Dea Moneta
login
Banner Artemide LV
Lot # 157
Punic Sicily. Akragas. AR Half Shekel. Punic occupation, c. 213-211 BC. D/ Male head right (Triptolemos?), wearing wreath of grain ears. R/ Horse leaping right; Punic Ḥ below; all within wreath. HGC 2 172; SNG Cop. 378; Burnett, Enna 132–47. AR. 2.72 g. 19.00 mm. Cleaning marks. Dark spots of oxidation. EF/About EF. Originally attributed to Heimpsal II of Numidia, this issue was firmly reattributed to the Carthaginians in Sicily (cf. R.R. Holloway, “Monete provenienti dagli scavi di Moragantina e già attribuite a Hiempsal II” in AIIN 7–8 [1961], pp. 35–7), and most likely to the mint of Akragas (cf. Burnett, Enna, pp. 12–3). Although Burnett suggested that this issue was struck no later than 211 BC, Walker’s analysis of three Sicilian hoards conclusively dates this coinage to circa 213–210 BC, during the Second Punic War.