Coinage of Luceria concerns the coins issued in Luceria, a city in Daunia (today's Lucera), after the Romans established a colony.
The city minted coins in the period between about 275 B.C. and the Second Punic War.
Roman coins were later minted in the city in two periods: 214-212 BC and in 211-208 BC.
Luceria's coins are part of the set of those issued by colonies and allies of Rome in ancient Apulia; after the Second Punic War Luceria, like most centers in now Roman Italy, no longer minted its own coins and adopted Roman coinage, centered on the denarius.
Traditionally numismatists treat the coins of Luceria as part of Greek coinage. Roman coins minted in Luceria, however, are considered Roman coins.
Numismatics
There are some specific works on the coins of Luceria. The first is a text written in 1846 under the title Le monete attribuite alla zecca dell'antica città di Luceria, whose author is Gennaro Riccio, a scholar of the time who published several other works including Le monete delle antiche famiglie di Roma, on the coins of the Roman Republic.
Another monograph was presented in 1906 in Corolla numismatica, a series of numismatic essays dedicated to Barclay Vincent Head. The author was Herbert Appold Grueber, author of several numismatic essays.
In 1993, at a conference held in Lucera, entitled Ancient Lucera: the Pre-Roman and Roman Ages, Aldo Siciliano reported on “The Coinage of Luceria.” However, his talk is not in the Proceedings of the Historical Studies Conference, published by Crsec in 2001.
Cataloging Although several works deal with the subject, these are not used to catalog coins.
For cast coins, texts specific to this coin type are used: : Aes Grave (1910, with 1967 reprint) and Vecchi: Italian Cast Coinage (2013). The coins pertaining to Luceria in the latter text are numbered 272 to 288.
For hammered bronzes the references are the text Historia numorum Italy, written by a group of authors coordinated by Keith N. Rutter, and various Sylloge Nummorum Graecorum. The various Sylloge and Historia numorum Italy are also used to catalog cast coins. The coins in Historia Numorum Italy pertaining to this mint are numbered 668 to 684.
Texts on Roman Republican coinage (Sydenham and Crawford) are used for coins minted by the Romans at Luceria. In Crawford's text the two groups of Roman coins minted at Luceria are catalogued in series 43 the former (pp. 153–154) and series 97 to 99 the latter (pp. 183–190).
Historical context
Luceria played a role of strategic importance in Daunia. It came under Roman control in 321 BC and in 314 became a Latin colony.
The coinage falls largely in the years following the establishment of the colony.
Monetary context The coinage of Luceria is placed in the last quarter of the 3rd century BC. It consists of cast bronze coins, with several series, and coins struck in one series.
Also attributed to the mint of Luceria are some Roman coins minted during the Second Punic War.
Autonomous coins have a pound subdivided into base 10 instead of base 12. This subdivision is characteristic of a group of communities all located on the Adriatic coast. In addition to Luceria, some communities in Umbria (Ariminum), the Vestini, Picenum (Hatria) and Apulia (Venosa) have this subdivision. The decimal subdivision was also used by Capua during the Second Punic War.
In this case the fractions take different names than those used in the Tyrrhenian coast, where the libra is divided into 12 ounces. We speak in this case of biunx, terunx, quadrunx, and quincunx, that is, from the value of 2, 3, 4, or 5 uncias. However, the reference uncia differs between communities: ca. 379 g in Ariminum, Hatria, or by ca. 341 g in Apulia.
Coinage
Cast coinage - first period
To this early period are ascribed some coins whose attribution to the mint of Luceria however is not certain. These are some cast coins placed around 280 BC. - 275 BC. Some of these coins are mentioned in an essay on the aes grave published in the Rivista italiana di numismatica in 1891.
