The First Italia on Coinage: Ancient Coins of Italy
The First Italia on Coinage: Ancient Coins of Italy The coin in Fig. 1 represents the first attestation of the name Italia on coinage. It was issued in 90 BCE, in Corfinium/ Italica, the capital of the Italic rebels who took arms against Rome between 91 and 87 BCE and almost destroyed it in what Roman historians recall as one of the bloodiest wars ever fought on Italian soil (Fig. 2). Figure 2. Corfinium/Italica. Marcus Livius Drusus, a tribunus plebis or “Tribune” who supported the conferral of Roman citizenship to the Italic people, was murdered. This was allegedly the casus belli,...
Source: coinweek.com