Tetradrachm

Punic silver tetradrachms of this period were produced to pay mercenary armies — Carthage relied almost entirely on hired soldiers and needed portable, high-value coinage that Greek and Sicilian troops would accept without question. The closest Attic-weight issues served that function directly, circulating in a war economy rather than a civic one. Mint attribution remains contested; candidates include workshops in Sicily operating under Carthaginian control during the decades of intense conflict with Syracuse following the Sicilian Expedition.

The SNG Copenhagen and Boston MFA specimens are among the anchoring references for this uncertain series precisely because so few hoards have resolved the question of a single mint versus multiple coordinated workshops.