Semis - Tiberius A VERGILIVS OPT IIVIR

Paestum — the Greek colony of Poseidonia, refounded as a Latin colony in 273 BC — retained the right to strike local bronze coinage well into the imperial period, an administrative privilege Rome extended selectively to veteran colonies. The duoviri whose names appear on issues like this one were the senior magistrates of the colonial government, and their inclusion on coinage was as much a declaration of local civic identity as it was a functional minting record. By the reign of Tiberius, such colonial bronzes were essentially the small change of local markets, moving no further than the surrounding territory.