THE CARTHAGINIAN TETRADRACHM - DERIVED FROM THE COINAGE OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT AND MENTIONED BY VIRGIL

Obverse: Head of young Herakles right, clad in lion-skin headdress.
Reverse: Head and neck of horse left, palm tree behind; (Punic legend = the People of the Camp) beneath the horse's head (not seen on this specimen).

The reference used for this coin is Principal Coins, Volume IV, C. 19.

The great maritime trading city of Carthage was founded by Phoenician colonists in the 8th Century B. C. and was the great historical opponent both of the western Greeks and Rome. It was a Semitic (an important family of languages related to the Hamitic, including Akkadian, Hebrew, Aramaic, Arabic and Amharic) city. Through its favorable geographical position and the excellence of its harbor it gradually achieved economic and political importance and became independent of its mother city. From the 6th to the 3rd Century, B. C. the Carthaginians dominated trade in the western Mediterranean area and established outposts in southern Spain, Sardinia and Sicily. Carthage struggled with Rome for more than a century, which finally resulted in 146 B. C. in the total destruction of Carthage. Although carried on after his death, the obverse of Herakles reflects the type used by the Macedonian king. The reverse bears the traditional horse, which is tied to the f oundation legend of Carthage as mentioned by Virgil.