Handheld History

"Before excellence the gods set sweat."

Hesiod, Works and Days 289

The Brettii emerged around 356 BC as breakaway Lucanian serfs and shepherds who seized the toe of Italy, their very name said to mean "rebels." They sided with Carthage after Cannae, and for over a decade Bruttium served as Hannibal's base in Italy. The confederation struck coinage as an act of sovereignty, meaning every Brettian coin dates to this narrow wartime window. The artistic imagery of Ares and Athena thoroughly Hellenized the Brettii had become through centuries of contact with the rest of Magna Graecia. After 203 BC Rome reclaimed the region and punished them harshly, confiscating public land and reducing the people to a subordinate labor class.

Featured Coin:

Bruttium
The Brettii, 208-203 BC.
Æ Didrachm (26mm, 12.53g)

Obv: Helmeted head of Ares left; thunderbolt below

Rev: BPETTIΩN, Athena advancing right, holding shield and spear; crab and thunderbolt to lower right.

Ref: Scheu 58; HN Italy 2001.

Prov: Ex M&M Basel, 6-7 Dec 1946, Lot 524


RESERVED

The Brettii emerged around 356 BC as breakaway Lucanian serfs and shepherds who seized the toe of Italy, their very name said to mean "rebels." They sided with Carthage after Cannae, and for over a decade Bruttium served as Hannibal's base in Italy. The confederation struck coinage as an act of sovereignty, meaning every Brettian coin dates to this narrow wartime window. The artistic imagery of Ares and Athena thoroughly Hellenized the Brettii had become through centuries of contact with the rest of Magna Graecia. After 203 BC Rome reclaimed the region and punished them harshly, confiscating public land and reducing the people to a subordinate labor class.

Featured Coin:

Bruttium
The Brettii, 208-203 BC.
Æ Didrachm (26mm, 12.53g)

Obv: Helmeted head of Ares left; thunderbolt below

Rev: BPETTIΩN, Athena advancing right, holding shield and spear; crab and thunderbolt to lower right.

Ref: Scheu 58; HN Italy 2001.

Prov: Ex M&M Basel, 6-7 Dec 1946, Lot 524

The first four years of the Second Punic War (218 to 215 BC) brought Rome a string of disasters unlike anything in its history up to that point, as Hannibal crushed one army after another at Ticinus, Trebia, and Lake Trasimene before annihilating Rome's largest-ever force at Cannae in 216.

With cities defecting to Carthage and the treasury nearly empty, Rome shrank its bronze coins and steadily watered down the silver quadrigatus until some pieces held less than 30% silver. A few years after Cannae, Rome scrapped the quadrigatus and introduced the denarius.

Works cited: Polybius 3.65-3.118; Livy 21.46-22.49, 22.61, 23.48-23.49, Pliny 33.44-33.48.

The first four years of the Second Punic War (218 to 215 BC) brought Rome a string of disasters unlike anything in its history up to that point, as Hannibal crushed one army after another at Ticinus, Trebia, and Lake Trasimene before annihilating Rome's largest-ever force at Cannae in 216.

With cities defecting to Carthage and the treasury nearly empty, Rome shrank its bronze coins and steadily watered down the silver quadrigatus until some pieces held less than 30% silver. A few years after Cannae, Rome scrapped the quadrigatus and introduced the denarius.

Philip I and the coins that marked Rome's 1,000th birthday

In April 248 AD, Emperor Philip I staged the Ludi Saeculares (Secular Games) to celebrate Rome's first millennium. Thousands of gladiators and exotic beasts paraded through the city, timed to the Varronian foundation date of 21 April 753 BC. The historian Zosimus later blamed the abandonment of these games for Rome's decline.

To commemorate it, the Rome mint struck the SAECVLARES AVGG series across its six officinae, each marked with a numeral and its own animal:
I — lion
II — she-wolf and twins
III — elk
IIII — hippopotamus (struck for Otacilia Severa)
V — stag
VI — antelope
(RIC IV 12, 15, 21, 24c; Otacilia 200a)

The cippus inscribed COS III ties it to Philip's third consulship, 1 January 248 (RIC IV 24c). The SAECVLVM NOVVM ("New Age") antoninianus refers to Rome's new millennium. The elephant on the final coin isn't strictly part of the Secular series, but it's a fitting addition to the menagerie.

I helped a collector complete this set recently. It took six months to find the right coins for this set but the best collections are never built in a hurry.

Which of these reverses would you want to start your Secular Games set?

Juba II was born around 48 BC, son of the defeated Numidian king Juba I. Taken to Rome as a child and raised in Roman culture, he became a scholar before Augustus installed him as King of Numidia first, from 30-29 BC, and then King of Mauretania around 25 BC. He married Cleopatra Selene, daughter of Antony and Cleopatra (Plutarch, Life of Antony 87), and ruled from his capital Caesarea. He died around 23 AD.

Featured coin:

Kingdom of Numidia
Juba II 25 BC – 23 AD
AR Denarius (17mm, 3.14g)

Obv: Diademed head of Juba II right; legend REX IVBA
Rev: Cornucopia before scepter; crescent upper left (scarce variant with scepter oriented from upper left to lower right and crescent in upper left field).

Ref: SNG Cop. 582; MAA 95; Mazard 245-246

Prov: Ex Fritz Rudolf Künker eLive Auction 79, 2023, Lot 7128 (subsequently cleaned); ex Collection Dr. Kurt Conzen (1925–1997).

VF. Well-struck, Scratched, Recently cleaned.

Available

Venusia was a Roman colony planted in 291 BC deep in Samnite and Lucanian territory, serving as a military anchor in southern Italy. During the Second Punic War, Hannibal ravaged the region, and Venusia became a refuge and rallying point for Roman survivors after Cannae.

Featured coin:

Northern Apulia, Venusia
Æ Quincunx (29mm, 16.25g, 6h)
Venusia Mint, BC 210-200

Obv; Laureate head of Jupiter left; five pellets behind
Rev: Eagle standing left on thunderbolt

Ref: HN Italy 720

Provenance: Ex R. Ratto, Riche Collection, 25-26 Jan 1926 (Found with CoinCabinet.io)

gVF. Well struck, Black glossy patina formed over some roughness

Available.