NGC Ancients: The Coinage of Ancient Carthage, Part 1

Carthage was founded on the shore of North Africa sometime in the late 9th century B.C. by Phoenician settlers from the city of Tyre who needed a base to facilitate trade in the Western Mediterranean. With its sheltered harbor, access to rich natural resources and enviable location, the city soon began to flourish.

Above is one of the earliest coins produced by Carthaginians – this one a silver tetradrachm struck at Entella in Sicily, c.407-398 B.C.

The city's first coins were struck in Western Sicily to pay mercenaries they’d hired to fight the Greeks. The engravers who produced the dies for these coins often looked to existing Sicilian coins for design inspirations.

Many Sicily coins paired a quadriga (a four-horse chariot) with the portrait of a deity. The Carthaginians used these same design elements for many of the coins they produced in Sicily. No doubt this was done in the hope of making the mercenaries they hired feel comfortable about accepting the new money.

Even so, these coins had their own design elements to mark them as products of Carthage. The three Siculo-Punic coins shown above are excellent examples. For more information on these coins, see an article that NGC had earlier devoted to this series.

By 600 B.C. — long before its first coinage — Carthage began to expand its influence and build new settlements around the Mediterranean. For hundreds of years it played a major role in the politics of the Western Mediterranean and took part in many wars that eventually brought it into conflict with Rome in what today are called the Punic Wars.

During these wars, the power of Carthage waxed and waned until, eventually, the city and its empire fell. First, in 202 B.C, then, decisively in 146 B.C., the city and its network were devastated by the victorious Romans. With its repeated destruction, much of the written word and knowledge of this city and its culture was forever lost. However, one of the few things to have survived was its coinage.

The first coins struck in Carthage itself were gold, electrum and bronze coins of the mid-4th century B.C.

The gold stater shown above, from c.350-320 B.C., depicts the Goddess Tanit on the obverse and a horse standing proudly on the reverse. This was the basic design for most of the city’s precious metal staters of the next century.

There are varying opinions as to why the horse is so prominent on Carthage coins. Some believe it harkens back to the founding legend of the city, when a horse head was dug up and believed to be a good sign for the location of the city. Another belief is the horse represents Baal Hammon, the main God of the city and partner of Tanit. The palm tree perhaps stands for the minting authority of the city.

Above is a small gold tenth-stater from the mid-4th century B.C., which features a horse head on the obverse and date palm on the reverse.

Only a few decades after issuing coins of high-purity gold, Carthage switched to electrum, a debased mixture of gold and silver. The reason for this is not known. Perhaps the quality of the metal was lowered to stretch the supply of precious metals. During this period Carthage was almost constantly embroiled in wars, both abroad and at home, the cost of which must have begun to mount.

The electrum stater above, issued c.290-270 B.C., is almost identical to the earlier gold coins in its core design. However, the electrum staters usually were of a broader, flatter style and fabric, and they weighed less than their gold predecessors.

Along with these coins of precious metal, the first Carthaginian bronze coins were minted in Sicily, Sardinia and Carthage. Their designs followed similar patterns, focusing on Tanit and horses.

The 13mm bronze shown above was minted in Sicily, c.400-350 B.C. It pairs the head of Tanit with a spirited, rearing horse. It has the diagnostic sprews or ‘tindulae’ on the edge, so typical of Sicilian planchet manufacture.

Minted in Carthage during a similar time period as the previous coin, the 16mm bronze shown above closely mimics the design of the gold staters, though with a flatter, lighter planchet and a different style of engraving (and the inclusion of a palm tree in the background).

This 16mm bronze from Sicily, issued c.330-300 B.C., depicts a palm tree with a Pegasus rather than the usual horse.

As the empire of Carthage continued to expand, the western part of Sicily was conquered and brought under the Carthaginian rule. New settlements were established in Spain and Africa. Meanwhile, conflict with Rome was on the horizon.

Made just before the First Punic War (c.264-241 B.C.) with Rome, this 19mm bronze struck at Carthage shows a well-engraved horse head on the reverse, similar to those found on Siculo-Punic tetradrachms that had been struck c.320 to 289 B.C.

Since Carthage made coins for hundreds of years, the topic is too great to cover in just one column. So, we’ll divide it into four columns, starting with this article, which is devoted to the early coinage of c.410 to 264 B.C.

The next column will focus on the coinage of the First Punic War (c.264-241 B.C.) and the Libyan Revolt (241-238/7 B.C.). The third will be devoted to Punic coinage from the colonies in Spain, and the last will highlight Carthaginian coins from the Second Punic War (218-202 B.C.) through the city’s destruction in 146 B.C.

All photos courtesy of Classical Numismatic Group.

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