pens,
commanded them to be cast into the sea, saying : ' If they will not
eat, let them drink'"
The same legend PYAAOY occurs on coins of Salapia. In the
year 214 B.C. Hannibal was at Arpi with his main army, watched
by Tiberius Gracchus, who confronted him with four legions using
Luceria as their base. The Roman generals, Q. Fabius and
M. Marcellus, were besieging Capua. In the following year the
Romans recovered Arpi, whose citizens helped the Roman soldiers
against the Carthaginian garrison. Hannibal had gone to endeavour
to raise the siege of Capua, and from thence down to Tarentum.
In 207 B.C. Hannibal was encamped first at Canusium, then at
Venusia, about forty-two miles south of Arpi, followed by Nero.
It was to this last camp that the head of Hasdrubal was brought,
after the defeat of his army, after which Hannibal retreated to
Bruttium, leaving Apulia in peace.
— 105 —
SILVER COINS OF ARPI.
DIDRACHMS.
I. Size .9. Weight 1 10.8 (specimen in Brit. Mus.).
Obv. APPANON. Head of Persephone to left, bound with wreath
of barley, wearing earring and necklace ; behind, an ear of barley
with two leaves : a border of dots.
Rev. A horse prancing to left, above, a star of eight rays :
beneath, AAIOY.
II. Obv. Types the same as No. i but behind the head an
amphora as symbol.
Rev. Same type as No. i but beneath legend a helmet with crest
and cheek-pieces.
SMALLER SILVER COINS.
III. Size .35 or I inch. Weight 10.8 grs.
Obv. A horse prancing to right, bridled; above. A: border of
dots.
Rev. A hook with round handle; in held to right A- : border ot
dots. The reaping hook may refer to the wheat fields belonging to
the city.
IV. Size .5 or :i inch. Weight 15.6.
Obv. Head of Pallas to right, wearing crested helmet with a
winged sea-horse on the helm.
Rev. A horse prancing to left. In the field above AHSA.
A specimen has been added to the Brit. Mus. since the Catalogue
was published.
— io6 —
BRONZE COINS OF ARPI.
I. Size -9. Obv. APDANnH. Head of Persephone to left.
Rev. Horse prancing to left; above, a star of eight rays.
II. Size .9. Obv. Head of Zeus to left, laureate, in front AAIoY ;
behind, thunderbolt : border of dots.
Rev. Calydonian boar running to right ; above, a spear-head
pointing to right; APnANfiN in exergue.
III. Size 7. Obv. Head of Mars to left, bearded, hel meted.
Rev. Three ears of barley joined at stalk in centre
IV. Size .9. Obv. Head of Apollo to left.
Rev. Lion to right. In exergue APflANOY.
V. Size "6. Obv. Head of Pallas to right wearing crested Corinth-
ian helmet.
Rev. A bunch of grapes; APPA on right, HOY on left : border
of dots.
VI. Size "8. Obv. A bull butting to right with near fore-leg
raised; beneath, POYAAI.
Rev. APPA, above, NOY below, horse prancing to right. On
some the horse ma}' be described as galloping, and the
letter E beneath end of legend. On some the Obverse legend is
PYAAO, on others it is PYVYV with the Reverse legend ATRA
OY
with same type.
lO'
AUSCULUM
This city vas situated about six miles north of the river Aufidus,
the southern boundary of the great northern plains of Apulia, and
was about nine miles distant from Herdonia. Plutarch spelt the
name "Aay.Xcv, and Appian Asculanus ; but on the coins it is spelt
in Oscan letters Aiihuskli AYhYlKA and in later coins AYCKAA,
the AY was transliterated Os by some, as by Festus " Osculana
pupa" (p. 197).
The modern city called Ascoli is built upon the old site on the
low hills which rise from the edge of the plain until they join the
Apennines.
The remains of the ancient city still to be seen outside the walls
of Ascoli show that Ausculum flourished during the Empire, and as
late as the reign of Valentinian, and from the absence of any mention
of the city in the works of Strabo or Pliny we are led to regard the
growth of its importance as due to the Romans rather than to the
Apulians.
The most fiimous event connected with the city is the battle
\\hich was fought in the plain near its walls between the Romans
and Pyrrhus in the year 279 B.C. Florus gives an interesting
account of the battle (I, xviii) and describes the confusion wrought
by the elephants in the army of Pyrrhus.
Pyrrhus was beaten " and retreated carried off by his guards, on
his own shield " w^ith a wound iu' his shoulder. Plutarch in his life
of Pyrrhus (21) describes two days' fighting, the first favourable to
the Romans, the second to Pyrrhus, and says that when Pyrrhus
was congratulated on his victory he replied : " Such another victory
and we are undone". Pyrrhus was much enfeebled by the losses he
sustained, but the Romans easily made good their great loss of men.
From Ausculum Pyrrhus returned to Tarentum and left Italy for
Sicily.
EARLY BRONZE COINS BEFORE 3OO B.C.
I. Size 75. Obv. AYhYIKAl. A horse's head to left, bridled.
Rev. AYhYIKAl. An ear of barley with leaf on left. (Brit. jMus.
Cat. No. I, 2 and 3.)
— io8 —
II. Size |. Obv. AYI-Y2KA. A greyhound running to right on a
round shield.
Rev. Similar to Xo. i.
(Carelli, Plate LXIII, 2),
BRONZE COINS ISSUED BETWEEN 3 00 AND 200 B.C.
III. Size "8 >IDYA in exergue.
Calydonian boar, running to right ; above a spear-head to right.
Rev. Same as No. i.
IV. Size g. Obv. A hound running to right.
Rev. Ear of barley with leaf on right.
V. Size '7). Obv. Head of young Heracles to left, wearing lion's
skin ; behind neck, a club : border of dots.
Rev. AYCKAA. Nike to right holding wreath by fillet, and palm :
border of dots.
(Brit. Mus. Cat., Nos. 5 and 6.)
109 —
APULIA or CALABRIA.
Two cities, Arctium iind Butuntum, art; genenilly classed by
numismatists as belonging to Calabria, but nevertheless are
acknowledged to belong to Apulia. This may be accounted for by
the uncertainty of the way in which the boundaries of these districts
were regarded by the ancients.
Tliere appears to be no natural boundary such as a river or a chain
of hills between these regions. From Strabo we can learn of no exact
geographical boundary; he says: " above these (the Calabrians)
towards the North lie the Peucetii, and those who are called Daunii
in the Greek language, but the inhabitants call the whole region
beyond the Calabri, Apulia ". " Messapia forms a peninsula : the
isthmus extending from Brentesium to Tarentum which bounds it,
being three hundred-and-ten stadia across.
Under Vespasian the boundar}^ of Calabria was extended farther
to the North (liber Colon, p. 261).
The distance from Tarentum to the West coast is about 30 miles
across the isthmus.
From Pliny's third book we know that in his time, that is,23-79
A . D . several of the cities in Southern Apulia were accounted to be
Calabrian. Hence the doubt in which region Azetium and Butun-
tum should be reckoned.
AZETINI.
In the Catalogues of the British and Berlin Museums the coins of
Azetium are placed under Calabria, but there are two references to a
town spelt somewhat differently, which have been thought to refer to
the city from which the coins bearing AIETINflN were issued.
The one is Ehetium in the Tabula Peutinger, in which the site is
marked as twelve miles south-east of Bari, at a village now called
Rutigliano; the other reference is that of Pliny to the Aegetini
which he places among the " Calabrorum Mediterranei ", and
probably it was from this reference that the coins were placed under
Calabria in the Brit. Mus. Catalogue. In Murray's Handy Classical
Atlas Azetium is marked as in Apulia, about fifty-three miles north
of Brundusium, and about thirty-five miles north of the border line
between Apulia and Calabria. It was situated about five miles trom
the sea, on the fertile plain which stretches along that coast.
I 10 —
In Pauly's Real Emydopadie Azt^imm is called " Stadt in Apulien ".
He does not add any further information to that here given.
The coins are all of bronze bearing legends in Greek characters
and types copied from those of Tarentum and Metapontum.
Between 281 and 272 B.C. the drachms of Tarentum bore the
head of Pallas, and an owl and olive-branch on the Reverse, and
between 272-235 on the Reverse of drachms we find the owl
seated on an Ionic capital, just as on the bronze coins of Azetium.
Among the bronze coins of Metapontum we find one type similar
to that on another coin of Azetium ; on the Obverse, an eagle to
left with wings extended, on the Reverse an ear of barley and
fulmen; this latter symbol is omitted on the similar coin of Azetium
(confer p. 80, Coins of Magna Graecia, n° 17).
We may therefore ascribe the coins with the legena AIETI-
NflN to the period between 270 and 230 B.C. Their types like
those of most of the Apulian cities bear witness to the influence 01
the Greek Colonists of the southern coast.
BRONZE COINS 01- THE AZETINI.
I. Size .65.
Obv. An eagle to right, with wings extended, seated on a
thunderbolt.
Rev. AIET, in field to left, an ear of barley with lear on right
side : plain border.
Rude, but clear and bold in execution.
II. Size -8.
Obv. Head of Pallas to right, wearing crested Corinthian helmet,
earring and necklace; on the helmet, a star of eight rays.
Rev. AIETINflN. An owl to right, on top of an Ionic column;
in front of owl an olive-branch : plain border.
— Ill
BARIUM
The founder of the ancient city called Barium was probably one
of Peucetian or Pelasgic origin who had emigrated from Arcadia. The
site chosen was on the coast of the Adriatic about thirty-five miles
south of the river Aufidus, and about seventy-five north of Brun-
dusium.
The ancient legend is found in the 41=*' of the Fables of Antoni-
nus Liberalis.
But few remains ot Barium remain to our day; only a few Roman
inscriptions, some painted Greek vases and a few copper coins are
left, but these are sujfficient to show how freely the ancient citizens
received the culture of the Greeks of Tarentum, which lies nearly
sixty miles distant almost due south of Barium.
Ancient writers do not often refer to this city ; Livy merely
mentions that the left wing of the fleet kept the coast up to Barium
in 181 B.C. (XL, 18.), and Horace relates his journey in his
Satires (lib. I, v, 96) : " Next day the weather was better, the road
worse, even to the very walls of Barium that abounds in fish ".
Tacitus mentions that Silanus was exiled " to a municipium of
Apulia called Barium " (Ann. XVI, 9).
Strabo merely mentions Barium without giving any information
about the place ; he says : " Egnatia was the general place to stop
at for those travelling to Barium as well by land as by sea. The run
is made when the wind blows from the south. The territory of
the Peucetii extends as for as this along the coast... The distance
from Brentesium to Bariuni is about 700 stadia ". Pliny (//. N.,
Ill, xi) just mentions this city. The towns of the Paediculi are
Rhudia, Egnatia, Barium. Its position as a sea port on the great
Roman road afterwards called the Via Trajana gave it some impor-
tance, and it was only 40 miles from Canusium.
BRONZE COINS OF BARIUM
End of the third century.
I. Size .8. Obv . Head of Zeus to right laureated, behind, two
stars, one above the other : border of dots.
112 —
Rev. BAP INHN above and to right.
A Prow to right upon which Eros leans forward to right draw-
ing his bow, beneath, a dolphin to right : plain border.
Style various, sometimes fair, at others rude.
II. Size .6. Same types, the only difference being that only one
star appears on the Obverse, and no dolphin on the Reverse.
The stars are marks of value perhaps of one and two libellas.
III. Size . 5 . Obv. same as II, but a dot for the star, and the
Rev. shews only the prow to right, without the figure of Eros or
the dolphin, and BAPI N in the field above.
There is only one type known of the coins of Barium, and with
slight modifications it appears on the double libella:;, the libelk^, and
the sembelliE.
— m —
BUTUNTUM
Butuntum is one of the Daunian towns of Pelasgic origin
situated on the phiins near the sea, in the southern part of Apulia.
It hiy on the road afterwards called Via Trajana, halfway between
Rubi on the West and Barium on the East, about ten miles from
each ; about thirty miles south of Canusium and fiftv miles north of
Tarentum.
The city is not mentioned by Livy or Strabo, nor indeed by any
ancient author except Pliny, who if he means this citv by his refe-
rence to the " Butuntinentes" as among the cities of Calabria, must
have made a mistake (III, xi).
The site is correctly given however in the ancient Itineraries. We
may perhaps be allowed to hope that as the city appears to have no
history, its happiness and prosperity was such as its plentiful supply
of bronze coins would lead us to imagine it enjoyed.
It is perhaps on account ot the way in w'hich the city was men-
tioned by Pliny that the coins ot Butuntum are arranged among
those of Calabria in the British Museum Catalogue, although the
nearest point on the borders ot Apulia and Calabria is more than
thirty miles from the site ot the city.
The coins of Butuntum which remain are all of bronze, and bear
witness by their types to the influence of Tarentum, for instance
the cockle shell, the figures of Taras riding the dolphin, and the
head of Pallas w^earing a Corinthian helmet.
The coins of Butuntum bearing the ear of barley with two leaves
remind us of those of Metapontum, but they may after all merely
bear witness to the cultivation of barley on the fertile plains around
the city. The type of a crab mentioned by D'' Head {Hist. Num.,
Hands.
— 114 —
p. 38) is'difficult to explain, for Butuntum was five miles distant
from^^the sea shore, and the city on whose coins the crab is a fami-
liar emblem, is the far off Agrigentum in Sicily.
BRONZE COINS OF BUTUNTUM
Circa 300 B.C.
I. Size .7. Obv. a Cockle-shell : border of dots.
Rev. TIN ON ( ' Taras, naked, riding a dolphin to left,
holding Cantharos, and club of Heracles.
II. Size .85. Obv. Head of Pallas to right wearing crested
Corinthian helmet : border of dots.
Kev. 5; J^J; an ear of barley to right with two leaves :
TINHN ^ ^
plain border.
III. Size '6. Obv. An owl seated on a branch.
Rev. Fulmen.
IV. Size • 7 . Obv. a crab.
Rev. Inscription, but no type.
Numbers II and IV are not found in the British Museum, but
are described in D"" Head's Hist. Num., p. 38.
113
CAELIA
There are two ancient cities which bore the name ofCaeha, the
one situated about six miles to the south of Barium, and the other
about twenty-five miles west of Brundusium. on the borders or
Apulia and Calabria. Mommsen and Tomasi {Bull, del Inst.,
1834, P- 54) ^^'^ of opinion that the coins bearing KAIAINflN
belong to the first-named city, near Barium, because they are
frequently found there. This is also the opinion of Millingen (A^/rw.
de V Italic, p. 148).
Strabo just mentions it among the cities on the road from Brun-
dusium to Rome : " Hence there are two ways to Rome ; one, which
is only walked by mules through the Peucetii, who are called
Poedicli, the Daunii, and the Samnites, as far as Beneventum on
which road is the city Egnatia, then Caelia, Netium, Canusium
and Herdonia.
This is confirmed by the Tab. Pent, which places Cc^lia nine
miles from Butuntum on the road to Egnatia. There is still a
village on this site called Ceglie, five miles south of Bari.
Many tombs, vases, coins and other remains have been found
on this site (Romanelli, vol. II, p. 177; Mommsen, Unlcr Ital.
Dialeckte, p. 62).
SILVER COINS OF CAELIA.
Circa 300 B.C.
Only obols are found, in size .45, weighing I5.8grs.
Obv. Head of Pallas wearing crested helmet on which is a sea-
horse.
