Unit

The Ilergetes were the most powerful of the Iberian tribal confederacies in the northeastern peninsula, and their political weight is reflected in the longevity of this coinage — a production run spanning over five decades. Their kings Indibilis and Mandonius had allied with Carthage during the Second Punic War, then switched to Rome when the calculus shifted, a pragmatism that bought the people a generation of relative autonomy. Iltirta, their principal settlement near modern Lleida, operated one of the most prolific indigenous mints in Hispania Citerior.

The series referenced by ACIP 1256 belongs to a later phase of production, after Roman administrative consolidation had begun forcing Iberian mints toward standardized weight norms. The terminus of 72 BC is not arbitrary — it coincides with Sertorius's defeat and the subsequent suppression of the last organized resistance in the region under Pompey.