Carthaginian Empire, Spain, Carthage; AR Shekel; circa 220-215 BC.
Obv. Head of Tanit to the left, wearing wreath of grain ears.
Rv. Horse jumping to the right, an eight-pointed star above.
Silver, 7.44 g, 21.0 mm, 12h. SNG COP 291, Villaronga CNH p. 66 no. 25; Burgos CMH nr 109.
Ex Tauler & Fau Subastas, Auction 107, 30.3.2022, lot 1043. A coin with identical dies to the specimen from Auktionhaus H.D. Rauch, Auction 94, April 9, 2014, lot 190.
Grade: Good VF, rare coin.
The Carthaginians called this place the same way as their mother city, which is "Qart Hadasht" (New City). The Romans referred to it as "Carthago Nova," meaning "New New City." According to Polybius, the city also bore the names "Karchedon" (i.e., Carthage) or "Kaine Polis" (New City) (2.13.1), and he himself used both names - cf., for example, 3.13.7 and 10.6.8. Since the unfortunate Roman name fits the city better under Roman rule, and Polybius' nomenclature is not very common, we decided that for emissions from the time of the Carthaginian Republic, we will stick with the name Carthage, with a note that it refers to the New City in Spain.