Rev. Heracles to right, kneeling and strangling the Nemean
lion; behind, a club; beneath AAxlOY. In the Cat. of Brit. Mus.,
no. I. this legend is described as " uncertain letters " but they
appear clearly enough to make this reading reasonably sure.
— ii6 —
BRONZE COINS OF CAELIA.
Circa 268 B.C.
I. tf) Sextans. Size .8. Head of Pallas to right, wearing crested
Corinthian helmet, on which is a figure of a serpent, and in her
ear an earring ; above the helmet O O : border of dots.
Rev. KAIAINHN. Trophy of crested helmet to left, round
shield, lance, sword, and cuirass; on either side, a star of six rays;
in field to left a thunderbolt : plain border.
/;) Size .7. Obv. Same type; but on helmet a griffin.
Rev. KAIAIN HN. Similar trophy, Gorgon's head on shield,
a palm crossing lance; in field to left a club, upwards.
c) Size .85. Obv. Same type, nothing visible on helmet; no
earring?
Rev. KAIAIN. Trophy helmet to right, no device visible on
shield, no palm ; on either side a star.
II. Uncia. Size "j . Obv. Head of Pallas; above head, O.
Rev. [KAIAIN] ON. Same type as Sextans, but in field to left
a star of six rays.
III. Sextans. Size .7. Obv. Head of Pallas, above • • ;
behind, K : border of dots.
Rev. KAIAI. Nike, advancing to left, holding wreath, and
carrying trophy on her left shoulder: border of dots.
IV. Sextans. Size .75. Obv. Head of Zeus to right, laureated ;
behind, * : border of dots.
Rev. ^,^,A. Pallas, running to left, wearing crested helmet,
NN(JO '^ ^
holding spear and small buckler : plain border,
V. Uncia. Size .7. Obv. Head of Zeus, behind the head, '^.
Reverse. Same legend. A thunderbolt : plain border.
Uncertain denominations.
VI. Size .6. Head of Pallas, in front K.
Rev. IAIA>I. An eagle to left, on thunderbolt; behind, two stars
of eight rays : border of dots.
VII. Size .55. Obv, Head of Pallas with necklace, no mark of
value.
Rev. KAIAINHN. Three crescents with the horns outwards;
within each crescent a • and part of the legend : plain border.
VIII. Size . 55 . Obv. Same as VII.
Rev. KAI. A male figure advancing to left, wearing petasos (?),
and holding palm with right hand : border of dots.
— 117 —
IX. Size . 5 . Obv. Same as VII.
Rev. An inscription in exergue not legible ; Dioscuri wearing
conical caps, on horseback, riding to right.
X. Size .6. Obv. Head of Zeus, similar to that on Sextans.
Rev. ^,'^^,. Thunderbolt : plain border.
NilN ^
XL Size • 5 . Obv. Same as X.
Rev. KA. A club upwards, within wreath of laurel (?) leaves.
— Hi
CANUSIUM
The name of a city or the name of a man recalls to mind many
different appearances or conditions ; thus, London under the
Romans, the Normans, the Tudors or the Hanoverians presents to
our mind very varied images. So the image of Nero in his youth is
very different from that of his later years.
When we try to picture to ourselves the Canusium in which our
coins were current we must remember that the rude primitive city
of the Pelasgic Daunians, whose hero, Diomed, figures on some of
the types, had been transformed by the influence of the Tarentines
into a Greek city, whose buildings no doubt were as much copied
from those of Tarentum as were its coins. Many of these same
coins of Canusium were probably current in the days when the
Roman fugitives from Cannae entered its walls.
As the London streets have echoed with the Latin of the
Romans, Norman-French of the Normans, and the English of the
Plantagenets and Elizabethans, so those of Canusium must have
resounded with the language of the early Pelasgians, the Greek of
their Tarentine friends, and the Latin of their Roman conquerors.
The Canusian Greek coins bear witness to the culture of the vine
by the amphorae and wine-cups appearing on the obols, which
they copied from those of Tarentum.
The lyre on some of these coins may show that the cult of
Apollo was as common among the citizens as that of Dionysus.
The figure of a horse-soldier reminds us not only of the Taren-
tine cavalry so often illustrated on the coins of that city, but also or
the herds of horses reared on the Apulian plains.
This most ancient Daunian Canusium was situated near the
south bank of the river Aufidus, about twelve miles west of Rudi,
and the same distance from the mouth of the river. Ausculum lay
about twenty-seven miles to the west. The road from Brundusium
to Beneventum ran through Canusium.
Strabo (VI, p. 283 Casaub.) speaking of Arpi and Canusium
says : " They are said to have been both founded by Diomed, and
both the plain of Diomed and many other things are shown in these
districts as evidence of his having possessed them.
Many towns are chiefly remembered in connection with some
— 119 —
great battle, as for instance, Hastings and Waterloo; similarly,
Canusium is most generally known as the refuge of the defeated
Roman army on the night following the great battle of Cann«.
The site of the battle is about six miles distant from the cit}', along
the course of the Aufidus towards the sea. Livy (XXII) tells us how
Publius Sempronius Tuditanus bravel}- led the refugees into the
city. From the stor}'^ of the battle we gather that the River Aufidus
was shallow enough to enable the armies to cross it without diffi-
culty. It can hardly therefore have formed a natural boundary
between the original Daunians and Peucetians.
The first historical notice of the city appears to be that of Livy
(IX, 20) who tells us that the Canusians took the part of the Sam-
nites in their wars against the Romans, until L. Plautius, in the
5^ear 318 B.C. forced them to submit in order to save their terri-
tories from repeated devastations. From that date and throughout
the Second Punic War the\' appear to have been steadfast in their
loyalty to Rome.
Canusium maintained its importance until a late period in the
Middle Ages, although it suff"ered severely from the ravages of the
Lombards and Saracens.
The modern city, now called Canossa, is situated on a slight hill
which probably formed the citadel of the ancient Canusium. Most of
the ruins now to be seen are of later Roman date ; they are
described by Swinburne in his " Travels " (vol. I, p. 401).
The most interesting relics of the ancient city besides its coins
are the objects which have been found in its tombs, especially the
painted vases, which are scarcely inferior to those of Nola. But
though inferior in style of art they are clearly of Greek origin.
Greek seems to have been the language there' when the Romans
conquered the city, and for long afterwards, for Horace calls the
people " Canusinusbilinguis " (Sat. I, 10.30), probably referring to
their speaking both Greek and Latin in his time.
The territory of Canusium was adapted to the growth of vines as
well as of corn, but was specially celebrated for its wool, which
appears to have been manufactured on the spot into a particular kind
of cloth much prized for its durability.
SILVER COINS OF CANUSIUM.
Circa 300 B.C.
I. The only silver coins remaining are Obols. Weight : 7.3 grs.
Obv. KA. An amphora between smaller figures of a cornucopiae
and an oinochoe.
Rev. A tri-chord lyre, the letter P on the left and I ? on the
right.
— 120 —
II. Obv. Amphora between smaller figures of a flower of eight
petals on the left^ and an oinochoe on the right.
Rev. Same type as the last, only the letters KA instead of PI.
III. Obv. Same type, but cornucopiae to left instead of the
flower.
Rev. Same as last.
The execution is ruder than one would expect from the style of
the bronze coins.
BRONZE COINS OF CANUSIUM.
Circa 300 B.C.
I. Size ■ 86 . Obv. A male head to left, perhaps that of Dio-
medes.
Rev. A horseman galloping to right wearing crested helmet and
with spear couched. Beneath the horse KANY2INfl(N).
II. Size .6. Obv. Head of Heracles to right wearing the lion-
skin headdress.
Rev. A club and four dots KA NY.
121
URIUM or HYRIA of APULIA
Three cities of Southern Italy bore the name Hyria : one in
Campania, which was also known as Kola, another which Herodo-
tus calls the most ancient of the Messapian cities in Calabria, which
issued coins bearing the legend ORRA, and the third, the subject
of this chapter, a sea-port town on the coast of Apulia about ten
miles north of the promontory of Garganus. The city gave its
name to the bay formed by the headland Urias Sinus mentioned
by Pomponius Mela (II, 4, § 7).
The city is merely mentioned by Pliny and Ptolemy among the
cities of the Daunian Apulians, but no notices of its history can be
found in any ancient writers. Strabo just mentions the city : " The
promontory of Garganum, running into the sea, juts out from
this bay about three hundred stadia. As you turn the point you
perceive the town of Urium, while off the headland are seen the
Diomedean islands. All this coast produces everything in great
abundance ; it is exceedingly well adapted for horses and sheep, and
the wool is finer than that of Tarentum, but less glossy. The district
is mild on account of the cup-like situation of the plains. "(Casaub.
284, lib. VI, c. Ill, § 9).
The site is at present occupied by a small town called Rodi, near
the entrance to a salt-water lake or lagoon called Lago di Varano,
a name which is ver}' probably a corruption of Lacus Urianus
(Romanelli, vol. II, p. 283).
BRONZE COINS.
The only coins which have been preserved from tlie Apulian city
Hyria are ver}' small bronze, and are common ; they present only
two different types.
I. Size .35. 'Obv. Head of Pallas to right wearing crested Corinth-
ian helmet : border of dots.
Rev. y^^^Q• A rudder lengthwise to left; beneath, a dolphin to
right : plain border.
"11. Size .3. Obv. Head of Zeus to right, laureated. YPIA and at
thunderbolt
— 122 —
The Obverse type of no i shows the influence of Tarentum to
have been great at Hyria, for the type is copied from coins of that
city. The Reverse type, the rudder, is probably emblematic of the
sea port ; the dolphin may also have been an emblem of the sea (as
on the coins of Syracuse) or perhaps of Poseidon.
The rudder was used on gems in a similar manner as an emblem
of the sea. In the Stosch collection of gems was one on which Venus
is represented leaning on a rudder (-•/;oiA'.ov), and there it evident-
ly can only be a reference to her origin from the sea. On another
gem is a rudder and a cornucopiae representing the proceeds of
sea and land. On one of Bartoli's lamps is a figure of a Triton
carrying a rudder on his shoulder and blowing a conch.
— 123 —
LUCERIA
The modern city of Luceria, with about 12000 inhabitants,
occupies the site of the ancient ApuHan Luceria ; it is on a hill of
considerable elevation, one of the most easterly spurs of the
Apennines, overlooking the fertile plains of Apulia. Of the more
ancient native city we know nothing except what may be gathered
from the legends related by Strabo (264 or Bk. VI, i, 14) concern-
ing an image of Minerva, said to have been rescued from the
city of Troy, being preserved there; also he says many other things
are shewn in these districts as evidence ofDiomed's having possessed
them. Such were the ancient offerings in the temple at Luceria.
Strabo says this ancient city of the Daunii was of no account in his
day, that is, in the time of Augustus (283 Bk. VI, iii, 39). Nothing
is really known of Luceria until the period of the Second Samnite
War, when the citizens joined the other Apuiians in their alliance
with Rome, in 326 B.C., and remained faithful to Rome although
the other cities broke the treaty, and in consequence the Samnites
besieged Luceria.
The Roman legions were on their way to relieve the citizens
when they sustained the great disaster at the Caudine Forks in
321 B.C. There were two roads by which the Romans might
approach Luceria, one along the coast, the safer but the longer road,
the other led through the dangerous but shorter valley called the
Caudine Forks in which the Roman army was taken, and Luceria
in consequence fell into the hands of the Samnites.
From Livy (IX, 12) we learn that the Roman knights given as
hostages at Caudium were kept in custody at Luceria until 319 B.C.,
when Publius in a second battle near the same fatal pass defeated
the Samnites and caused them to flee into Luceria.
The Samnites prepared to meet Papirius at Luceria when the
Tarentines threatened, if either party refused to agree to stop the
war, to join their arms with the other party against them.
The Samnites in Luceria tried to fevour the Tarentines and
refused to come out to fight. Their camp was taken by the Romans
in 3 19 B.C. but the men were not destroyed for fear lest the hostages
in Luceria should be slain.
— 124 —
The Samnites in the city were reduced so low by famine that
they sent ambassadors to Papirius proposing that he should raise the
siege on receiving the hostages. The Roman consul told them to
leave within the walls their arms and baggage and pass under the
yoke as they had made the Romans pass at Caudium. All the
standards and arms which the Romans had lost at Caudium were
recovered, as well as the hostages.
As Canusium is connected in our minds with the defeat at
Cannae, so is Luceria with that at the Caudine Forks.
A truce was made with the Samnites from 318-317 B.C. but in
the next year the Samnites reopened the war. In 314 or 313 B.C.
Luceria again fell into the hands of the Samnites, the Roman
garrison being betrayed to the enemy. But the Roman army was
not far off, and the city was retaken at the first onset. The Luce-
rians and Samnites to a man were put to the sword.
The Senate were consulted as to sending a colony to Luceria,
but such was the resentment felt in Rome at their treachery, that
many voted for its demolition. However, two thousand five hundred
colonists were sent to the place.
" Fearing to lose all Apulia, the Romans sent a colony to Luce-
ria, one of the most celebrated cities of the land, in order that it
might serve them as a base from which to continue their war against
the Samnites" (Diodorus Sic. Bk. XIX, Ch. 72).
Twenty years after, in the year 294 B.C., the Samnites again laid
siege to Luceria, when the Roman Consul Atilius advanced to its
relief and defeated his enemies in a great battle.
During the Second Punic War, 218-201 B.C. Luceria was one
of the most important military positions of the Romans, and was
especially used as their winter-quarters. Although the citizens
suffered much Luceria was nevertheless one of the eighteen Latin
colonies which in 209 B.C. expressed their readiness to continue
their contributions both of men and mone}^ and which in conse-
quence received the thanks of the Senate for their fidelity (Livy,
XXVII, 10).
In Cicero's time Luceria was still one of the most considerable
towns in Apulia. As Pliny calls it a "colonia", it probably received
a fresh colony under Augustus.
The coinage of Luceria may be divided into three series, the
first consisting of cast aes grave of the libral system, issued between
314-250 B.C. Although these are practically Roman coins, some
of the types, as the heads of Heracles and Apollo, the head of a
horse, a horse prancing, with a star above, a cock, a dolphin, the
ear of corn, or the cockle-shell, all show the influence of the Apu-
lians and Tarentines.
The second series consists of cast aes grave of the triental system
— 125 —
issued after 250 B.C. The types of these are shiiilar to those ot
the first series, but with the addition of the letter V on the Reverse.
The third series consists of struck coins of the sextantal system,
and were issued before 217 B.C. The types bear the heads of
Pallas, Heracles, Poseidon, Demeter, Apollo, the Dioscuri, and
Artemis.
In addition to these autonomous coins of Luceria there is another
series of Roman coins, both of silver and copper, with the inscription
ROMA, and I the mint-mark of Luceria, which we may call
Romano-Lucerian .
CAST BRONZE COINS OF THE LIBRAL SYSTEM.
I. As. Size 2.65. Weight, between 5266 grs. and 3130 grs.
Obv. Head of young Heracles to right, wearing lion's skin.
Rev. Horse's head to left, bridled.
II. Quincunx. Size 1.75.
Obv. Archaic wheel of four spokes without tire.
00
Rev. Same type, but in addition o between the two lower
GO
spokes.
III. Quadrans. Size 1.85.
Obv. Star of six rays on raised field.
Rev. Dolphin to left, beneath 000 : on a raised field.
IV. Sextans. Size 1.45.
Obv. Cockle-shell on raised field.
Rev. Astragalos, beneath 00 : on raised field.
V. Uncia. Size 1.25.
Obv. Toad.
Rev. Ear of barley, above, o.
