CASTULO Spain 2nd Century BC Very rare Ancient Greek Coin Male Bull i46505

Item: i46505

Authentic Ancient

Coin of:

Greek city of
Castulo
in Spain

Bronze 25mm (9.91 grams)
Mid Second century B.C..
Reference: CNH 15; SNG BM Spain 1264
 Laureate male head right.
Bull standing right, crescent above.

Phoenician and Greek contact with Spain stretched back to the
Seventh Century B.C. at least; possibly several centuries earlier in the case of
the Phoenicians. A liverly trade was carried on with the rich mining culture
based on the city of Tartessos, but about 500 B.C. the Carthaginians destroyed
Tartessos having already taken control of the Phoenician settlements in Spain.
Carthaginian pre-eminence in southern and eastern Spain lasted until the time of
the Punic Wars between Carthage and Rome. It was from Spain that Hannibal
launched his famous invasion of Italy which came so close to destroying the
Roman Republic in the infancy of its power. But Hannibal was defeated and Spain
became a Roman province (206 B.C.). During the Second Century B.C. Rome
gradually extended her influence into the interior of the country and permitted
the Iberian tribes to issue a native currency bearing Iberian legends. This
coinage ceased with the provincial reforms carried out in 133 B.C. The various
civil was in Spain in the First Century B.C. saw the temporary revival of bronze
issues from certain mints. It was not until 19 B.C., in the reign of Augustus,
that the whole of the peninsula came under Roman control with the conquest of
northwestern Spain.

You are bidding on the exact item pictured,

Authenticity.

Castulo was an
Iberian
town located in the
Andalusian

province of Jaén
, in south-central
Spain
. Evidence of human presence of since the
Neolithic
period has been found there.
Oretans was the name of the
Iberian
tribe which settled in the vicinity in
the north of the
Guadalquivir River
beginning in the 6th century
BCE. Of tradition, a local princess named Himilce married
Hannibal
and gained the alliliance of the city
with the Carthaginian Empire
.

In 213 BCE, Castulo was the site of a
Hasdrubal Barca
‘s crushing
victory
over the Roman army with a force of
roughly 40,000 Carthaginian troops plus local Iberian mercenaries. Thereafter
the Romans
made a pact with the residents of
city —who then betrayed the Carthaginians— and the city became an
foederati
(ally) of Rome.

Castulo began to lose importance while Andalusia fell under Islamic rule in
the Middle Ages. In contrast, the nearby village
Linares
grew in reputation due to its strong
castle — first built as an Arab fortress, then rebuilt by the Chrisitians after
the Reconquesta — overlooking the city.

In 1227 its walls were destroyed, and the town was depopulated shortly
afterwards.