Æ Semis

Venusia — modern Venosa in Basilicata — was a Latin colony planted by Rome in 291 BC in the heart of Samnite territory, and its colonial bronze coinage reflects a period of acute pressure during the Second Punic War. After Hannibal's catastrophic defeat of Roman forces at Cannae in 216 BC, Venusia was one of the few southern Italian communities that held its loyalty to Rome despite Carthaginian forces operating through the region for over a decade. This semis belongs to the final phase of Venusian civic coinage, struck as Rome steadily absorbed colonial monetary autonomy in the early second century.