April 26, 2024
Ancient Carthaginian Coinage
Ancient Carthaginian Coinage - Description
Ancient Carthage was a Phoenician empire lasting from the 9th Century BCE until Rome destroyed it in 146 BCE. The capital was Carthage, a settlement and city-state in modern Tunisia. Before Rome, Carthage was perhaps the most powerful and wealthiest Mediterranean empire, boasting a mighty harbor and a location ideal for trade. Carthage became a rival to Rome and battled them periodically for over a century through three Punic Wars. Carthage did not create coins until the 5th Century BCE, but it soon boasted a variety of coinage, often displaying motifs featuring a female head and horses.
Ancient Carthaginian Coinage - History
Carthage was settled around 814 BCE by colonists from Tyre, a Phoenician city-state in modern-day Lebanon. The legendary Princess Dido may have led the expedition. A mercantile Phoenician seafaring people, they utilized barter for hundreds of years. Around 410 BCE, Carthage began producing coins in Sicily to fund military operations near the height of its power. These Sinulo-Punic coins followed Greek styles and standards. Carthaginians soon traveled to West Africa for gold and began minting valuable electrum and gold coins. They also created coins in Carthage, although most were minted elsewhere.
Carthage is perhaps best known for its rivalry with Rome and the three Punic Wars. Carthage fought the First Punic War (264-241 BCE) in and around Sicily. Carthage minted many coins to pay fleets and armies. Still, by the end of the losing effort, Carthage had emptied its treasury and paid its army with billon (an alloy of precious metal and majority base metal) and bronze.
Undeterred, Hamilcar Barca (275-228 BCE) led Carthage to conquer southern Iberia, an area rich in precious metals, regaining wealth and power. Yet the Carthaginians were still angry at the Romans, beginning The Second Punic War (218-201 BCE). His son, the renowned Hannibal (247-183 BCE), led the Carthaginians through fifteen years of bloody battle. Although eventually defeated, he crusaded across Italy and the Alps with North African war elephants, winning conflicts with awe-inspiring military tactics and strategy.
As the empire crumbled, they began running out of precious metal and minted poor-quality silver, copper, and billon coin. Sadly, even a weakened Carthage was too much for Rome. The Carthaginians faced their final defeat in 146 BCE on the last day of the Third Punic War. Thus, Cato’s oration of “Carthage Must Be Destroyed” rang true, and the city fell.
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Ancient Carthaginian Coinage - Identification & Value
Carthaginian coins combined Greek design with Carthaginian artistry. Initial coins were minted to Attic standards, but many later coins were made to the Phoenician standard. Denominations included drachms, didrachms, tetradrachms, and later, shekels. The weights varied considerably, ranging from 4.5-gram bronze coins to 45-gram dodecadrachms. The coins were minted in gold, silver, electrum, bronze, and billon.
The most common imagery included an obverse wreathed female head looking left coupled with a reverse standing horse looking right. Sometimes the reverse featured a horse in front of a palm. Scholars speculate the female is Tanit, a Punic goddess of war and fertility. The horse may be Baal Hammon, the god of Carthage, who ruled over the weather. Rarely, obverses featured a male head, sometimes thought to be Melqart, the patron deity of Tyre. Minters inscribed some coins with Punic, a Semitic language written in Phoenician.
Rare Punic gold, electrum, and silver coins are valuable and hard to obtain. However, small bronze and tiny silver pieces are commonplace and affordable. In catalogs and reference books, Carthaginian coins appear as “Zeugitana,” referencing the northern portion of Tunisia.
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Ancient Carthaginian Coinage - Marks
These items may or may not feature mint marks. Images imprinted on the coins may assist in identification. However, a trustworthy, detailed provenance is often the best method of authentication. To learn more about Coin age antiquities, read our related Dictionary pages.
Identify your Ancient Carthaginian Coinage Marks.
Further Reading on Ancient Carthaginian Coinage
Books and Periodicals
Carthaginian Gold and Electrum Coins by G. Kenneth Jenkins, R. B. Lewis, and Richard Lewis.
Coins of Punic Sicily by G. Kenneth Jenkins.
The Carthaginians by Dexter Hoyos.
Web Resources
Carthage www.forumancientcoins.com.
NGC Ancients: The Coinage of Ancient Carthage www.ngccoin.com.
The Coinage of Carthage www.coinweek.com
Relted Dictionary Pages: East Asian Coins, Egyptian Coins, Greek Coins