Ilici — modern Elche, in what is now the Valencia region of Spain — was a Roman colony established under Augustus, likely refounded from an earlier Iberian settlement around 26 BC. The city held the rank of colonia immunis, granting its citizens exemption from direct taxation, a privilege that reflected Augustus's deliberate policy of rewarding loyal Hispanian communities following the Cantabrian Wars. Local bronze issues like this semis were struck under municipal authority, filling a gap in small-denomination currency that Rome's central mints had little interest in supplying to provincial markets.
Ilici's coinage series is notably short-lived, confined to the Augustan period, after which municipal bronze production in the region ceased entirely.
Ilici — modern Elche, in what is now the Valencia region of Spain — was a Roman colony established under Augustus, likely refounded from an earlier Iberian settlement around 26 BC. The city held the rank of colonia immunis, granting its citizens exemption from direct taxation, a privilege that reflected Augustus's deliberate policy of rewarding loyal Hispanian communities following the Cantabrian Wars. Local bronze issues like this semis were struck under municipal authority, filling a gap in small-denomination currency that Rome's central mints had little interest in supplying to provincial markets.
Ilici's coinage series is notably short-lived, confined to the Augustan period, after which municipal bronze production in the region ceased entirely.