Beautiful coin of Ares from Bruttium:
https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?album=7880&pid=181780#top_display_media
I really like the Brettii
AE24. I haven’t posted mine to my
gallery yet, but I've just been reading about them, trying to understand various questions. Including: Whether to call the
reverse Hera,
Bellona,
Athena. Which
denomination to use, "Double Unit,” “AE
Didrachm,” “
Reduced Sextans,” “Double
Litra” – or just “
AE24.” And, most interesting, the possible dates.
I say the dating is most interesting since it's about the shifting alliances between the Brettii,
Rome, and
Carthage in the major wars of the 3rd century BCE. (I don’t have a strong opinion on which date is the correct date; for now, I’m just interested in understanding what the major references say and why.)
You’ve got the more conservative range, 282-203 BCE, which covers the Pyrrhic War and both Punic Wars. It’s favored by
Harlan Berk and a few other dealers (at least sometimes). That’s what Barclay
Head used (
Historia Numorum, 1911: pp. 90-).
Numiswiki has links to online copies of some of the most regularly cited references on these
types:
Scheu (NC, 1955 & 1961) and
Pfeiler (
JNG, 1964).
Scheu dated them to the First Punic War (264-241),
Pfeiler to the Second (218-203). (
Pfeiler is in
German – I can manage, slowly – but I found it well worth the effort.)
I don't yet have
Historia Numorum Italy (
Rutter HN), but I’m especially interested to see where it lands on the dating, and whether it directly addresses
Scheu and/or
Pfeiler.