VI. Semuncia. Size "95.
Obv. Crescent on raised field.
Rev. Thyrsos with fillet, on raised field.
TRIENTAL SYSTEM.
I. As. Size 1 .9.
Obv. Head of young Heracles to right, wearing lion's skin ; over
neck, his club to left.
Rev. A horse prancing to right, above, a star of eight rays ;
beneath P.
II. Quincunx. Size 1.3.
Obv. Archaic wheel of four spokes, without tire, on raised field.
— 126 —
Rev. Same type as obv. ; between upper spokes o , and between
lower spokes P : on raised field.
III. Triens. Size 1.25.
Obv. Thunderbolt : on raised field.
Rev. Club to right; above 0000 ; beneath l':on raised field.
IV. Sextans. Size i . i .
Obv. Cockle-shell: on raised field.
Rev. Astragalos; above, 00; beneath V : on raised field.
V. Uncia. Size .85.
Obv. Toad : on raised field.
Rev. Ear of barley ; above O ; beneath V: on raised field.
VI. Semiuncia. Size .75.
Obv. Crescent : on raised field.
Rev. Half-Thyrsos with fillet ; beneath U : on raised field.
STRUCK COINS.
I. Quincunx. Size 1.05.
Obv. Head of Pallas to right wearing crested Corinthian helmet;
Quincunx.
above 00000 ; border of dots.
Rev. LOVCERI. Wheel of eight spokes, inner line ol tyre dotted.
11. Triens. Size i.
Obv. Head ofyoung Heracles to right wearing lion's skin; behind,
o
Q : border of dots.
— 127 —
Rev. LOVCERI. Quiver to right; Club to right; and strung Bow:
phiin border.
III. Quiidrans. Size .9.
Obv. Head of Poseidon to right; behind J? : border of dots.
Rev. LOVCERI. Dolphin to right; above, a trident, to right :
plain border.
IV. Sextans. Size .7.
Dbv. Head of Dione to right, laureate and veiled ; behind head
o : border of dots.
Rev. LOVCERI. Cockle-shell, hinge downwards: plain border.
V. Uncia. Size .55.
Obv. Head of Apollo to right, over shoulder bow^ and quiver,
beneath o ; border of dots.
Rev. LOVCERI. Toad : plain border.
— I2{
MATEOLA
The village now called Matera is supposed to be the site of the
ancient city Mateola, which was important enough to coin bronze
money between 250-217 B.C. Matera is twelve miles from Genu-
sium, and about eight miles east of the river Bradanus. It was near
or on the Via Appia, about forty miles south-east of Venusia, and
about the same distance from Tarentum.
Pliny seems to be the only ancient author who mentions this
city, but from the expression used by him " ex Gargano Mateo-
lani " we should hardly have expected to find the site in the south-
west corner of Apulia about eighty miles from the promontory ot
Garganus.
The coins consist of Sextantes and Unciae only, issued probably
between 250 and 217 B.C.
I. Sextans. Size. 65. Obv. Head of Pallas to right wearing crested
Corinthian helmet and earring ; above, 00 : border of dots.
Rev. A lion seated, with head facing, near forepaw raised ; hold-
ing spear which he grasps in his mouth. In the field MAT in
monogram ; TVI : plain border.
II. Uncia. Size .55. Obv. Similar head to no. i ; above O :
border of dots.
Rev. Nude figure of Heracles standing to right, leaning on his
long club, the handle of which rests under the left shoulder ; in
the field to left the same monogram, "M : plain border. This is the
attitude of the Farnese Heracles. The types are evidently influenced
by those of Tarentum.
— 129 —
NEAPOLIS OF APULIA
This city, not mentioned by ;iny ancient writer, is situated on the
coast of the Adriatic about twenty miles south of Barium, and
about fourteen north of Egnatia on the road afterwards called Via
Trajana. It was about thirty-eight miles almost due north of
Tarentum.
The place is now called Polignano, near which numerous relics
of antiquity have been discovered (Romanelli, vol. II, p. 148-152;
Mill'mgi^n, Nit niism. de ritalie, p. 147).
The attribution of the coins bearing NEAP rests upon the evidence
ot numerous finds. From their style they appear to have been
issued at about 300 B.C.
BRONZE COINS OF THE APULIAN NEAPOLIS
Circa 300 B.C.
I. Size .7. Obv. Head of Dionysos.
Rev. NEAP. Vine branch and grapes.
A specimen in the Brit. Mus. is countermarked with a caduceus
on the Reverse.
II. Size .6. Obv. Head of veiled goddess, probably Demeter :
border of dots.
Rev. NE on left of an ear of barley with two leaves, APO on
right : plain border.
III. Size .5. Obv. Female head to right, wearing Stephanos.
Rev. nfyy- An ornamented trident.
The influence of the Greek colonists on this mint is very plainly
to be seen.
Hands. 9
— 130 —
RUBI
Rubi is interesting to numismatists as being one of the tew cities
of Apulia which issued silver coins.
They consist of Diobolsand Obols, or Nummi, and half Nummi.
Five different types of bronze coins are also known. The city Rubi
now called Ruvo is distant from Canusium about twenty-eight
miles towards the south east, and is about ten miles west ot
Butuntum. Its site is on the hills overlooking the rich plain along
the sea-coast, from which it was about ten miles distant.
Rubi is mentioned by Horace as one of the places at which
Maecenas and his friends stropped on their journey from Rome to
Brundusium (Horace, Sat. I, 5, 94); on leaving Canusium he says
" Inde Rubos fessi pervenimus", but makes no remarks upon this
halting place.
Numerous works of Greek art in bronze and terra-cotta have
been found in the excavations made there, as well as great numbers
of painted vases of great variety and beauty, but they are, like those
of all the other cities of Apulia, inferior to those of Nola and the
Campanian cities.
These treasures are described by Romanelli (vol. II, p. 172) and
in the Bollett. dell' Institut. Arch., 1829 and 1834).
Neither Strabo nor Ptolemy mentioned Rubi, but Pliny speaks of
the citizens as "Rubastini " and this ethnic form is confirmed by
the legend found on some of the coins PYBAiTEINflN.
The coins give evidence of the great influence of the Greek
colonists of Tarentum, and are in harmony with what we should
expect from the treasures of Greek art found on the site.
SILVER COINS OF RUBI.
I. Diobol. Weight : 14 grs. Size .55.
Obv. Head of Pallas to right wearing Corinthian helmet on
which is a star.
Rev. PY. An ear of barley with two leaves; in field to right, a
cornucopix\
— 131 —
II. Obol. Weight : 6.3 grs. Size .35.
Obv. A bull's head, facing, with pendent fillets.
Rev. PY on either side of a winged thunderbolt.
JB.. Obol.
III. Obol. Weight : 5. 8 grs. Size .35.
Obv. Bust of Helios, full foce, nidiate, and wearing chlamys.
Rev. PY on either side of two crescents, back to back, with
horns outwards ; above the crescents the letters AA ; between the
crescents two dots one above and one below the point of junction.
BRONZE COINS OF RUBI.
From about 300 B.C.
I. Size .45. Obv. Head of Pallas to right, wearing crested Corinth-
ian helmet.
Rev. PYBA. Figure of Nike to left, holding wreath and palm.
Placed first because they are probably the earliest of the bronze.
II. Size .75. Obv. Head of Zeus to right, laureated : border of
dots.
Rev. PYy. Eagle to left, with wing open, standing on thunder-
bolt : plain border.
On some specimens K is found behind tiie head on the Obverse.
III. Size .7. Obv. Head of Heracles to right, laureated : border
of dots.
Rev. Same legend, PYy. A smooth club with strap to right,
quiver to left, and strung bow; all in laurel-wreath pointing left.
IV. Size .6. Obv. Head of Pallas to right wearing crested Corinth-
ian helmet; above, the letter K : border of dots.
Rev. PYBAITEINO N. An owl to right seated on olive-branch;
in field Al : plain border. These may be as early as 300 B.C.
V. Size .6. Obv. Head of Zeus to right, laureated; fP-CE'E :
border of dots.
Rev. Female figure to left, holding patera and cornucopiae : plain
border.
These coins are rude and flat in style and thin in fabric.
— 132 —
RUBI and SILVIUM
There is a silver coin bearing on tlie Reverse J I PY, which has
been interpreted as a coin showing the intimate relationship existing
between the towns of Rubi and Silvium. This latter city is situated
about twentv-two miles south-west of Rubi, and about twenty south
of Venusia on the Appian Way. It was near the border between
Apulia and Lucania, and was noticed by Strabo as the frontier town
of the Peucetii (Bk. VI, p. 28). It is just mentioned by Pliny (III,
11). Diodorus Siculus says that the Roman Consuls made their
camp here, besieged the city and took it by assault, with much
booty, making five thousand men prisoners in the year that the
Samnites took Sora and Atia (Diodorus, Sic, XX, ch. 80; Pratelli,
Via Appia, IV, 6, p. 478 ; RomaneUi, vol. II, p. 188).
Weight : 16 grs. 14. 5 grs.
Size . 5. Obv. Head of Pallas to right, wearing Corinthian helmet.
Rev. Zl PY. Ear of barley with leaf on right, in field to right,
cornucopias.
This is practically the type of the silver coins of Rubi.
SALAPIA.
About five miles north of the river Aufidus the lagoon called
the Palus Salapia extends for twelve miles along the coast of the
Adriatic, separated from the open sea by a narrow tongue of land.
The old city of Salapia, built upon the shores of the lagoon about
twelve miles north of Canusium, was one of the most important of
the cities of Apulia. It is probable that in the days of its prosperity
there was an outlet from the lagoon to the sea large enough for the
passage of ships, as Salapia was spoken of as a considerable sea-
port.
— 133 —
Strabo tells us it was the port of the Argyrippi and of the Canu-
sians (lib. VI, p. 284).
According to Vitruvius, tradition ascribed its foundation as well
as that of Canusium and Arpi to Diomedes (lib. I, 4, 12).
Lycophron seems to assign its origin to the Trojans, though the
passage is somewhat obscure (Lycophron Alex. 1129).
There is no trace of a Greek Colony having settled here, but as in
the other Apulian cities, the Greek influence of the Tarentines was
considerably felt. Extensive ruins of the city are still visible on the
western shore of the lagoon in a tract of country now almost
wholly desolate, and the coins of Salapia are frequently found on
the spot.
It is probable that the salt-works still existing near the artificial
mouth of the' lagoon are on the same site as the ancient ones and
that the name Salapia itself is derived from sal, the lagoon having
been always well adapted for the collection of salt.
Our earliest historical notices of the city relate to the period of
the Second Punic War, in which it bore a considerable part. Livy
(Bk, XXIV, ch. xx) says that on reaching Salapia on his way from
Tarentum, Hannibal, as mid-summer was passed, and he liked the
place for winter-quarters, collected stores of corn from the country
round Metapontum and Herackta, and his raiders collected herds 01
horses from the Apulians, and distributed them among his cavalry.
This was in 214-213 B.C. In the next year Hannibal took Taren-
tum.
In 210 B.C. Salapia was given into the hands of the Romans
by treachery. The story is fully told by Livy (XXVI, 38) who
relates how the two principal men of the city, Dasius and Blasius
or Blattius, after much argument, agreed to give up the city to the
Romans. The cavalry of Hannibal in the city however fought
bravely, not more than fifty of them falling alive into the hands
of the Romans. The lo.ss of his cavalr\- was more serious to
Hannibal than that of the city.
After the death of Marcellus, who had surprised the city, Han-
nibal tried to take it again by strategy, but the fraud was discovered,
and the Carthaginians repulsed with great loss.
Livy tells the story with his usual vividness (XXVII, i, 78).
Salapia does not appear to be mentioned again in historv until the
time of the Social war, and probably remained in the hands ot the
Romans until that time.
The ancient city was deserted on account of malaria, we do not
know when, and a new town built near the sea-shore. The fate of
this city illustrates the eflect of malaria on the decline of the Greek
cities, a subject which has received considerable attention during
this last year (19 10).
— 134 —
It would seem from the occurrence of the two names Dasius and
Pyllus on the coins of both Arpi and Salapia, that the two cities
were perhaps united, not only commercially but politically, during
the years that these officers were in power.
The coins of Salapia are all of bronze, and one of the types is
common to both cities, that struck in Arpi, bearing the name
AAIOY, that struck in Salapia being without the name of a magis-
trate.
BRONZE COINS OF SALAPIA 2 5 0-200 B.C.
1. Size -85. Obv. lAAAniNHN. Head of Zeus, to left, laureated;
behind, a thunderbolt : border of dots.
Rev. Ihe Calydon boar, running to right, above, an ornamented
trident to right. In exergue PYAAOY.
On some specimens the name is PAflTlOY and the head of Zeus
is to right.
2. Size -85. Obv. lAAAPINflN. Head of Apollo, to right, laureated;
behind, a quiver.
Rev. Horse prancing to right; above, an ornamented trident to
right, beneath PYAAOY.
3. S^/^L • Size .7. Obv. A horse to right, otf foreleg raised;
above horse, BH.
(The NflN is below the horse's body.)
On some specimens AAIOY, beneath, A.
Rev. A dolphin to left; above AAM AIRE, beneath AAIENI.
On some the legend is MflMnAAAI retroo;rade.
4. Size -6. Obv. lAAAPINH a dolphin.
Rev. A dolphin.
5. Size -85. Obv. lAAAPmnN. Head of Apollo, to right, lau-
reate.
a) Rev. Horse prancing to right, above a wreath, beneath horse,
E. '
On some specimens no legend on obv. but ZAAA on Rev.
b) Instead of wreath, a star of five or seven rays.
c) On some, a palm bound with a fillet, and the name kj-riQy
6. Size -65. Obv. CAAAPINHN. Head of young Pan, to right,
behind neck, pedum : border of dots.
Rev. Eagle ? to right on capital ? behind, palm, inverted.
— 135
SAMADI
No mention of this city has been found in any ancient writer,
and the name is now unknown in Apuha, to which region the
small brass coins bearing this name evidently belong. Two speci-
mens are to be seen in the British Museum, and others are preserved
in the Museum at Berlin.
Until the year 1868 these coins were attributed to a city of Pisi-
dia called Sandalium, but from the fabric and the types it is now^
generally recognized that they cannot have been issued in Pisidia.
In 1868 Friedlander wrote an article in which he showed
that the types were certainly Apulian, and he noticed that on one
specimen, procured from Naples, the letter A in the legend was in
shape D, shewing the influence of Italy most clearly.
The legends on the two coins in the British Museum unmistak-
ably bear the Greek form of the letter A.
In the Engadine some of the villages bear names which are
derived from those of cities in Southern Italy, such as Lavin,
Ardetz, Velthurus, Brixens, Anagni, Fondo, Salurn, Sarntein, and
Samaden. It seems therefore very probable that we have, in this
Engadine Samaden, a witness to the existence of an Apulian city
which is otherwise unknown to us, except by the evidence of the
few small bronze coins which may be seen in our Museums.
The tw^o coins in the British Museum each bear the same types,
and differ only in size; one is "6 and the other '5 of an inch.
Obv. A head of Pallas wearing a Corinthian helmet, to right.
Rev. Four crescents placed back to back with the letters 2AM AA I
between the horns of the crescents.
The attribution of the coins to Apulia was first made in the
" Berliner Blatter fur Miinz- Siegel- und Wappenkunde ". IV Band,
p. 138, 1868.
These coins are very similar to those issued at Caelia bearing
three crescents, which were described by S. Birch in the Numismatic
Chronicle, vol. IV, p. 127.
