Carthago Nova — modern Cartagena — was one of the wealthiest cities in the Roman provincial world, built on silver mining operations so productive that Polybius reported 40,000 workers extracting ore from the surrounding hills at the height of Carthaginian control. By the time this semis was struck, the city operated under a colonial magistracy led by the quinqueviri, a board of five officials whose presence on local bronze coinage reflects a civic administrative structure distinct from most other Iberian mints. The IIviri Quinquennales named on issues of this type held their office in five-year census cycles, making the magistrate pairings a rough internal chronological anchor within the series.
Carthago Nova — modern Cartagena — was one of the wealthiest cities in the Roman provincial world, built on silver mining operations so productive that Polybius reported 40,000 workers extracting ore from the surrounding hills at the height of Carthaginian control. By the time this semis was struck, the city operated under a colonial magistracy led by the quinqueviri, a board of five officials whose presence on local bronze coinage reflects a civic administrative structure distinct from most other Iberian mints. The IIviri Quinquennales named on issues of this type held their office in five-year census cycles, making the magistrate pairings a rough internal chronological anchor within the series.