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The Cessetani were an Iberian tribe occupying the coastal territory around modern Tarragona — Kese in ancient sources — and began striking silver coinage under direct Roman pressure following the Cato the Elder's campaign of 195 BC, which systematically crushed Iberian resistance and reorganized the peninsula's tribute systems. These issues were not purely indigenous: Rome encouraged local minting as a practical mechanism for collecting taxes and paying troops without shipping bullion from Italy.

The fabric is distinctly Iberian, struck on flans prepared by a different tradition than Roman workshops of the same period.