Crescents are also found on coins of Rubi, on which we find two.
On the coins of Venusia also a crescent is seen on the Sesuncia,
and three crescents on larger coins of uncertain denomination.
All attempts to find even a remote and little known village in
Apulia bearing a name which could possibly be derived from
Samadi have hitherto been in vain.
136 -
TEATE
The mother-city of the tribe called the Marrucini was situated
on a hill about three miles from the river Aternus, which flows into
the Adriatic sea about eight miles from the city. Teate is the most
northern of all the Apulian cities whose coins we possess : it was
sixty-five miles north of Teanum and about ninety from Rome.
The Marrucini, Sabines by race, were connected with the Marsi
and were also generally in alliance with the Vestini and Pelligni.
In the year 311 B.C. when M. Valerius and P. Decius were
consuls, Diodorus of Sicily tells us that the Romans directed great
bodies ot intantry and cavalry upon PoUitium a town of the
Marrucini (liber XIX, c. cv).
Perhaps Pallanum or Peltuinum maybe meant by "Pollitium",
both these cities were near Teate.
In 307 B.C. we learn from Livy that " Fabius having marched
to Nuceria rejected the application ot the people of Alfaterna who
then sued for peace. A battle was fought with the Samnites ; the
enemy were overcome without much difficulty : nor would the
memory of that engagement have been preserved, except that in it
the Marsians first appeared in arms against the Romans. The
Pelignans, imitating the defection of the Marsians, met the same
fate" (IX, 41). Livy also tells us how in the year 303 B.C. after the
defeat of the ^Equi the Marrucini, Marsi, Peligrani, and Trentani
warned by the example of the defeat of the yEqui sent orators to
Rome seeking peace and friendship (IX, 45). From that time the
Marrucini continued faithful to Rome although Livy recounts how
in 217 B.C. Hannibal devastated their lands and the contiguous
region of Apulia round Arpi and Luceria (XXII, 9). Again in 211
B.C. Hannibal passed through their land (XXVI, ir).
Teate was called "great", and "illustrious" by Silius Italicus
who represents Sidicinus collecting the men of Cales with the
youthful army of the Vestini, and the Marrucini, the Trentani, and
the men of Corfinum, and of the great Teate (liber VIII, 520
seq.).
In another passage Silius describes a combat between a leader
named Herius, and Hannibal.
CLii nobile nomen
Marrucina domus, clarumque Teate ferebat. (Pwn., XVII, 452-3.)
— 137 —
Herius was a name afterwards known to Livy and Velleius
Paterculus as belonging to the Asinia gens, but the Herius they
mention cannot be the same as the leader spoken of by Silius,
and perhaps the poet invented the story and applied an old name
known to belong to Teate.
The importance of Teate is proved by the ruins and inscriptions
remaining to this day.
It was a municipium under the Romans, but in the earlier times,
when under native rule, it was the only great city of the Marru-
cini.
The modern name of Teate is Chieti, and it still flourishes with
over 14,000 inhabitants. Among the remains ot the ancient city
are those of a theatre, a reservoir for water, and two temples, now
turned into churches, one of which was erected by Vettius Mar-
cellus.
The Vettia gens are said to have been natives of this city, but
the Vettius, who was inter-rex in the kingly period, can hardly
have been of Teate, and the family name Sabinus does not seem to
be connected with this branch of the Sabine race.
Asinius Pollio was descended from an old family of Teate and
was perhaps the most illustrious of all the Asinii, as the friend of
J. Caesar, of Horace and Virgil, who dedicated to him the fourth
Eclogue. Romanelli and Craven have described the city.
SILVER COINS OF TEATE.
Circa 300-268 B.C.
I. Didrachm. Obv. Female head diademed.
Rev. TIATE. Naked horsman crownins; his horse.
^:
II. Drachm. Obv. Same type.
Rev. Owl on an olive-branch.
III. Diobol or nummus. Obv. Head ot Pallas.
Rev. Heracles and lion.
These coin-types shew how far to the north the influence of
Tarentum travelled.
The owl on the drachm, and on the copper coins, was also
derived from Tarentum.
A specimen of the Didrachm is preserved in the Museum at
Berlin.
- 138 -
No silver coins of Teate are to be found in the British Museum,
a fact which shows how rare these coins are.
BRONZE COINS OF TEATE.
After 217 B.C.
^Jk
Jt-^^k
\^
This extremely interesting Bronze coin passed from the Strozzi
sale to the British Museum, and therefore does not appears in the
old Catalogue. It is a specimen of the coinage of the town before
the Roman occupation.
The alphabet used on the legend, that of the old Latin form, is
retrograde and to be read from the centre of the coin.
kHVITflllT (Tiiatium).
Its style is that of about the year 300 B.C. and the type is very
similar to that of a coin issued in Cales in 280 B.C. with the
legend CA^ENO. The distance between the two cities is about
70 miles, Cales being south-west of Teate. The similarity of type
probably signifies some connection between the two cities.
The bull type is more likelv to have been copied by the citizens
of Teate than bv those of Cales.
Obv. Head of Apollo to left, in front HIVITflllT.
Rev. Man-headed bull to left, above, a lyre; below, a letter?
I. Nummus. Size 1.25.
Obv. Head of Zeus Dodonaios to right : border of dots.
Rev. TIATI. An eagle to right, with open wings, standing on a
thunderbolt; in front, the letter N, above which, a star of eight
rays.
Some specimens without the star.
II. Quincunx. Size i.
Obv. Head of Pallas to right, wearing crested Corinthian helmet :
border of dots.
Some specimens bear a griffin on helmet.
Rev. TIATl. An owl to right, on a bar; in exergue, 00000.
III. Obv. Same type, but earrings in ear of Pallas, and above
00000 : border of dots.
— 139 —
Rev. TIATI. Owl to right on Ionic capital : in front,
o
O above wiiicli a star of eight ravs.
o
o
Some specimens have a serpent on helmet on Obv., and omit
the star on ^L.
Others with plain helmet on Obv., bear on Rev., a crescent witli
horns upwards.
IV. Obv. Head of Pallas wearing crested Corinthian helmet ; no
marks of value.
Rev. TIATI. An owl on a palm-branch; beneath, the marks of
value : plain border.
V. Obv. Same type as IV.
Rev. TIATI. An owl on a bar; in front K; in exergue,
00000 : plain border.
VI. Quadrans. Size .9.
Obv. Same type.
Rev. Same type as last, no letter; in exergue, 000.
VII. Obv. Same type.
Rev. Same, but the owl is on a palm-branch.
VIII. Sextans. Size .85.
Obv. Same type, but with necklace, and an uncertain device on
helmet.
Rev. Same, but the owl to right on a bar; in exergue, §.
Some specimens bear a wreath in front oi Rev.
IX. Uncia. Size .9.
Obv. Head of Pallas to right, wearing crested helmet : border of
dots.
Rev. TIATI. An owl, to right, on bar.
On some specimens no bar.
X. Quadrans. Size .9.
Obv. Head of Poseidon?, to right, diademed ?
In front O : border of dots.
O
Rev. TIATI. Taras ? on dolphin, to left, holding amphora and
trident.
D"" Head in the Hist. Num., p. 41, mentions a Triens.
Rev. A lion 0000.
— 140 —
VENUSIA
Venusia was a city of Apulia, situated about ten miles south of
the river Aufidus, and about twenty-four miles south-west of
Canusium. The border line of Lucanian territory was about five
miles south of the city. Tarentum was about twenty-five miles
distant to the south-east, and Ausculum about twenty miles
distant to the north-west.
So near was Venusia to Lucania that Horace says " I am in doubt
whether I am a Lucanian or an Apulian, for the Venusian farmers
plough upon the boundaries of both countries, who (as the ancient
tradition has it) were sent on the expulsion of the Samnites, for
this purpose, that the enemy might not make incursions on the
Romans through a vacant frontier : or lest the Apulian nation, or
the fierce Lucanians should make an invasion (Satire, lib. II, 1 34seq.).
Later writers, such as Pliny and Ptolemy, speak of Venusia as an
Apulian city.
Horace in the above-quoted passage refers to the colonization of
the city after it was taken by the Romans in the year 262 B.C., under
L. Postumius, at which time, Dionysius tells us, it was a populous
and important town.
Velleius Paterculus mentions the event without giving details
(I, 14). The authority for this event is Dionysius (Exc. Vales,
p. 2335).
Livy relates how after the battle of CannaL^ "the other consul
(C. T. Varro) who, whether by chance or of set purpose, had not
joined anv large bodv of fugitives, fled with about seventv horsemen
te Venusia " (XXII, '49).
Marcellus came to Venusia in 210 B.C. when he was following
up Hannibal's army (XXVII, 2). Again in the next year Marcellus
entered this city in the summer (XXVII, 20). In 207 B.C. the
Roman army left Venusia to meet Hannibal (XXVII, 41).
The city suffered much through its loyalty to the Roman cause,
as we may see from what Livy records of the year 200 B.C.
"Triumvirs were. appointed to make up the number of colonists
to help Venusia, which had been made weak in the war with
Hannibal, C. Terentius Varro, T. Quinctus Flamininus, P. Corne-
— 141 —
lius Cn., F. Scipio were appointed to the Venusian Colony
(XXXI, 49).
The weight of the bronze coinage of the two Roman Colonies
of Luceria and Venusia was arranged according to the Itahan Pound
of 341.10 grammes. It was one hundredth part of the Hght Baby-
lonian Silver Talent of the Royal Norm. For the weight of the coins
confer the chapter on the Italian Pound, page ( ).
D' Head ascribes the early its grave series of cast coins to about
292-250 B.C. (Historia Nuiii., p. 41). This would mean that these
coins were issued by the Apulians before the city was taken by the
Romans in 262 B.C.
In 298 B.C. the third Samnite War began, the Samnites invaded
Lucania, the lands of the Roman allies in Lucania. It was therefore
probably with these heavy cast coins the expenses of that war were
met. Some of the types, as the heads of Pallas and Heracles and the
owl shew the influence of Tarentum, but the crescent, the spear-
head, and the boar point to native symbolism.
BRONZE COINS OF VENUSIA.
Libra! system.
I. As. Size 2.55.
Obv. Forepart of Calydonian boar's head, to left, only one fore-
leg visible.
Rev. Head ot dog or wolf. Brit. Mus.
II. As. Size 2.
Obv. Similar to No i, but both fore-legs shewn.
Rev. A spear-head. Brit. Mus.
III. As.
Obv. Same.
Rev. Head of Heracles.
IV. Quincunx.
Obv. Head of Pallas 00000.
Rev. Owl. 00000.
V. Triens. Size 2.
Obv. Head and neck of boar, to right, around §§.
Rev. A lyre, around §§. Brit. Mus.
VI. Quadrans i.
Obv. Forepart-of boar, 000.
Rev. Head of Heracles, 000.
VII. Sextans. Size 1.5.
Obv. A boar's head, to left, above o, below, o.
Rev. An owl, to left, on either side 00. Brit. Mus.
VIII. Uncia.
Obv. A crescent, and o.
Rev. Same type.
142
COIN OF UNCERTAIN SYSTEM.
IX. Sextans. Size 1.5.
Obv. A dolphin, to left, beneath, qq.
Rev. Same type as Obv.
COINS WITH THE MONOGRAM NE.
X. Sextans. Size 1.5.
Obv. A dolphin to left, above 00.
Rev. Same type with NE above and qq below.
UNCERTAIN DENOMINATIONS.
Brit. Mus.
XI. Size 1.35.
Obv. A cockle-shell.
Rev. Three crescents with horns turned outwards, within upper-
most crescent '^.
XII. Size .75.
Obv. Crescent, horns upwards.
Rev. Crescent, horns upwards and ^ above.
STRUCK COINS OF VENUSIA.
Triental system, after 250 B.C.
XIII. Quadrans. Size .95.
Obv. Head of Zeus, to left, laureated ; behind o.
.0.
Rev. Three crescents, horns outwards, within each a star of
twelve rays : plain border.
WITH MONOGRAM NS.
XIV. Sextans. Size .85.
Obv. Head of Pallas, to right, wearing crested Corinthian
helmet, above o o.
— M3 —
Rev. Monogram N$ enclosed by two dolphins downards back to
back.
/•^^•
XV. Uncia. Size .7. Obv. Bust, to waist, of young Heracles, to
right, wearing his lion's skin, and holding a club over his right
shoulder; in front O : border of dots.
Rev. Lion seated to left, head facing, holding spear with his
right forepaw and mouth; in front N^. Some specimens have a
plain border. Brit. Mus.
XVI. Semuncia. Size .55.
Obv. Boar's head and neck, to left, above Z.
Rev. An owl to right; behind \^ ; plain border. Brit. Mus.
STRUCK COINS OX THE SEXTANTIAL AND UNCIAL SYSTEMS.
Circa 250-217 and later.
XVII. Rouble Nummus.
Obv. VE. Bust of Heracles, Nil.
Rev. The Dioskuri CAQ. ? Berlin, Paris.
XVIII. Nummus.
Obv. Head of young Dionysos, to right, crowned with ivy;
behind VE, border of dots.
Rev. Dionysos seated wearing short chiton and endromis, or
coarse woollen cloak in which athletes wrapped themselves after
their exercises, seated to left on a rock, holding bunch of grapes and
thyrsos bound with riband, behind N I : plain border.
Brit. Mus.
XIX. Quincunx. Size i.i.
o
Obv. Head of Zeus, to left, laureated, behind o : border of dots.
O
o
Rev. Eagle, to left, with wings open, standing on thunderbolt ;
in front VE : plain border. Brit. Mus.
XX. Quadrans. Size .95.
Obv. Head of Hera, to left, wearing stephane and veil ; in front
VE; bebindo : border of dots,
o
Rev. Three crescents, horns outwards, in each a star of sixteen
rays : plain border.
— 144 —
Some specimens with stars of twelve rays. Brit. Mus.
XXI. Sextans. Size. 9.
Obv. Head of Pallas, to left, wearing crested Corinthian helmet;
above 00 : border of dots.
Rev. Owl, on olive-branch, to left, behind VE : plain border.
Brit. Mus.
XXII. Sescuncia. Size .7.
Obv. Bust of Helios, full-faced, radiate, wearing chlamys fastened
with brooch in front : border of dots.
Rev. Crescent, horns upwards, wdthin which a star of sixteen
rays : beneath o S and VE : plain border. Brit. Mus.
XXIII. Uncia. Size .7.
Obv. Head ot bearded Heracles, to left, wearing wreath : beneath
o ; behind, a club ; upwards : border of dots.
Rev. A lion seated, to left, holding spear with his right forepaw
and mouth; in front VE plain border. Brit. Mus.
STRUCK COINS OF UNCERTAIN SYSTEM.
XIV. Semis.
Obv. Head of Hermes.
Rev. VE. Winged shoe and caduceus. ? Berlin.
XXV. Size .5.
Obv. Toad : border of dots.
Rev. Crab; beneath VE : plain border. Brit. Mus.
145 —
CALABRIA
The lowland region in the south-eastern corner of Italy lying
between two seas, was called by the ancients Messapia, a name
which signifies its position between the seas. The inhabit-
ants in the seventh century before Christ were known as lapyg-
ians, but we can hardly say whether 'Ix-u; the old word for the
west-north-west wind was in any way connected with the name ot
the mythical founder or leader of the Cretan race which is said to
have settled in Messapia in prehistoric times.