The first coin (HN Italy, 668; Vecchi 333) is a cast as with an average weight of 327 g. The obverse depicts the laureate head of Apollo turned to the right and on the reverse a galloping horse with a large 16-ray star above it. The coin sometimes bears on the obverse the legend C.MODIO CR.F. L. PVLIO L.F.. The galloping Apollo-horse type is found in a coeval Roman-Campanian stater and in a Roman bronze dated ca. 235 BC.
A second coin reported in Historia Numorum Italy (HN Italy, 669) is an as bearing Apollo's head on the obverse and sometimes, on the left the value indication (I). A rooster is depicted on the reverse. The value mark is often present. Some specimens bear the legend L. SEXTI SEP. BABI, others M. LAVINIO, and still others bear no name.
A third coin has on the obverse the head of Hercules turned to the right and on the reverse an equine protome (Thurlow-Vecchi 272). The reasons for attributing this coin to Luceria are not made explicit. This coin is also considered to belong to this mint by Riccio and Grueber.
The names could indicate either duumviri of Luceria or mint officials.
Cast coinage - second period
A series of cast coins from the quincunx to the semuncia is placed, by Rutter and others, in the years 225-217 B.C., between the beginning of the conquest of Cisalpine Gaul and the Battle of Lake Trasimene, which Vecchi also places in the period 225-217.
The as is divided into 10 ounces. The theoretical weight of the as, based on the quincunx would be ca. 224 g, while calculated on the semuncia the weight would be ca. 433 g.
The coins in this series are all illustrated, in his text, by Riccio. Many types are repeated in a series of aes grave issued later with reduced weights. +Aes grave, second periodImageValueObverseReverseWeight (Rutter et al.)CatalogingquincunxFour wheel spokes.Four wheel spokes; five pies.90-125 gRiccio, cl. I, 3; HN Italy 670, Haeberlin p. 183; Thurlow - Vecchi 274quadrunxLightning.Club, four pies.90-137 gRiccio, cl. I, 4; HN Italy 671, Haeberlin p. 183; Thurlow - Vecchi 275terunxSix-ray star.Dolphin swimming to the left; below three pies.63-118 gRiccio, cl. I, 5; HN Italy 672, Haeberlin p. 183-4; Thurlow - Vecchi 276biunxScallop shell.Astragalus, two pies.64-80 gRiccio, cl. I, 6; HN Italy 673, Haeberlin p. 184; Thurlow - Vecchi 277unciaFrog.Ear of grain, a pie.26-51 gRiccio, cl. I, 7; HN Italy 674, Haeberlin p. 184-5; Thurlow - Vecchi 278semunciaCrescent.Thyrsus.13-32 gRiccio, cl. I, 4; HN Italy 671, Haeberlin p. 185-6; Thurlow - Vecchi 275
Cast coinage - third period
There is a third group of coins, with values in this case ranging from the unit (as or nummus) to the semuncia. The types are basically the same as in the previous series with the addition of the unit, which is not present in the other series. The issue is placed, by Rutter and others, in the years 217-212 B.C., that is, between the Battle of Lake Trasimene and the conquest of Syracuse by Marcus Claudius Marcellus; Vecchi also places it in the period around 217-212 B.C., that is, just before the beginning of the Second Punic War.
The series is based on an as weighing about 79 g. The differences lie not only in the reduced weight and the as, but also in the presence on the reverse of the mint mark, absent in the earlier series, by means of the ancient Latin L or more rarely, the most recent L.
Riccio associates with this group a Roman semis, catalogued as Cr. 43a and dated by Crawford 214-212 BC.
The terunx of this series differs from that of the preceding series not only in metrological aspects but also in that the star presents eight rays instead of six. +Aes grave, third periodImageValueObverseReverseWeight (Rutter et al.)CatalogingasHead of Hercules turned left.Horse raised right; top star, below .56-92 gRiccio, cl. II, 1; HN Italy 676, Haeberlin p. 187; Thurlow - Vecchi 280
Hammered coinage The third cast coinage was followed by an early hammered coinage, characterized by the presence of the ethnic oVCERI in the reverse of all coins. The types feature the head of a deity on the obverse, and on the reverse they repeat themes taken from those of earlier coinage. Since it is not a cast series, it is not present in Thurlow - Vecchi nor in Haeberlin. Two different types are present for the semuncia.
