Æ20

Obverse description	Log in to see details
Obverse script	Log in to see details
Obverse lettering	Log in to see details
Reverse description	A horse prancing vigorously to the right, rendered with energy and naturalistic musculature characteristic of South Italian bronzes of the early third century BC. A star appears in the upper field above the horse's back. The surrounding legend, partially visible due to the irregular flan, reads PRONOM or a related abbreviation, distributed around the design. The ground line beneath the horse is absent, giving the figure a floating quality within the field.
Reverse script	Latin/Oscan
Reverse lettering	Log in to see details
Edge	Log in to see details
Mint	Log in to see details
Mintage	Log in to see details
Additional information	Beneventum — originally called Maleventum ("bad wind" or, more ominously, "ill outcome") — was renamed by Rome following its victory over Pyrrhus of Epirus in 275 BC, a deliberate act of linguistic revision meant to erase the memory of a battlefield that had briefly looked catastrophic for Roman arms. The city's subsequent bronze coinage, issued within a generation of that renaming, reflects its new status as a Latin colony planted directly on the Appian Way to consolidate Roman control over Samnium. The dating window for this type overlaps with the First Punic War, during which Beneventum's strategic position made it a critical supply and mustering point.