Æ Roman protectorate

Segesta's alignment with Rome during the Second Punic War proved a calculated survival move. When Carthaginian forces swept through Sicily, Segesta — always an outsider among the island's Greek cities due to its Elymian roots — declared early for Rome and was rewarded with protected status. This small bronze belongs to the municipal coinage produced under that arrangement, struck as Roman authority consolidated across Sicily following the fall of Syracuse in 212 BC.

The Elymians claimed Trojan descent, a mythology Romans found politically convenient and never discouraged.