Canusium — modern Canosa di Puglia — was an Oscan-speaking city that maintained a degree of autonomy even under Roman alliance, and its bronze coinage reflects that ambivalence. The dating range places this piece squarely across one of the most consequential episodes in the city's history: Hannibal's passage through Apulia following Cannae in 216 BC, after which Canusium sheltered the Roman survivors before eventually being besieged. Whether the city continued striking bronze through that disruption or suspended production entirely is not settled.
The HN Italy 660 classification groups these pieces within a well-documented Apulian series, with die links noted across the ANS and Weber specimens.
Canusium — modern Canosa di Puglia — was an Oscan-speaking city that maintained a degree of autonomy even under Roman alliance, and its bronze coinage reflects that ambivalence. The dating range places this piece squarely across one of the most consequential episodes in the city's history: Hannibal's passage through Apulia following Cannae in 216 BC, after which Canusium sheltered the Roman survivors before eventually being besieged. Whether the city continued striking bronze through that disruption or suspended production entirely is not settled.
The HN Italy 660 classification groups these pieces within a well-documented Apulian series, with die links noted across the ANS and Weber specimens.