Strabo says " all the peoples who reach as for as Daunia were
called lapygians, from lapyx who was born to Daedalus by a
Cretan woman, and became a chief leader of the Cretans
(XII, 523). Servius in his notes on Virgil's Aen. (Ill, 332) tells a
similar tale. Herodotus says the Cretans who had formed the army
of Minos on their return from Sicily were cast upon the coast ot
lapvgia, where they founded the city of Hyria, and assumed the
name Messapians (VII, 170.)
If we may derive that name from [j.ic^o; and x-:z:, they called
themselves by a name descriptive of their new home.
Another version of the myth is told by Antoninus Liberalis,
who flourished in the second century A. D. He calls lapyx a son of
Lvcaon and brother of Daunius and Peucetius, who went as leaders
of bands of colonists to Italy. Tiie Calabrians most probably crossed
the Adriatic to Italy and were descended from the Galabrii,for Strabo
says: " To the Dardaniatae belong the Galabrii in whose territory is
an ancient city". (VII, c. v. § 7).
There was a king of the Illyrian tribe, the Taulantii, who bore
the name Galabrus, and it has been conjectured that the name
Galabrii is a second name of that tribe. The Messapian lapygians
were also most probably in a like manner related to the Illyrian
lapygians, and the Cones (Koivs;) on the Siris to the Kaavs; of
Epeirus, and the Sallentini with the Salluntini. The Oenotrians,
among whose tribes were the Chones, were Pelasgians descended
from an Illyrian race. The Greeks represented Oenotrus as one of
Hands. 10
- m6 -
the sons of Lycaon, the son ofPelasgus, who emigrated from Arcadia
at a ver}' early period (Pausanias, VIII, 3.5).
The stor\' of Strabo that the lapvgians came from Crete must
therefore be taken to apply only to a small tribe or city, and the
union of all these tribes in a common hostility to the Greek
colonists is explained by their common origin from lUyria.
The name Messapia was used in the time of Polybius and
Strabo.
The language of the Messapians is said by Mommsen to have
borne but a ver\' distant analog}- to those of the Oscans and Auso-
nians of the western side of Italy, and to have been more akin to
that of the Greeks. The two principal tribes inhabiting Messapia
were the Sallentini and the Calabri, and from the name of this
latter tribe the Romans called the region Calabria. Virgil attributes
to the Sallentini a Cretan origin, " and Lyctian Idomeneus with
his troops has possessed the plains of Sallentum " {Aoi., Ill, 400).
Ser\-ius in his note on this passage says that Sextus Pompeius
derived their name " a salo ".
Niebuhr thought the Calabri were intruders of an Oscan race, but
that opinion has not found much favour. The name Ky.'/.7Lzpzl is
first met with in the writings of Polybius, who was born about the
year 204 B.C.
In modern times the name Calabria has been applied to the
district on the west coast known to the ancients as Bruttium.
This alteration arose on account of the Byzantine Emperors
calling the whole of Southern Italy Calabria, when it was under
their rule. When they lost their dominion in Italy it happened
that Bruttium was the last of their possessions to be held by them,
and as they called it still Calabria that name has clung to it.
The modern name of the ancient Messapia is " Terra di
Otranto ".
\'irgirs description of the country is ver}' accurate : " Quum
procul ohscuros colles humilemque videmus Italiam, Italiam primus
conclamat Achates" (^Aen., Ill, 522).
Confer Dante (/"/., I, 106).
The land contains no mountains, and scarcely any high hills, the
soil, consisting of a soft tertian- lime-stone, so readily absorbs all
moisture that no rivers are formed. The soil is especially adapted
to the growth of olives, and fruits of various kinds abound. Good
wine was made from its grapes, and the land was celebrated both
for its wool and honey. From a passage in^^irgi^s Georgics (III, 425)
we learn that it was infested with dangerous snakes.
The celebrated horses of the Tarentines were bred on the Messa-
pian downs. Polybius says that in his day the Apulians and Messa-
— 147 —
plans together could furnish not less than sixteen thousand cavalry
(II, 24).
The Greek colonists, who brought to these Messapians a higher
civilization, arrived about 708 B.C. and settled in Tarentum. It
was not however without much lighting that the Greek supremacy
was acquired.
Clearchus told the story of the destruction of the lapygian city
Carbina, the site of which was probably about twelve miles north of
Brundisi. In that siege the Greeks perpetrated such atrocities that
the wrath of the Gods was believed to rest upon them, so Athenaeus
tells us in recounting the sad story (lib. XII, 23, p. 522).
In 473 B.C. the lapygians defeated the Tarentines and inflicted
upon them slaughter such as no Greek army had ever experienced
(Herodotus, VII, 170).
Diodorus Siculus says the lapygians had an army of twenty
thousand men, and that in the flight ot the Greeks from the field
of battle, the lapygians followed the fugitives in two bands, one to
the gates of Tarentum, the other as far as to Rhegium (XI, lii).
About 135 years afterwards the Tarentines again took the field
having called for the help of the Spartan Archidamus who fell
fighting the lapygians on the very day of Philip's victory at Chae-
roneia. Strabo tells the story of the similar fate which befell
Agathocles (VI, 281).
The war was chiefly waged by the inland tribes, as the
lapygians dwelling in the cities on the coast gradually became
enervated by luxury and more readily fell under Greek influence.
Athenaeus describes their luxury and efleminate garments (XII,
253). Hence the conquest of the Peninsula by the Romans was
rendered easy, and was attained in one single campaign, which is
thus briefly recounted by Horus : " The Sallentines shared the fate
of the people of Picenum, and Brundusium, the chief city of the
country, with its famous hdrbour, was taken by Marcus Atilius ".
Zonaras also relates the story (VIII, 7).
The Sallentini revolted to Hannibal during the second Punic
war in 213 B.C., but were again reduced to subjection (Livy
XXV. I ; XXVII, 36).
The coins of the Messapians reveal very little of the thoughts or
habits of the people ; they show that in regard to art their citizens
depended entirely upon the Greeks of Tarentum.
As to their religious beliefs, the coins show that they worshipped
the gods of Greece, the heads of the following deities appearing on
their coins, Zeus, Poseidon, Pallas, Aphrodite, Eros and Nike, the
last two being represented as standing or flying. The demi-god Hera-
cles appears, and we see the head of a beardless warrior, wearing an
Italian conical helmet with a small crest, who may represent some
unknown lapygian leader, perhaps lapyx or Phalanthus.
— 148 —
The accounts of the Messapians which have been handed down
to our time all come from their enemies the Greeks. Strabo gives
but little help to those who try to understand what manner of men
they were; and it is only in the pages of Athenaeus that we can
glean anything of human interest. He represents them as luxurious
and effeminate, but we may gather from the long-continued oppo-
sition they were able to maintain to the Tarentine armies that some
of them were brave and skiful soldiers. Perhaps the words of Athe-
naeus which refer to their luxury should be regarded as applicable
rather to the dwellers in the cities near the coast than to the northern
and inland tribes.
- 149
BALETIUM
About twelve miles south of Brundusium, near the village ot
Pietro Vernotico, are the remains of an ancient town \\hich issued
silver coins about 350 B.C. bearing the legends FAAE®A^, and
BAAE®A^. It was mentioned by Pliny, in his list of cities, as
between Lupia and Caelium ; he spells it Balesium (lib. III. xi). In
the Tabula it is spelt Valentia (///>/. HicrosoL, p, 609) and Valetium
in Mela (II. 4).
The site is still called by the natives Baleso, or Valesio, and
they still call the old Roman road which passes through the site
the Via Trajana. Vases, inscriptions, and other remains of the old
city have been dug up on the spot.
The circuit of the ancient walls shews that it was a very small
town. It is mentioned by Galateus (de situ lapygiae, pp. 73, 74), and
by Romanelli (vol. II, p. 79).
Garrucci thought the name Baletium was derived from the name
Phalanthus, and the spelling of the name on the coins with ® favours
this idea.
The coins of Baletium are extremely rare, only four specimens
are known to Numismatists ; two of these are in the Cabinet at
Naples, and the other two in the Cabinet de Luynes at Paris. Each
Cabinet possesses a Didrachm and a Tetrobol of this city. The
coins at Naples were bought for that Museum at the sale of the
Nervegna collection at Rome, in 1907, and were found near
Brundusium. Those at Paris were bought from Jules Sambon, who
found them near Luppia in Calabria. They were illustrated in
Plate XV of the Revue nuiiiisiiiatiqtie, 1859. The figure of Taras is
there shown as of very barbarous workmanship, more like a monkey
than a man. It is a didrachm weighing 118 grains.
The coins in the Naples Cabinet are illustrated by photograps,
in the Sale Catalogue of the Nervegna Collection (p. 19, figures 23 5
-36)..
This didrachm weighs 7.92 grammes i.e. 122 grains. The figure
ot Taras is much better in execution, but still evidently a Messapian
copy of Greek work. The Tetrobol at Naples weighs 2.58 grammes
i.e. 39.40 grains.
— 150 -
I. Didrachm. Obv. Taras on a dolphin, to right, followed by a
small dolphin, border of dots. ^A®3AAR.
Rev. Same legend, a dolphin, globule and crescent, in the field
FE : a plain border.
II. Tetrobol. Obv. A dolphin, and around Ch ^A®AAB.
Rev. A crescent, above HE : below ^A®AAa.
The characters or letters which form the legends on these coins ot
Baletium are archaic, and belong to an age earlier than that at which
the coins were issued. Similar legends are found on the coins of
other cities in Magna Graecia, as for instance on those of Croton.
It is thought that in some cases the ancient forms of the letters may
be accounted for by the engraver copying the inscription on some
well-known old statue or work of art.
D"" Head in the Historia Numoriim (p. 90) gives the date 443 B . C.
as the period at which the change from the older characters to the
newer took place in S. Italy, and in the Dictionnaire des Antiqiiites
of Daremberg et Saglio, under the word Alphabet, the eighty-
seventh Olympiad i. e. from 432-429 B.C. is given as the period
during which the change took place in the Greek Alphabet. In the
year 403 B.C. the second year of the ninety-fourth Olympiad
the Ionian alphabet was adopted generally.
The letter R is the so called oivay.y-a representing the sounds of
/ or v but more strongly.
The letter ® is the older form of the 9 with the " th " sound.
The letter ^ is the old form of I, with the sound of |.
The presence of these archaic letters on a coin of the Messapians
may indicate that writing was used among them at any rate for
inscriptions before the conquest of the land by the Tarentines.
The shape of the letters on coin legends is not a certain sign of
the date of their production.
151 —
BRUNDUSIUM
The coins of this well-known city are all Roman; none of the
coins of the period before the establishment of the Roman colony have
been preserved, although from the fact that coins were issued by the
native cities in the neighbourhood in the fourth century before
Christ we may feel sure that a native mint existed also in this city.
It was only 44 miles from Tarentum, and from the Roman types
being those of Tarentum, Taras on the dolphin, we may imagine
that if any earlier coins were issued they also bore that type.
The name of the city was derived from the shape of the port,
which was thought to resemble a- stag's head, called by the
Messapians Brention or Brentesion. From Strabo (VI. 3,6.) we
learn : " It is said that a colony of Cretans settled in Brentesium,
but the tradition varies, some say they were those who came with
Theseus from Cnossus (about 1323 B.C.) others that they were
some out of Sicily who had come with Japax ; they agree however
in saying that they did not abide there but went thence to Bottiaea.
At a later period, when the state was under a monarch, it lost a
large portion of its territories, which was taken by the Lacedemo-
nians who came over under Phalanthus ; notwithstanding this the
Brundusians received him when he was expelled from Tarentum,
and honoured him with a splendid tomb at his death. They
possess a district of superior fertility to that of the Tarentines for
its soil is light, still it is fruitful, and its honey and wools are
amongst the most esteemed : further the harbour of Brentesium is
superior to that of Tarentum, for many havens are protected by the
single entrance, and rendered perfectly smooth, many bays being
formed within it, so that is resembles in fashion the antlers of a
stag, whence its name, for the place together with the city is
exceedingly like the head of a stag, and in the Messapian language
the stag's head is called Brentesium; while the port of Tarentum
is not entirely safe both on account of its lying veiy open and of
certain shallows near its head ".
Justin (III, iv) in telling the story of Phalanthus says : " But after
several years their leader Phalanthus in a sedition being forced into
banishment, betook himself to Brundusium whither the old
Tarentines beinii driven from their homes had retired ".
— 152 —
The city never received a colony of Greeks, and remained the
chief port and city of the lapygi until it was conquered by the Romans.
It was in the 3^ear 267 B.C. that the Romans first attacked
Brundusium (Zonaras, VIII, 7).
But though they took the city in that year they did not send a
colony to possess it until 244 B.C. According to Livy (Epit. XIX)
" two colonies were established, at Fregen^e and Brundusium in
the Sallentine territories ".
Velleius Paterculus (I, 14) informs us " when Torquatus and
Sempronius were consuls, Brundusium was occupied with a colony ".
He says it was three years before the games of Flora were instituted.
Florus (I, 20) says : " The Sallentines shared the fate of the people
of Picenum, and Brundusium the chief city of that countr}^, with its
famous harbour, was taken by Marcus Atilius. In this contest. Pales,
the goddess of shepherds, demanded of her own accord a temple as
the price of victor}' ". This was the same Atilius who consecrated
the Temple of Concord in Rome (Livy, XXIII, 22.)
In the first Illyrian war in 229 B.C. the Romans assembled
their fleet at Brundusium (Polyb. II, 11) and in the second Punic
war this was their chief naval station from which to oppose Philip
ofMacedon (Livy, XXIII, 48, XXIV, 10).
Hannibal in vain attempted to take the city, and Brundusium was
one of the eighteen colonies which supplied men and means with
which to assist the army (XXV, 22, XXVII, 10).
It became the port from which all the Roman armies which
conquered Greece and the east started, and to which they returned
in triumph.
The coins of Brundusium have been divided into three classes by
Mommsen (Hist. Mon. Rom., ed. Blacas, Vol. Ill, pp. 367-369).
This classification is also given by D' Head {Hist. Num., p. 43).
" Series II B.C. 217-200 Uncial w', consists of the Triens 0000-
Quadrans 000, Sexans 00, Uncia o ". Mommsen explains that coins
of semiuncial weight were widely struck in Italy, outside Rome,
before 89 B.C., and that the Lex Papiria of that year was in effect
merely the legal authorization of the currency of already existing
local issues of semiuncial weight, and of the issue in future of these
light coins at Rome itself. In regard to the coins of Brundusium it
would only be possible to draw a hard and fast line between the
three series by the examination of a much larger collection of these
coins than that in the British Museum.
COINS OF BRUNDUSIUM.
The coinage began- to be issued in 245 B.C. when the city was
made a colonv.
— 1)3 -
There are two series of coins which we can distinguish by their
weights alone, as the types are similar in each series.
Series i. 24)-2i'j B.C.
TRIENTAL STANDARD.
I. Sextans. Size i inch or 1.5.
Obv. Head of Poseidon, to right, laureated : behind a trident,
above which a wreath-bearing Nike : beneath, 00 : border of dots.
Rev . BR AN. Taras on a dolphin tcf left, carrying figure of wreath
bearing Nike and lyre ; beneath, 00 : plain border.
2. Uncia. Size .9.
Obv. Same type, but o as mark of value.
Rev. Same type, but Taras is carrying a cornucopi^e instead of a
Ivre ; behind, a club upwards; beneath o as mark of value.
3. Semuncia. Size .75.
Obv. Same type ; but with no mark of value.
Rev. Similar type, but Taras is carrying a lyre instead of a cornu-
copia; ; behind, a star with eight rays.
