IBERIA, Punic Iberia. Hamilcar to Hannibal. Circa 237-209 BC. AR Shekel (21mm, 5.97 g, 12h).

Electronic Auction 482
Lot: 1. Estimated: $ 750

Greek, Silver

Sold For $ 650. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

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IBERIA, Punic Iberia. Hamilcar to Hannibal. Circa 237-209 BC. AR Shekel (21mm, 5.97 g, 12h). Male head (Melqart or Barcid ruler?) left / Horse standing right; palm tree in background, Punic zayin below. MHC Class XI, 238 (dies 162/209); ACIP 626. Obverse die wear, reverse slightly off center. Near VF.

Ex Roma E-Live 3 (25 October 2018), lot 40.

The male head on the obverse of this shekel type has variously been described as Melkart, an important Phoenician deity incorporating traits of the Greek demigod Herakles, or a portrait of the great Barcid general Hannibal. The type was introduced circa 237 BC, when Hannibal’s father Hamilcar commenced his conquest of the Iberian peninsula. An alternate portrait type depicts an older, bearded male head carrying a club over the far shoulder. E.S.G. Robinson, in Essays Mattingly, proposed that the bearded head represented Hamilcar in the guise of a Melkart, while the younger, beardless portrait was a similarly disguised portrait of Hannibal. The modern consensus tends to reject these attributions as speculative and conclude that the heads are simply mature and youthful images of Melkart. However, the heads were clearly propaganda aimed at contemporary soldiers in Carthaginian employ, and an intended connection between the divine patron of Punic power and their Barcid commanders is hardly fanciful conjecture.

Closing Date and Time: 16 December 2020 at 10:00:00 ET.

All winning bids are subject to an 18% buyer’s fee.