Carthaginian coinage
coins of ancient Carthage
Carthaginian or Punic coins were produced from the late fifth century BC through 146 BC by ancient Carthage, a Punic empire known as Rome's biggest rival located in present-day Tunis, Tunisia. A wide range of coinage was issued in gold, electrum, silver, billon, and bronze. The base denomination was the shekel, probably pronounced /səˈḳel/ in Punic. Only a minority of Carthaginian coinage was produced or used in North Africa. Instead, the majority derive from Carthage's holdings in Sardinia and western Sicily. After the Punic Wars, Carthaginian coinage was replaced by Roman currency.
Background
Between the ninth and seventh centuries BC, the Phoenicians established colonies throughout the western Mediterranean, particularly in North Africa, western Sicily, Sardinia, and southern Iberia. Carthage soon became the largest of these communities, establishing particularly close economic, cultural, and political ties with Motya in western Sicily and Sulci in Sardinia.
Although coinage began to be minted by Greek communities in Sicily and Southern Italy around 540 BC, Punic communities did not begin producing coins until around 425 BC. The first Punic mints were in western Sicily, at Motya and Ṣyṣ (probably Panormus, modern Palermo). The coinage that these communities produced is known as Siculo-Punic coinage.
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