Dupondius - Tiberius THAPSVM IVN AVG

Thapsus — modern Ras Dimas on the Tunisian coast — was the site of Caesar's decisive 46 BC victory over the Pompeian-Numidian forces, an association that gave the city considerable prestige under the Principate. This local bronze was struck by civic authority during the early reign of Tiberius, almost certainly in connection with the colonial administration of Africa Proconsularis rather than any imperial directive. Provincial civic coinage of this type ceased in the western provinces within a generation; by the Claudian period, local bronze issues from African colonies had largely disappeared in favor of centrally supplied coinage.