Æ Didrachm

The Brettii — a Samnite-affiliated people of Bruttium in the toe of Italy — struck this issue during their alliance with Hannibal following Rome's catastrophic defeat at Cannae in 216 BC. The bronze didrachm coinage belongs to a confident, prolific mint program that ran as long as Carthaginian forces held effective control of the region. When Roman power was reasserted after 211 BC, Bruttian independent coinage essentially ceased, and the Brettii were punished severely — stripped of their status as allies and reduced to a servile role supplying labor to Roman magistrates.