Half shekel with portrait of Hannibal (?)/Melqart [obverse] and elephant [reverse], c.213-210 B.C., Silver
3.46g, 19mm
Burnett Enna Hoard 123; SNG Copenhagen 383
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Unknown Half shekel with portrait of Hannibal (?)/Melqart [obverse] and elephant [reverse], c.213-210 B.C., Silver 3.46g, 19mm Burnett Enna Hoard 123; SNG Copenhagen 383 The figure of Hannibal (possibly pictured on the obverse [front] of the coin above) couldn't be a more fitting halfway point to A History of the Classical World in 100 Objects. The Second Punic War between Rome and Carthage (218–201 BCE) is one of the most famous of all ancient military confrontations, including as it did Hannibal's legendary crossing of the Alps with his army and war elephants. On the coin above, probably minted between 213-210 BCE during Hannibal's expedition against Sicily in the wake of his triumphant defeat of the Romans at Cannae (216 BCE), we can see one of those famous elephants depicted in glorious detail. The obverse of the coin shows a portrait head in profile, wearing a laurel wreath with ribbons floating above the nape of the neck. The upwards-tilted eyes, tousled hair and diadem-like wreath clearly look back to coin portraits of Alexander the Great (like the one we saw earlier in the series): Hannibal, commander of the Carthaginian forces in the attempt to overthrow Rome, is quite clearly allying himself symbolically with the great conqueror, asserting his identity in the struggle for imperial control over the Mediterranean. Opinions differ over whether this portrait actually depicts Hannibal himself, or the Carthaginian god Melqart – most likely it is a fusion of the two, a deliberate blurring of boundaries between god and mortal, as Alexander himself had done before.
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AuthorEmily Hauser is a classicist and researcher at Harvard and author of historical fiction recovering the lost women of the ancient world, including FOR THE MOST BEAUTIFUL and FOR THE WINNER. Archives
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