4. Semuncia. Size .7.
Obv. Same type ; but the trident is longer, and the figure of Nike
is omitted.
Rev. Similar type, but Taras is carrying a kantharos and lyre;
behind Z in place of a symbol.
5. Quarter of Uncia. Size .55. Sicilicus or Siciliquus.
Obv. Similar to last.
Rev. BRVN. Similar type, but behind C. For the name Sicilicus
cf. Scaev. Dig., 33, i, 21 Q. Mutius Scaevola. Obit 82 B.C.
— 154 —
6. Eighth of an Uncia. Size .4. Olce ?
Obv. Nike to right holding pellet and palm : border of dots.
Rev. Similar to last, BRVN. Dolphin to left, above P : plain border.
Series 200-S9 B.C.
REDUCED UNCIAL STANDARD.
7. Semis. Size .85,
Obv, Head of Poseidon, to right, laureated ; behind, a Trident
above which wreath-bearing Nike, beneath u^.
Rev. BR VN. Taras on dolphin to left, carrying wreath -bearing
Nike and lyre ; behind Taras S ' plain border. Various initials as
C-/P.M-BITA/C, Q/E.
8. Triens. Size .85.
Obv. Similar type, but beneath head 0000.
Rev. Similar type, but beneath 0000.
9. Quadrans. Size .65.
Obv. Similar type, but beneath, 000.
Rev. Similar type, but beneath, 000.
The Semuncial Standard was introduced in 89 B.C.
— 155
GRA... GRAXA.
The coins of this city, the site of which has not yet been discov-
ered, were attributed by Eckhel (\'ol. i, p. 92) to Graviscct, a town
on the coast of Etruria. From the types and fabric, however, they
must have been issued from a city in Cahibria ; moreover, they
are found on the coast of the gulf of Tarentum.
They are small bronze pieces belonging to the Semuncial system
or perhaps to the reduced uncial system if we regard them as
slightly earlier than the year 9 B.C. (Millingen, Niimismaticjuc de
ritalie, pp. 148, 172). The British Museum Catalogue mentions
them as the coins of an " uncertain town of Calabria " (p. 221).
Garrucci says these coins are found in numbers near Fasano,
especially near S.M. di Agnazzo. He does not think fPA =
Gnatliia or Egnatia. On one of the coins found there the leirend
was rPAz.A not PPA. Garrucci says it was in Apulia north of
Brindisi, Millingen thought it was for fPAIA KAAAinOAII, (Mela,
XI, 4.) but the most probable site is Fasano.
I. Coin with no mark of value. Size .65.
Obv. Head of Zeus to right laureate : border of dots.
Rev. Two eagles on thunderbolt to right; in field, to right, a
crescent, horns pointing to left, PPA in exergue. T he s pecimen in
the Brit. Museum is countermarked on the Reverse |o*o [on the left
hand side. Num. Chnvi., 201. Vol. IV, 4''' series.
II. Quadrans. Size .65.
Obv. Head of Zeus, to right, 000.
Rev. PPA. Two eagles on a fulmen ; one variety with a star to
right on Reverse was given by Sir Henry Howorth to the Brit.
Museum.
III. Quadrans. Size .6.
Obw Head of Zeus, to right, 000.
- 156 ^
Rev, rPA. One eaa;le on a fulmen.
IV. Uncia, Size .6.
Obv. A cockle-shell, a star.
Rev. One eagle on a fulmen.
V. Half-Uncia?
Obv. A cockle-shell, D.
Rev. One eagle on a fulmen.
VI. Half Uncia?
Obv. A cockle-shell.
Rev. A dolphin.
— 157
HYRIA or ORRA
Herodotus, in his account of the return of the Cretans from Sicily,
records the story of the foundation of Hyria, the most ancient of
the lapygian cities, and as he wrote his history in Magna Graecia
he would have the advantage of hearing local traditions.
" When they (the Cretans) were sailing along the coast of Japygia
a violent storm overtook them, and drove them ashore. As their
ships were broken to pieces, and there appeared no means of
returning to Crete, they thereupon founded the city of Hyria, and
settled there, changing their name from Cretans to Messapian
lapygians, and becoming, instead of islanders, inhabitants of the
continent. From the city of Hyria they founded other cities, which,
a long time after, the Tarentines endeavouring to destrov signally
failed " (VII, 170).
It seems at first sight strange that a seafaring people such as the
Cretans should have chosen to build their city so far from the
sea as twenty miles from both Brundusium and Tarentum. The
site was fifteen miles from the nearest sea beach along the bay of
Tarentum .
The Appian way was afterwards made to pass Hyria, thus connect-
ing it with Brundusium and Tarentum.
On the site of Hyria a modern town exists, called Oria, built on a
low hill commanding an extensive view of the country around.
No remnants of the ancient city now exist, but inscriptions in the
Messapian dialect have been found, and bronze coins which are
fairly common. Hyria was the headquarters of the opponents of
the Tarentines, and the citizens seem to have resisted the luxury
which rendered those of the coast cities effeminate. The coins 01
Hyria do not bear witness to the religion or life of the Messapians
prevailing before the Roman conquest. Whether they ever issued
silver coins, or had a mint before the issue of the bronze coins now
known to us, we cannot tell.
The two deities whose heads appear on the coins are Pallas and
Aphrodite, and the only other obverse type is the head of a beardless
warrior wearing a conical helmet, with a small crest, very similar
to one of the Italian helmets in the British Museum, in the case on
- 158 -
the right-hand side of the entrance to the Numismatic Room. As
the hehiiet is of the Itahan form, and differs from the Greek helmet
we may regard the head as that of some legendary national hero,
perhaps that of lapyx. A strong national or civic feeling is thus
expressed, at a time long after the Greeks and Romans had subdued
their city.
The cult of Aphrodite is rare in South Italy, and may point to
some connection with Corinth, the nearest city which used the
head of this goddess as a coin-type.
In the Tabula Peutinger there is evidence of the cult of Aphrodite
being celebrated in Apulia about twenty miles north of the borders
of Calabria.
" Gnatiie VIII, ad Venesis VIII, Norve, leg. VI, Ehetium VIII,
Ceha VIII, leg. XI, Butuntos ".
That is " Gnathia, Norba, Azetium, Caelia, Butuntum ". The
station marked " ad Venesis ", between Gnatia and Norba, is on a
hill now called Monte S. Pietro, and the Latin form for Aphrodite
is only what we should expect in Roman Tabula. The distance of
this temple from Hyria or Orra is only thirty-five miles.
The coin of Hyria bearing the head of Aphrodite shews there was
also a temple to that goddess in Hyria of Calabria. At Poseidonia
the cult of Aphrodite was known (cf. pp. 98 and 108 of Coins of
Magna Graecia) and a head of this goddess appears on bronze coins
of Laus. The dolphin which appears on coins of Calabria may be
regarded as an emblem of Aphrodite as well as of Poseidon and
may therefore be added to the witness of the prevalence of this cult
in Calabria.
BRONZE COINS OF ORRA.
r\
I. Quincunx. Size .8.
Obv. Head of Pallas, to right, wearing helmet with three crests
and two feathers between them, one of which is seen.
Rev. ORRA. Eagle to right, wings open, standing on thunderbolt:
beneath 00000.
Varieties. On some coins a border of dots on Obverse. The
Reverse type is treated rather differently on some, but the type is the
same.
— t)9 —
II. Triens. Size .75.
Obv. Same type as Quincunx, but behind the head the letters AA :
no border.
Rev. Same tvpe as Quincunx, hut 0000 as mark of value.
/< /■'■'
. \ '■
"J
COINS Ol- UNCERTAIN DENOMINATIONS.
III. Size .7.
Obv. Head of beardlesswarrior, to right, wearing conical helmet
with small crest : behind the head the letters AA.
Rev. ORRA. An eagle, to right, on thunderbolt.
IV. Quincunx. Size .7.
Obv. Bust of Aphrodite to right, with sceptre, wearing wreath of
uncertain foliage, stephane, earring, and necklace : border ot dots.
Rev. ORRA. Eros, walking to right, playing on a lyre : behind,
five dots, the marks of value, in vertical line : plain border.
V. Quadrans. Size .6.
Obv. Same as IV.
Rev. ORRA. Eros^ walking to right, holding a fillet with both
o
hands ; in front q : plain border.
VI. Sextans ? Size .6.
Obv. Same as IV and V.
Rev. Dove flying to right holding wreath in her talons : beneath
00? : plain border.
;<#y 'P
— i6o —
NERETUM
It is only twelve years ago that a bronze coin of this city was
made known to numismatists, hence we do not find this name,
Neretum, in the Catalogue of the British Museum. The discovery of
the coin was made known through the ' Zeitschrift fiir Numismatik'
(Band XXI, p. 251) in 1898. However in 18 14 a specimen of the
same coin was sold at the sale of the Count Wiczay. It is interesting
to compare this old catalogue, illustrated with line engravings, with
one of our modern catalogues : the coin of Neretum is seen illus-
trated on Plate XXVIII, no 625. The catalogue is called Musei
Hedervarii in Hungaria Catalogue. C. Michael Wiczay. Vindobonas
1814. Some of the coins were bought for the French Cabinet. A
third specimen of the coins of Neretum, a silver diobol, has been
found in the British Museum, where it had been placed among the
coins of Macedonia.
Neretum is one of those lapygian cities lying about five miles
from the coast of the bay of Tarentum, twenty-five miles north-
west of Uxentum, and about fifty miles south-east of Tarentum.
The modern town on the old site, called Nardo, contains no remains
of antiquity. Neretum is not mentioned by any ancient authors
except Pliny and Ptolemy, who merely give the name as among
the cities of the lapygians (Pliny III, 11. Ptol. Ill, i. 76 and Tab.
Pent.).
From these coins we gather that the deity worshipped at Neretum
was Apollo, whose full-length figure appears on the bronze, and
whose head is represented on the silver coin in the British Museum.
The cult of Apollo is said to have been widely spread from Crete,
and as the Messapians are said to have been descended from ship-
wrecked Cretans, it is not surprising that we should find this cult
at Neretum.
SILVER COINS.
I. Obv. Head of Apollo, to right, laureate.
Rev. 1^ , a lyre.' Size .35. Weight : 7.7 grains.
— i6i —
BRONZE COINS.
Obv. He;id of Apollo, to right, laureate.
Rev. NEPHTI NHN. Apollo seated on a chair, holding in his
left hand a lyre, and in his extended right hand a plectrum. The
upper part of his body is nude, his garment, the himation,
thrown over his knees, his head is turned full Hice, and his hair is
parted in the middle.
In the field, in front, a tripod, with fillets hanging from the sides.
Hands.
— l62 —
STURNIUM.
Pliny mentions a town of this name among the cities of Calabria
(III, xi), and it was also mentioned by Ptolemy (III, i, § 77).
It is known to numismatists as having issued some small bronze
coins of the same type as those of Graxa, differing only in the legend
STY, instead of TPA.
The town has been identified by Romanelli with the modern
village of Sternaccia, situated about ten miles south of Lecce (the
ancient Lupiie) and a short distance north-east of Soleto (Soletum).
(Ckiver Ital., p. 1231. Romanelli. Vol. II, p. 114). Soletum is
about sixty miles south-east ofTarentum, the coins of which city
were evidently copied by the citizens of Sturnium.
Size .65. Obv. A cockle-shell.
Rev. ITY. An eagle, to right, with wings open, standing on a
thunderbolt.
- i63
UXENTUM.
Uxentum is one of the old native cities of the lapygians, which
from its position, five miles from the bay of Tarentum, and sixty-
five from that city, came under the influence of the Tarentines, and
issued bronze coins with types which recall those of that Greek
city. The site is only about fifteen miles from the headland called
lapygium or Salentinum, the most easterly point of Italv, which we
commonly call the heel.
The only mention of Uxentum by ancient writers is the occurrence
of the name in lists of cities of Calabria in Pliny (III, xi) and
Ptolemy (III, i, 76). Many ancient tombs have been found on the
site, from which coin: , vases, and inscriptions in the dialect of the
Messapians have been taken.
The spelling of the name varies ; for instance in the Tabula it is
spelt Uhintum, and in some Mss. of Pliny " Ulentini", but Ptolemy
gives Uxentum. Its modern name is Ugento.
In the Tauchnitz ed. of Strabo Vol. II, p. 49 the name is spelt
©upaioi, but the reading is uncertain. Kramer prefers O'jjpi.x, some
Mss. have Qjpixi, some Wopau'.. The corruption is probably the
mistake of writing for 0.
The legends on the coins give the name as 01 AN or OZAN,
giving both the earlier form I, and the later form Z, of the letter
Zf,-y: which represented the sounds of s and d mixed. The Dorians
made the s sound predominate, and the lonians the ^ sound.
Some of the coins bear only the letters AO, and the name was
probably written in ful AOIAN.
The coins witness to the cults of Pallas and Heracles, and one
type represents a Janiform head, without beard, wearing a crested
helmet designed to fit the double head. A Janiform female head" is
found on a Quincunx of Rhegtum, but that head is adorned, not
with a helmet, but with modius, stephane, earrings, and necklace.
At Paestum a Janiform head of Juno Moneta was issued, and on
early Asses of Volterra a diademed Janus head is found. The reason
of this wide distribution of the design has not yet been explained.
Thucydides in recording the events of 413 B.C. (VII, 33) men-
tions that Demosthenes and Eurymedon crossed the Ionian gulf to the
— 164 —
lapygian foreland (axpav). " Starting thence they touched at the
Choerades Islands, lying off lapygia, and took on board their ships
some lapygian dartmen (xAO^-ia-y.:) one hundred and fifty in
number, of the Messapian tribe : and after renewing an old friendship
with Artas, who also had provided them with the dartmen, being
one of their chieftans, they arrived at Metapontum in Italy ". These
islands are little more than low rocks lying about four miles from
Tarentum^ now called Isole di S. Pietro e S. Paulo.
This Artas may have been the ruler of Uxentum, or ofNeretum,
and he is interesting as bearing one of the few names of Messapian
leaders known to us.
BRONZE COINS OF UXENTUM.
I. Size .5.
Obv. Head of Pallas to right, wearing crested Corinthian helmet
and necklace.
Rev. AO. Heracles standing nude to left holding his club
downards in his right hand and a cornucopiae and the lion's skin
in his left.
II. Size .4.
Obv. An eagle, standing to right, with wings open, on a
thunderbolt ?
Rev. AO. A two handled vase, on either side of which a star of
eight rays.
III. Size .85. It is called an As in B.M.C
g.
IV. Size 1.05. Obv. Head of young Heracles to right, in lion's
skin; behind, sword, upwards : border of dots.
— i86 —
Rev. BPETTinN. Bellona, head facing, wearing crested helmet
and long chirion with diploidion, running to right, holding shield
with both hands, and spear beneath left arm ; in field to right, a
plough to left : border of dots.
Varied symbols are found with this type also.
V. Size .8. Head of young Heracles, to right, laureated.
Rev. BPETTinN. Zeus naked advancing to right grasping thun-
derbolt in raised right hand, and sceptre in his extended left; at his
feet a small figure running (Artemis?)
VI. Size .5. Obv. Head of young Heracles, to left, in a lion's skin :
border of dots.
BPET
Rev. jir)K\ a club to right, and a strung bow, crossed: border
of dots.
VII. Size .9. Head of Jupiter, to right, laureated : border of dots.
Rev. BP ETTinN. A naked warrior advancing to right, armed
with helmet and lance, and an oblong shield ; at his feet a symbol
as a pine-torch, a bunch of grapes, bucraniura, an owl flying.
