Minerva Bigati Didrachm

This didrachmm was issued by and minted in Cales, Campania, between 265 and 240 BCE. The obverse depicts the bust of Minerva, facing right, wearing a crested Corinthian helmet decorated with a pentagram, with a wing behind her head. Minerva, the Roman goddess of wisdom in defensive military strategy and craftsmanship, played a major role in the Roman Republic, who viewed themselves as only fighting in wars in defense. The reverse of the coin depicts Victoria, the Roman goddess of victory, as a bigarius, driving a two-horsed biga (chariot). The legend references the coin's city of origin - ‘CALENO’.

Victoria, the Roman form of Nike, was often worshipped alongside Minerva, which may reflect the Hellenic influence within the city due to its proximity to Magna Graecia, as Athena Nike was often worshipped by Greeks during prolonged periods of war. Cales itself was originally inhabited by the Ausonian people, an Italic tribe, until 335 BCE, when it was captured by the Romans and a colony with Latin rights (ius Latii) established in its place. This differed from a colony with Roman rights in that they controlled their own mint and had to pay the Roman military themselves. The colonisation was organised under a triumvirate of magistrates, Caeso Duillius, Titus Quinctius, and Marcus Fabius, who led the 2,500 selected Romans into the newly captured city, marching in the form of a military squadron. The city’s location along the Via Latina, a military highway extending from Rome to north-eastern Campania, reflects its role as a military outpost, as well as a point of trade for the Republic. Cales served as a strategic stronghold during the First Punic War, which occurred contemporaneously to the minting of this coin. The iconography of this coin would have been in support of the Roman victory in the defensive war against Carthage, and as the coins were minted as payment to the Roman military, the imagery of Minerva in a Corinthian helmet and Nike in a chariot a reminder of past victories and present military auspice.