Stater with two lyres horse facing left

The Arverni occupied the volcanic highlands of what is now the Auvergne, and by the first century BC they had already lost much of the regional dominance they held under Bituitus, who was defeated by Rome at the Battle of the Vindalium in 121 BC. This stater type was struck during a period of partial recovery and renewed political organization — the same generation that would eventually produce Vercingetorix, who led the great Gallic coalition against Caesar before surrendering at Alesia in 52 BC.

Gold of this type largely vanished from circulation after the Roman conquest, melted down or extracted as war indemnity.