Æ26 - Augustus (M PACCIVS MACXV FLAME, AVG)

Halaesa, on Sicily's northern coast, had enjoyed a privileged relationship with Rome since siding against Carthage during the First Punic War — the city received early grants of tax exemption and autonomy that it fiercely protected for centuries. This issue names M. Paccius as magistrate, serving in a flaminical role tied to the imperial cult, one of the earliest provincial expressions of Augustus-worship to be institutionalized in coinage. Sicily's cities were among the first in the western Mediterranean to formalize that cult through local bronze production.