Abdera, the Phoenician colony on the southern Spanish coast, was one of the few western municipia still striking coins with Punic script well into the reign of Tiberius — a linguistic conservatism almost unmatched in Baetica by that point. The bilingual legends reflect a community navigating Roman administrative expectations while maintaining Semitic cultural identity through the single medium still available to it.
Local bronze coinage in Baetica effectively ceased after Caligula. These Tiberian issues from Abdera are among the last western coins to carry Punic.
Abdera, the Phoenician colony on the southern Spanish coast, was one of the few western municipia still striking coins with Punic script well into the reign of Tiberius — a linguistic conservatism almost unmatched in Baetica by that point. The bilingual legends reflect a community navigating Roman administrative expectations while maintaining Semitic cultural identity through the single medium still available to it.
Local bronze coinage in Baetica effectively ceased after Caligula. These Tiberian issues from Abdera are among the last western coins to carry Punic.