Æ

Neapolis (modern Naples) was a Greek colonial foundation maintaining strong Hellenic cultural and commercial ties even as Samnite pressure intensified throughout the fourth century. The city's bronze coinage of this period served local exchange while the silver stater dominated interregional trade. HN Italy 567 represents one of several small Æ denominations produced during decades when Neapolis was navigating an increasingly unstable relationship with its Samnite neighbors — a tension that would eventually force the city into alliance with Rome by 326 BC, fundamentally reorienting its political world.