Rutter et al. date these coins in the period 211 - 200 BCE, thus at the same time as the date of the first issue of the denarius (211 BCE). +Coniazione al martello, emissione autonomaImageValueObverseReverseWeight (Rutter et al.)CatalogingquincunxHead of Minerva with Corinthian helmet; above five pies.Eight-spoke wheel; between the spokes oVCERI.12-18 gRiccio, cl. III, 1; HN Italy 678quadrunxHead of Hercules; behind four pies.Quiver, club and bow; in the middle oVCERI.11-14 gRiccio, cl. III, 2; HN Italy 679terunxLaureate head of Neptune; behind three pies.Dolphin to the right; top trident, bottom oVCERI.8-11 gRiccio, cl. III, 3; HN Italy 680biunxHead of Ceres veiled and laureate; behind two pies.Scallop shell; below oVCERI.6-7 gRiccio, cl. III, 4; HN Italy 681unciaLaureate head of Apollo; on shoulder bow and quiver; on left a pie.Frog; around oVCERI.2-5 gRiccio, cl. III, 5; HN Italy 682semunciaJuridical heads of the Dioscuri, wearing the pileus.Horses of the Dioscuri; above oVCERI.ca. 2 gRiccio, cl. III, 6; HN Italy 684semunciaHead of Diana turned to the right. She has a crescent as a diadem.Crescent; above oVCERI.ca. 2 gRiccio, cl. III, 7; HN Italy 683
Roman coinage - first period This series consists of Roman coins minted by a mint located in Luceria. The coins are distinguished from other Roman coinage by the presence of the letter .
The series consists of values that descend from the as down to the half-as.
The dating of this series, according to Crawford, is in the period 214-212 BC, during the Second Punic War.
The series features the characteristic types of Roman Republican bronze coinage with the ship's prow present on the reverse of all values.
The axis is a cast coin. The semis has two variants: the first is cast and the other is struck. Haeberlin lists for the axis 9 specimens and for the cast semis 22. The latter coin was included by Riccio among those of Class II.
The coin series is cataloged as Crawford 43. The individual values are then catalogued as 43/1, 43/2 etc.
The as on which the series is based has a standard weight of about 83 grams, calculated on 45 specimens from the as to the trient. +ImageValueObverseReverseCatalogingNoteasLaureate head of Janus.Bow turned to the right; above I; ahead .Cr. 43/1cast coinsemis (cast)Laureate head of Saturn.Bow turned to the right; above S (sometimes ); ahead .Cr. 43/2acast coinsemisLaureate head of Saturn; below S.Bow turned right; above S; ahead , below ROMA.Cr. 43/2bhammered cointrientHelmeted head of Minerva, with Corinthian helmet; behind ; above four pies.Bow turned right; above ROMA; below four pies.Cr. 43/3aVariants 3b and 3b show the on the obverse in front of the head and on the reverse respectively.sextansHead of Mercury facing right; above two pies.Bow turned right; above ROMA; below two pies separate from the letter .Cr. 43/4unciaHelmeted head of Rome facing right, with Corinthian helmet.Bow turned right; above ROMA; below a pie and the letter .Cr. 43/5semunciaHead of Mercury with petasos.Bow turned right; above ROMA; below .Cr. 43/6 Identification with this center is given by the presence of the , an archaic form of the letter L.
Roman coinage - second period
To this period belong the series identified as 97, 98A, 98B, and 99 by Crawford. They are thus a large number of coins, comprising both silver and bronze, and were struck by Rome at Luceria during the Second Punic War. The coins are numbered with the series number and the value number within the series (e.g. 97/1). Any variants are distinguished by a letter (97/1a).
First series