The Prow of a Warship on a Punic Coin and the Management of the Carthaginian Fleets on the Eve of the Second Punic War

The research focuses on a Punic silver coinage series minted in Spain between 228 and 221 BC, which presents on the reverse side the image of a warship bow, a unique case in Punic coinage. This coin iconography is read in the context of the historical period between the First and Second Punic Wars, as a probable expression of the desire of Carthaginians to declare its renewed sea power, at a time just a few years before the military campaign in Italy. The peculiar presence of a warship bow in the Carthaginian coin seems thus express a precise message, perhaps even competing with that of the Roman coins with the prow, considering the political and programmatic value entrusted to the coin iconographies. The idea of a decisive return to action of the Carthaginian navy, entrusted to the prow on the silver coins, had however to die out basically for logistical reasons.