VIII. Size .85. Obv. Same as no VII.
Rev. BRETT IflN. An eagle, to left, with wings open ; in field to
left, a symbol as, a caduceus, a hexagram, crab and bucranium, or
9 and bucranium, or thunderbolt upwards, with or without a
monogram =g ; or a crab and thunderbolt upwards, or above left
- i87 -
wing a hammer, or a star of eight rays, and in field to left a cornu-
copix'.
IX. Size .9. Obv. Same type as no VII.
Rev. BPETTION. Eagle, to left, on thunderbolt, wings open ;
in field, to left, a hook : border of dots.
Some have no symbol, some have a cornucopiiv, on some above
the eagle is a crescent, or a star of eight rays, or an anchor and a
monogram >§, or a lyre.
X. Size .95. Obv. Same head of Jupiter but with no wreath;
behind the head a branch? : border of dots.
Rev. BPET TIflN. Eagle, to left, with wings open, looking
back ; in field, to left, a plough to left : border of dots.
XI. Size. 8. Obv. Head of Nike to left, wearing necklace and
earrings, the hair bound with broad diadem, and tied behind with
a fillet, having falling ends.
Rev. Same as Rev. of no V.
In field to right a cornucopia; on some specimens, and in field
to left a hammer. On some a star of eight rays, beneath cornu-
copiit .
XII. Size .7. Obv. Head of Nike, same as no. XI, but with the
upper part of wing appearing : border of dots.
Rev. Jupiter in a biga with horses galloping to left, beneath them
a bucranium. The god is hurling a thunderbolt with right hand,
a statf and the reins in his left : border of dots.
The symbol is varied, some specimens have an owl. or a bunch
of grapes, or a pine-torch, or plough and the letter Z, or a lyre.
XITI. Size .6. Obv. Head of Persephone, to left, her hair bound
with a corn wreath, and fitlling behind in a tress ; behind, an ear
of barley : border of dots.
PRFT
Rev. y|/^ili- A crab; above a cornucopias, and star of eight rays :
plain border.
XIV. Size .4. Obv. Head of Persephone, full fice towards the
right, crowned with corn?
Rev. BP^J. A crab.
XV. Size .6. Head of Marine goddess (Amphitrite or Thetis),
to left, wearing head-dress formed of a crab's shell, the legsstanding
out above and below : border doubtful.
Rev. jiQM- A crab : plain border.
On some specimens on Obv. a club upwards, or a serpent, behind
the head.
The crab type occurs on coins of Terina, Croton, and Cuniit,
Coins of Mac^na Graecia, pp. 179, 215, 262, 268, 271.
— I«8 —
XVI. Size .6. Obv. Head of Pallas, to left, wearing crested
Corinthian helmet, earring, and necklace, her hair falling in a tress
bound with a cord.
Kev. BPETTIflN. An owl, to right, on a bar : border obscure.
On some specimens a bunch of grapes in front of owl, on others
a star of eight rays above the owl.
— i89 —
THE BRUTTIAN CITIES.
Three of the towns in Bruttium issued coins bearing as legend
the name of the city : Consentia, Nuceria, and Petelia.
The coins however of Consentia were issued before the city was
conquered by the Bruttii, those of Nuceria and Petelia were prob-
ably issued after the city was in the hands of the Bruttii.
These three cities, founded by the old native, races, were never
colonized by the Greeks, although the influence of the Greek
artists is seen in the types of their coinage. The deities also
represented on the coins are purely Greek, as for instance Artemis at
Consentia, Apollo at Nuceria and Demeter at Petelia.
The artistic work of the-;e three mints is probably quite as good
as that of the same period in the cities of the Greek Colonists.
— 190 —
CONSENTIA.
On the coins ot this city we find only the first three letters of its
ancient native name Kfl2, and we can only conjecture what it may
have been, for the name Consentia is only the Latizined form of an
Oenotrian name.
If the cNT is part of the original name we may conjecture the
Oenotrians called it Kwcrsv-uiJ. and compare it with Tarentum,
Uxentum, Buxentum.
In inscriptions, found at Polla, the name is spelt KoGvnix and
this also is the spelling of Strabo. The date of the inscriptions found
at Polla is not recorded in any work easily seen, so their evidence
is valueless for our purpose. Appian and Ptolemy spell the name
with N, KojvasvTia.
The coins of this city are interesting as having been struck before
the rise of the Bruttians to power, and while the city was still under
its own native government, but as Consentia became the principal
seat of the Bruttian government its coinage is also interesting as
that used by them. Strabo (Lib. VI, p. 256, Casaub) says : " Next in
order comes Cosentia, the metropolis of the Bruttii. "
Livy (VIII, 24) tells the story of how Alexander of Epirus fled
from the Greek Pandosia and Acheron only to meet his fate in Italy
at Pandosia in Bruttium ; " after having often defeated the armies 01
Bruttians and Lucanians, and taken Heraclea, a colony of the
Tarentines, Consentia, and Metapontum from the Lucanians, Terina
from the Bruttians "... then follows the stoiy of his death in the
Acheron.
During the second Punic War Consentia at first was loyal to the
Romans, but was taken by Hamilco. Livy (XXIII, 30) says : " having
thus recovered Petilia the Carthaginian general marched his army
to Consentia. The place was less obstinately defended, and in a few
days he received its submission.
Their more ready submission is just what we should expect from
the character given to the citizens by Lucilius, who alludes to them
as possessingsuperior refinement to the rest of the Bruttii and as.
being more like the Tarentines and Sicilians (apud Cicero de fin
^- 3.0
Livy describin gthe events ot 213 B.C. says " at the same time
— 191 —
in Bruttium out of twelve communities which in the previous year
had gone over to the Carthaginians, two, Consentia and Thurii,
returned to their loyalty to Rome ". He then explains why more
did not follow their example viz. owing to the stupidity of a had
man named Pomponius Veientanus (Lib. XXV, i).
Livy also tells us how in the year 206 B.C. the Consul Q_. Civc'i- .
lius led an army "in Consentinum agrum "' and how after the flight
of the people " Ea sine certamine tota gens in ditionem populi
Romani rediit. " The ultimate victory gained in 204 B.C. is briefly
related by Livy (XXIX, c. 38)"eadem instate in Bruttiis Clampetia
a consule vi capta, Consentia et Pandosia et ignobiles aliaecivitates
voluntate in ditionem venerunt. "
BRONZE COINAGE OF CONSENTIA BEFORE 350. B.C.
L Size .75. Obv. Head of Mars to right, wearing crested Corinth-
ian helmet; above O or N.
Rev. KHZ. A thunderbolt ; beneath, three crescents with the
horns downwards.
IL Size .75. Obv. A youthful male head to right, crowned with
reeds, and having a small horn in front; above O ; behind, a
crescent.
Rev. Kfl2. A crab, above, two crescents, back to back, vertiailly
placed.
IIL Size. 85. Obv. Head of Artemis, to right, her hair bound
with a cord passing four times round it.
Rev. A strung bow, string downwards ; beneath, a crescent,
horns downwards ; above, to right, another crescent.
In the British Museum Catalogue there is the mark of question ?
to this attribution.
ARTEMIS.
Dr. L. R. Farnell in his " Cults of the Greek States " says of
Artemis " perhaps no other flgure in the Greek Pantheon is so
difficult to understand and explain " because the ideas connected
with her cult are at first sight confusing and contradictory, " most
of her cult is genuinely Hellenic. " The cult is found in its most
primitive form in Attica, Laconia, and Arcadia.
— 192 —
Dr. Farnell also says " it was more widely spread than that of any
other Hellenic goddess, and was established in the Greek Colonies
of Sicily especially at Syracuse ". Her most primitive cult was that
of an independent goddess, connected with the waters, and with
wild vegetation and beasts, reflecting in her character the wild life
of the primitive men who lived by hunting and fishing rather
than by agriculture.
She was Af.;j.va-cir ' the lady of the lake ', and 'EX$'.a, the goddess
of the marsh ; and we find her at Syracuse with this character. In
Magna Graecia, where Aristaeus and Pan were so popular, it is
surprising that Artemis should not have received greater attention
than the coins and the literature show to have been given to her.
Her head appears on the coins of Metapontum Ai. no 19 (p. 80,
Coins of M. Graecia).
Tarentum JE. type XI, 212-209 B.C. (ibid., p. 52).
Thurium iE. no 17 (ibid., p. 128).
Her figure is represented walking and with her dog, on a coin of
Thurium no 16.
In the Hist. NnmonimY)r. B. V. Head says concerning the staters
of Syracuse issued before 500 B.C. : " The head in the centre of the
Reverse may be assumed to be that of the presiding goddess of the
island of Ortygia, Artemis, who is identified with the water nymph
Arethusa. "
Artemis is represented in the literature connected with Magna
Graecia only apparently in the pages of Athenaeus, Theocritus,
Pindar, and Diodorus. The first writer speaks of a cup dedicated
to Artemis at Capua (lib. XI, § 77, p. 489 A). " And we may to
this dav see a cup of that fashion at Capua, a city of Campania,
consecrated to Artemis, and the Capuans assert that that is the
identical cup which belonged to Nestor. " Theocritus speaks of a
grove of Artemis at Syracuse (II, (>€),
Athenaeus also says Artemis was surnamed Xuojv^ at Syracuse
(p. 629 E). "^
Pindar in his second Pythian ode speaks ot Ortygia the island off
Syracuse as " the residence of the river-goddess Artemis ".
Diodorus Siculus (V, 3) tells us that Artemis received from the
gods the island of Syracusa which oracles and men have named
Ortygia from the name of this goddess.
— 193 —
NUCERIA
There were two cities called Nuceria, one in Campania called
Nuceria Aliaterna, the coins of which all bear Oscean legends, and
the other a city of Bruttium, near Terina, no^v called Nocera.
It is situated on a hill about four miles from the Tyrrhenian sea,
and the mouth of the river Savuto. Considerable remains of an ancient
city are still to be seen at Nocera, and by some scholars have been
thought to be those of Terina (Millingen, p. 25, Ancient Coins and,
p. 58 of his A^//7//. de Fane. ItaL).
Stephanus of Byzantium mentions a citv called Nsuy.pi'a as a city
of Tyrrhenia, but he must mean on the Tyrrhenian sea.
BRONZE COIN OF NUCERIA. CIRCA 3 00 B.C.
Size .85. Obv. Heaa of Apollo, to right, laureated, beneath, an
ear of barley : border of dots.
Rev. N-YKP INON. A horse standing to left; beneath, a penta-
gram : plain border.
Only one type is found in the British Museum.
15
— 194 —
PERIPOLIUM
In the British Museum Catalogue on p. 398 a silver coin of
Peripolium is described under Samnium. It weighs 9.8 grs. and in
size it is .45.
Obv. Head of Hera to left wearing stephane, and earring;
behind, /E : border ol dots.
r,^,. riTANATAN
^ PEPIPOAHN
Heracles kneeling to right and strangling the lion with both arms.
Mommsen attributes these coins to Samnium on the strength or
a passage in Strabo (V, p. 250).
" It is also said that certain Lacedaemonians came and lived among
them (Samnites), and that this is the reason of their affection for
the Greeks, and that certain of them are called Pitanata;.
The whole of this however appears to be a mere fabrication ot
the Tarentini interested in flattering and conciliating a neighbouring
people so powerful &c.
But no town named Peripolium is known in Samnium.
In the " Historia Nunwnim " D' B. \\ Head says (p. 91) Peri-
polium was an outpost of the Locrians on the frontier of their
territory towards Rhegium.
It appears to have been occupied late in the fourth century (the
date of its coins) bv a colony of Pitanativ, presumably from Pitane
in Laconia. Peripolium is not mentioned in Smith's Geographical
Dictionar3\
D' B. V. Head has kindly informed mc that as two specimens of
these coins have been found in Samnium ; it is quite likely that
Peripolium from which the coins were issued was situated in that
region. The types of these early coins arc naturally unlike those ot
the Samnium bronze coins which belong to a later period i. e. after
290 B.C.
We must therefore no longer consider Peripolium as one ot the
Bruttian cities.
— 195
PETELIA
Petelia is situated about twelve miles north of Croton, and three
miles from the coast. It was piohably looked upon as part of the
territory of Croton, and the citizens of Petelia used the coins of that
city. Petelia was originally however an ancient stronghold of the
Chones, a tribe of the Oenotrians.
The city Chone in the same neighbourhood, and Petelia, are both
said to have been founded by Philoctetes after the Trojan war.
Strabo thus describes the city (VI, p. 25^, Casaub).
" Petelia is considered as the metropolis of the Lucaniand is still
well populated. It owes its foundation to Philoctetes who was
compelled to quit Meliboea on account of civil dissensions. Its
position is so strong that the Samnites were formerly obliged to
construct forts around it for the defence of their territory. "
Virgil (A^neid, III, 400, 481) refers to the same legend : " Here
stands that little city Petilia defended by the walls of Philoctetes, the
Meliboean chief. "
The long note by Servius is interesting but adds nothing of
numismatic interest.
Petelia is never mentioned as a Greek city probably because it was
regarded as belonging to Croton. When however the Lucanians
invaded the land, about 368 B.C., Petelia fell into their hands,
and became their principal stronghold in the South. Petelia first
became conspicuous in the second Punic War, when the citizens
remained faithful to the Romans in 216 B. C. although the Bruttians
threw off their allegiance. The city was besieged by the Bruttians,
and by Hamilco, and was abandoned to its fate by the Romans.
Livy tells the story (XXIII, 20) of how the envoys from Petelia
who came to ask help in Rome were moved to tears when assured
that it was beyond the power of Rome to give them help. In another
chapter (30) Livy describes the siege, etc. its horrors, famine reduced
their strength so that they could not lift their arms : from the same
passage we learn that Croton was invested by a Bruttian army, and
fell, being defended by only 2000 citizens of all ages ; these however
— 196 —
were not pure Greeks, for the old Greek city had been destroyed
152 years before.
The loyalty of the Petelians was recorded by Valerias Maximus
who concluded with a striking sentence. " Itaque Annibali non
Petelliam, sed fidei Petellin:t sepulchrumcapere contigit. "(Lib. VI,
c. vi).
(So it came to pass that Hannibal did not take Petelia but the
grave of Petelian fidelity).
Silius Italicus introduces a legend also noted by Servius
Fumabat versis iiicensa Petilia intectis
Infelix fidei, miserseque secunda Sagunto
At quondam Herculeam servare superba pharetram.
(Lib. XII, 431, p. 366, ed. Nisard.)
He notices how once the old city was proud of preserving the
quiver of Heracles. Appian (Annib. 29) records that those citizens
who escaped were restored by the Romans, and we have seen that
Strabo was able to call it well populated.
From inscriptions discovered on the site we learn that the city
prospered during the Roman Empire. The modern name of the town
on the old site is Strongoli and it is said to contain 7000 inhab-
itants, but it contains no ruins of the old cit}' besides the inscrip-
tions and minor objects of antiquity. Confer Lenormant " Lagrande
Grece ", p. 383 ssq.
COINS OF PETELIA CIRCA. 2 5 0-200 B.C.
Quadrans.
I. Size .65. Obv. Head of Jupiter, to right, laureated; behind g :
border of dots.
Rev. riETH.M NflN. Jupiter standing to right naked, hurling
thunderbolt, and holding sceptre ; behind, a monogram H • plain
border.
Oncia.
II. Size .6. Obv. Head of Mars, to right, wearing a crested
Corinthian helmet ; border of dots.
