SICILY. Acragas. Ca. 213-211 BC. AR half-shekel or drachm (21mm, 3.64 gm, 3h). NGC AU 3/3 - 3/5. Punic standard. Second Punic War, under Carthaginian rule. Laureate head of Zeus right; dotted border / AKPAΓAN-TINΩN, eagle standing right, wings spread; ΓΔ monogram in right field, linear border. Burnett, Enna Hoard, Pl. 1, 8-9. HGC 2, 122. SNG ANS 1135. Struck as a coinage of conquest by the forces of Hannibal's Carthaginian army during the middle of the Second Punic War, also known as the Hannibalic War or the War Against Hannibal. The portrait is an enigma of this series. The facial details are well defined and sculpted, as if the artist was trying a recreate the portrait of an actual man, not just a mythological figure. If so, this knowledge has been lost to history.

HID09801242017

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