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Drachm
| Issuer | Uncertain Cisalpine Gallic tribes (Cisalpine Gaul) |
|---|---|
| Year | 250 BC - 200 BC |
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| Composition | Silver |
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| Diameter | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | A lion striding to the right in the Massalian tradition, rendered in a Celticized, stylized manner with exaggerated musculature and curvilinear detailing typical of Cisalpine Gaulish coinage. A crayfish or lobster motif appears beneath or beside the lion, serving as a distinguishing type marker. A partial Greek legend is visible above the lion in the upper field. The reverse flan is irregular and the die is somewhat worn, consistent with barbarous imitative issues of this period. |
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
The Cisalpine Gauls — Insubres, Cenomani, and Boii among them — produced imitative drachms derived from Massalian prototypes, copying the coinage of Massalia (modern Marseille) as it filtered north through trade networks. The copying process was generational and cumulative, meaning each successive die-cutter worked from coins rather than original designs, producing the progressive schematization that makes attribution to specific tribes almost impossible without hoard context.
The 250–200 BC window brackets the Second Punic War, during which some of these tribes allied with Hannibal after his crossing of the Alps in 218 BC. Whether this piece circulated in that charged political moment cannot be determined.