Catalog
1 Biunx
| Issuer | Larinum |
|---|---|
| Year | 210 BC - 175 BC |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Reference(s) | HN Italy#628, Campana#7, SNG Morcom#67 |
| Obverse description | Helmeted head of Athena facing right, depicted in high relief with a crested Corinthian-style helmet. The facial features are rendered in a bold, somewhat provincial Italic style characteristic of Samnite-area bronzes of the late 3rd to early 2nd century BC. The field is plain, with no surrounding legend. The flan is slightly irregular, as typical of hand-struck issues of this period. |
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
Larinum, a Frentanian town in what is now Molise, was among a small cluster of Italian communities granted the right to strike bronze coinage under Roman oversight during the Second Punic War period. The biunx denomination — worth two unciae, or one-sixth of an as — was an uncommon fraction even by the standards of allied Italian mints, and Larinum's output was modest enough that pieces appear rarely in trade.
The Frentani had allied with Rome by the late fourth century BC, and this coinage reflects that subordinate but recognized status: locally produced, yet conforming to Roman weight standards as they declined through the early second century.