Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
Æ Uncia
| Issuer | Brettii |
|---|---|
| Year | 215 BC - 205 BC |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Drachm |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Laureate head of Zeus facing right, rendered in vigorous Italic style with deeply incised curling locks of hair and beard radiating across the field. The portrait fills the flan almost entirely, with heavy, expressive modelling characteristic of Bruttian bronze coinage of the Second Punic War period. A fillet or wreath crown is discernible above the brow, and the facial features are boldly articulated despite the worn surfaces. No legend appears on the obverse. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | An eagle standing left with wings spread, perched upon a thunderbolt, rendered in the Hellenistic tradition common to southern Italian bronze issues. The bird's head is turned to the left, its plumage indicated by incised feather lines across the body and extended wings. The ethnic legend BRET-TIWN in Greek characters is disposed around the periphery of the field, identifying the issuing authority of the Brettii people. The overall composition is bold and competently engraved, consistent with the Bruttian coinage series of circa 215–205 BC. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
The Brettii — a Samnite-related people of Bruttium in the toe of Italy — struck their own coinage during the Second Punic War largely because they had allied with Hannibal after his crushing victories at Trebia and Lake Trasimene. This bronze issue dates to precisely that window of defection, when the Brettii controlled much of southern Italy and needed independent coinage to pay troops and conduct civic administration outside Roman authority. Their mint was almost certainly Consentia, modern Cosenza.
Roman reconquest after 205 BC effectively ended Bruttian monetary production, and the alliance's collapse was punished harshly — Bruttian aristocrats were reduced to serving as Roman litter-bearers, a deliberate humiliation.