Rev. '?F.Tj?.,. A wreath-bearing Nike, standing to left.
AINilN
— 197
COINS WITHOUT MARKS OF VALUE.
III. Size .45. Obv. Head of bearded Heracles, to right, wearing
wreath : border of dots.
^-- AmnN -'"i^' " '^■''-
IV. Size .8. Obv. Head of Demeter, to right, wearing veil and
wreath of barlev : border of dots.
Rev. nETHAlNHN. Jupiter, naked, facing and standing to left,
hurling thunderbolt, and holding sceptre ; in field to left a star ot
six rays : in field to right H or or K or A.
The star sometimes has only five rays.
Uncertain city of Apulia.
Bronze coin of Side or Sidis.
Size .55. Obv. Head of Zeus, to right, laureated, behind, an ear
of barley : border of dots
Rev. IIAINflN. Heracles, to right, leaning on his club which
rests under his left shoulder, from which hangs his lion-skin : plain
border.
A similar type is found on the uncia of Mateola described above
among the coins of that city.
GENERAL INDEX
Acerrae, 7, 9.
Alliba or Allifae, 9.
Alphabet, Oscan, i.
Antoninus Liberalis, iii.
Apulia, loi.
Apulia or Calabria, 109.
Arpi, 103.
Artemis, 191, 192.
Atella Coins of, 13, 14, 15.
Aurunca, 7.
Aurunci, 54.
Ausculum, 107.
Azetini, 109.
Baletium, 149.
Barium, in.
Bellona, 172.
Brundusium, 151.
Bruttii, 176.
Butuntum, 113.
Caelia, 115.
Caiatia, 16.
Calabria, 145.
Caiatia, 18.
Cales, 20.
Campanians, 5.
Campanian cities, list of, 2.
Canna;, 1 19.
Canusium, 118.
Capua, 25.
Caudine Forks, 123.
Compulteria, 37.
Consentia, 190.
Copia, 174.
Cumont, Franz, 88.
Fensernia, 44.
Graxa, 155.
Gold Coins of the Bruttii, 179.
H
Haeberlin on the Libral As, 87,
Hyria, 42.
Hyria or Orra, 157.
lapygians, 145.
Irthne, 45.
Isis, 175.
Legend of the quiver of Hercules, 196.
Lucania, 167.
Luceria, 12^.
M
Mars, 171.
Marrucini, 1 56.
Mateola, 128.
Messapians, 146.
Mithras, 88.
N
Neapolis of Apulia, 129.
Neretum, 160.
Nola, 58.
Nuceria, 193.
Nuceria Alfaterna, 46.
Dasius, 103.
Diomedes, 103.
Oenotrians, 167,
Orra, 157.
— 200 —
Petelia, 195.
Peripolium, 194.
Phistelia, 50.
Pounds, the Six, of Italy, 89.
Pullus, 103.
R
Romano Campanian Coins, 61.
Rubi, 1 30.
Rubi and Silveum, 132.
Sturnium, 162.
Suessa, 54.
Table of relation of bronze to silver, 66.
Teanum Sidicinum, 57.
Teate, 136.
U
Unidentified coins, 166:
Urium or Hyria of Apulia, 121.
Uxentum, 163.
Samadi, 135.
Sidicini, 57.
Silvium and Rubi, 152.
Velecha, 45.
Venusia, 140.
INDEX OF TYPES
AMPHITRITE.
Bruttii, 179, 181, 187.
AMPHORA.
Canusium, 1 19.
APOLLO.
Aurunca, 7.
Alliba, II.
Gales, 23.
Capua, 34.
Compulteria, 37.
Nuceria, 49.
Suessa, 54.
Teanum, 59.
Rom. Camp., 62.
Arpi, 106.
Luceria, 127.
Salapia, 134.
Neretum, 160.
Bruttii, 84.
Nuceria, 193.
APHRODITE,
Orra, 159.
ARCHAIC IDOLS.
Capua, 34.
ARTEMIS.
Bruttii, 183. Consentia, 191.
ASTRAGALOS.
Luceria, 125, 126.
BELLONA.
Lucania, 170.
Bruttii, 184, li
BOAR.
Capua, 33, 34.
Arpi, 106.
Auscuium, 108.
Salapia, 154.
Venusia, 141, 143.
BOW-STRUNG.
Consentia, 191.
BULL.
Capua, 32.
Arpi, lOt".
BULL, MAN-HEADED.
Cales, 24.
Compulteria, 37.
Hyria, 42-43.
Irthne, 45.
Phistelia, 5 1 .
Suessa, 56.
Teanum, 59.
Teate, 138.
BULL'S HEAD FACING.
Rubi, 131.
BULL AND SERPENT.
Rom. Camp., 84.
CERBEKUS.
Capua, 34.
CERES.
Capua, 32.
Rom. Camp, 86.
CLUB.
Caelia, 117.
Luceria, 127.
Rubi, 131. ,
COCK.
Caiatia, 16.
Cales, 22, 23.
Suessa, 56.
Teanum, 60.
— 202 —
COCK AND MAN-HEADED BULL.
Capua, 36.
COCKLE-SHELL.
Butuntum, 114.
Luceria, 125, 126, 127.
Venusia, 142.
Graxa, 156.
Sturnium, 162.
CORNUCOPIA.
Copia, 174.
CONICAL HELMET on head of Hero .
Orra, 159.
CRAB.
Butuntum, 114.
Luceria, 126.
Venusia, 144.
Bruttii, 187.
Consentia, 191.
CRESCENT.
Rom. Camp, 86.
Caelia, 1 16.
Luceria, 125.
Samadi, 135.
Venusia, 141, 142, 143, 14^.
Baletium, 150.
Consentia, 191.
DEMETER ?
Neapolis, 129.
Petelia, 197.
DESULTOR.
Suessa, 55.
DIANA.
Calatia, 19.
Capua, 33.
DIOMEDES?
Canusium, 120.
DIONE.
Luceria, 127.
DIONYSOS.
Neapolis, 129.
Venusia, 143.
DIOSCURI.
Nuceria, 45.
Caelia, 117.
Bruttii, 180.
DOE SUCKLING TELEPHUS.
Capua, 28, 35.
DOE OF CERYNEIA.
Rom. Camp. 86.
HEAD OF DOG OR WOLF.
Venusia, 141.
DOLPHIN.
Luceria, 125, 127.
Salapia, 134.
Venusia, 142, 143.
Graxa, 156.
DOVE FLYING WITH WREATH.
Orra, 159.
EAGLE.
Capua, 32, 35.
Rom. Camp., 80, 85.
Azetini, no.
Caelia, 1 16.
Rubi, 131.
Salapia, 134.
Teate, 138.
Venusia, 143.
Graxa, 155.
Orra, 157.
Lucania, 170.
Bruttii, 182, 186.
Sturnium, 162.
Uxentum, 164.
EAR OF BARLEY.
Capua, 34.
Arpi, 106.
Ausculum, 107.
Azetini, 1 10.
Butuntum, 115, 114.
Luceria, 125, 126.
Neapolis, 129.
Rubi, 130.
ELEPHANT.
Capua, 35.
Velecha, 45.
EROS ON PROW.
Barium, 1 12.
20^ —
EROS WALKING.
Orra, 159.
FULMEN.
Capua, 35.
Rubi, 131, 116.
Luceria, 126.
Consentia, 191.
GORGON'S HEAD.
Caelia, 1 16.
GRAPES.
Arpi, 106.
Neapolis, 129.
H
HEAD WEARING WOLF'S SKIN
CAP
Rom. Camp., 84.
HEBE.
Hyria, 45.
HELIOS.
Atella, 15,
Velecha, 45.
Rom. Camp., 86.
Rubi, 131.
Venusia, 14^.
HERA.
Hyria, 43.
Fensernia, 44.
Phistelia, 5 1.
Venusia, 143.
Peripolium, 194.
HERACLES.
Capua, 33, 34, 35.
Suessa, 56.
Teanum, 59.
Rom. Camp., 84, 86.
Ausculum, !08.
Caelia, 115.
Luceria, 125, 126.
Mateola, 128.
Rubi, 131.
Teate, 137.
Venusia, 141, 143, 144.
Uxentum, 164, 165.
Lucania, 170.
Copia, 175.
Bruttii, 179, 185.
Peripolium, 194.
Petelia, 197.
HERMES.
Teanum, 60.
Venusia, 144.
HERO, NUDE.
Nuceria, 48.
HOOK, REAPING.
Arpi, 105.
HORSEMAN.
Capua, 32.
Rom. Camp., 86.
Canusium, 120.
Teate, 137.
HORSE.
Calatia, 19.
Rom. Camp., 62, 63, 81.
Arpi, 105, 106.
Ausculum, 107.
Luceria, 125.
Salapia, 1 34.
Nuceria, 193.
HOUND, RUNNING.
Nuceria, 49.
Ausculum, 108.
ISIS.
Copia, 174, 175.
JANUS.
Capua, 32, 35.
Rom. Camp., 63.
Uxentum, 165.
JUNO.
Capua, 54, 35.
Rom. Camp., 84.
JUNO ami JUPITER.
Capua, 33.
LION.
Capua, 33.
204 —
Phistelia, 53 .
Rom. Camp., 81.
Arpi, 106.
Mateola, 128.
Teate, 139.
Venusia, 143, 144.
LYRE.
Capua, 34.
Canusium, 1 19.
Venusia, 141.
Neretum, 160.
M
MALE HEAD, HAIR LONG.
Nuceria, 48.
MALE HEAD, RAM'S HORNS.
Nuceria, 48.
MALE HEAD BEARDLESS.
Phistelia, 5 1 .
MALE FIGURE, HOLDING PALM.
Caelia, 116.
MARS.
Rom. Camp., 62, 63.
Arpi, 106.
Lucania, 170.
Bruttii, 184.
Consentia, 191.
Petelia, 196.
MERCURY.
Suessa, 54.
MUSSEL SHELL.
Trthne, 45.
Phistelia, 51.
N
NIKE.
Calatia, 19.
Cales, 20, 23.
Capua, 33, 34.
Teanum, 59.
Rom. Camp., 62.
Ausculum, 108.
Caelia, 116.
Rubi, 131.
Lucania, 170.
Bruttii, 184, 185.
NYMPH.
Hyria, 42.
Phistelia, 51.
OWL.
Azetini, 1 10.
Butuntum, 114.
Rubi, 131.
Teate, 137, 138, 139.
Venusia, 141, 145, 144.
Lucania, 170.
PALLAS.
Alliba, II.
Caiatia, 16.
Cales, 21, 23.
Capua, 32, 33, 35.
Hyria, 42,43-
Phistelia, 52.
Suessa, 56.
Rom. Camp., 80.
Arpi, 105, 106.
Azetini, no.
Butuntum, 113.
Caelia, 115.
Urium, 121.
Luceria, 126.
Mateola, 128.
Rubi, 130, 131.
Samadi, 135.
Teate, 137.
Venusia, 141, 142, 144.
Orra, 157.
Uxentum, 164.
Copia, 175.
Bruttii, 182.
PAN.
Capua, 34.
Salapia, 134.
PEGASUS.
Capua, 52.
Fensernia, 44.
PERSEPHONE.
Arpi, 105, 106.
PHRYGIAN HELMETED HEAD.
Rom. Camp., 62.
POSEIDON.
Luceria, 127.
— 20
Teate, 139.
Brundusium, 155.
Bruttii, 179, 181.
R
RIVER-GOD, HEAD OF.
Consentia, 191.
RUDDER.
Urium, 121.
S
STAR.
Luceria, 125.
Unidentified, 166.
TARAS ON DOLPHIN.
Butuntum, 114.
Teate, 139.
Baletium, 1 50.
Brundusium, 153.
TELEPHUS, HEAD OF.
Capua, 35.
THYRSOS.
Luceria, 125,
TOAD.
Luceria, 125, 126, 127.
Venusia, 144.
TRIDENT.
Neapolis, 129.
TROPHY.
Capua, 35.
Caelia, 1 16.
TYCHE.
Capua,* 32.
TURRETED DIADEMED HEAD.
Rom. Camp., 86.
TWO WARRIORS AND PIG.
Capua, 33.
V
VINE BRANCH AND GRAPES.
Neapolis, 129.
VASE AND STARS.
Uxentum, 164.
w
WHEEL.
Phistelia, 53.
Luceria, 125, 126.
WOLF & TWINS.
Rom. Camp., 62, 85.
WOLF'S HEAD.
Lucania, 170.
ZEUS OR JUPITER.
Atella, 14, 15.
Calatia, 18, 19.
Capua, 31, 32, 33, 34> 36.
Rom. Camp., 63.
Arpi, 106.
Barium, in.
Caelia, 116.
Urium, 121.
Rubi, 131.
Salapia, 134.
Teate, 138.
Venusia, 142, 143.
Graxa, 155.
Luceria, 170.
Bruttii. 186.
Petelia, 196.
Note there are no less than eighty-
eight different types on this series of
coins, among which thirty divinities
are represented.
INDEX OF CLASSICAL AUTHORS aUOTED
Antoninus Liberalis, 70, in.
Apollodorus, 84.
Athenaeus, 147.
Cato, 21.
Caesar (Civ. Bell.), 174.
Cicero, 14, 21, 47, 72.
Diodorus Sicuius, 16, 27, 44, 58, 84,
86, 124, 132, 136;, 147, 168, 177, 178.
Dion. Halicarnasus, 58, 75, 102.
Eutropius, 61.
Florus, 61, 107, 147.
Gellius, Aulus, 39.
Herodotus, 145, 147, 157.
Horace, 21, 119, 130, 140.
Jornandes, 178.
Justin, 38, 151, 177.
Juvenal, 21 .
Livy, 8, 9 10, 13, 16, 18, 20, 25, 28,
30, 37. 58, 41, 46, 47. SO, 54, 57.
58,65, 67, 68, 73, loi, 102, 103,
104, III, 119, 123, 124, 133, 15b,
140, 147, 152, 168, 169, 172, 174,
179, 190, 195.
Lycophron (Schol), 28.
Ovid, 70, 172.
Paulus Diaconus, 178.
Pausanias, 29, 146.
Pindar, 44, 103.
Pliny, 46, 77, 82, 88, 109, 113, 132,
149, 160, 163.
Plutarch, 75, 107.
Poiybius, 64, 146.
Pomponius Mela, 121, 149, 155.
Ptolemy, 162, 163, 190.
Silius Italicus, 10, 14, 20, 28, 58, 196.
Statius, 88.
Stephanus of Byzantium, 178, 195.
Strabo, 9, 57, 103, 109, 118, 121, 123,
132, 133, 145. 151, 163, 167, 171,
174, 176, 190, 194, 195.
Tacitus, III.
Thucydides, 72, 163.
Valerius iMaximus, 61, 104.
Varro, 76, 82.
Velleius Paterculus, 38, 72, 140.
Virgil, 20, 28, 39, 54, 75, 145, 146,
172, 195.
Zonarus, 102, 152.
PROTAT BROTHERS, PRINTERS, MACON (FRANCE)
ERRATA
Page 8^, line 7 : derived, but read : derived; hut
Page 121, line 7 : to the hay formed hy the headland Urias
Sinus read : to the bay Urias Sinus.
Page iji, line 14 : (about 1323 B.C.) read: (about iioo
B.C.)....
Page 16), line ij : Kramer prefers O'Jupia read : Kramer
prefers O'jpia
i
Illliilllllilllllilliiillll
AA 001 165 727 7
l,tea?!,?.t'°'n«, Los Angeles
L 006 064 586 8