SEMIS: COIN OF CASTULO (ROMAN SPAIN)
Semis, 154-133 BC: City of Castulo (Hispania: Ancient Iberia under Rome)
Coin of Castulo (Iberian "Kastilo") — an ancient Iberian town; nowadays Spain. During the Second Punic War (218 to 201 BC), the city went over to the side of the Roman Republic. For a long time, the ancient Roman monetary system spread on the Iberian Peninsula.
Crescent above bull.
The inscriptions on this particular coin are almost completely lost, but numismatic websites claim that this type of coin contained approximately the following legend on the obverse and reverse: "CN FVL CNF - CN VOC ST F". But a detailed analysis of the sources confirms that the exact meaning of these inscriptions is unknown...
Partial inscription "KASTILO".
Portrait of a young man; according to some data — Apollo.
- Bronze: 25 mm - 8.45 g
- Reference price: 13$
COIN SEMIS — WHERE & WHEN (coins catalog: by names & emitents)
- ANCIENT ROME (3rd century BC — 2nd century AD) — ROMAN REPUBLIC + ROMAN EMPIRE + ROMAN PROVINCES + DEPENDENT TERRITORIES (Iberia, Numidia...): semis = 2 quadrans = 1/2 as
SEMIS as coin name.
Semis — ancient Roman coin that was issued until the 2nd century AD (starting, roughly, from the 3rd century BC).
Originally, it was a cast bronze coin of the Roman Republic, which was half an as or two quadrans. Later, in the times of the Roman Empire, semis began to be produced by the minting method.
Early types contained the symbolic designation of the denomination — in the format of 6 points, which meant that the coin was equal to 6 uncia (the uncia was the smallest denomination of the time). The weight of the first coins varied between 70-90 grams!
A characteristic feature of the later semis coins (Republican period) is the Roman letter S. The weight was about 4 g.
The semis of the Roman Empire did not have any distinctive features compared to other Roman coins of the time with denominations lower than the denarius.
Also known among numismatists are semis made on the Iberian Peninsula by local peoples — the Celtiberians (II century BC). Eturia (pre-republican Italian kingdom), Carthaginian Empire, different Roman provinces are also mentioned among this coin issuers...
That is, semis is the part of the numismatics of Rome in one form or another: Republic, Empire, dependent territories.
Translated from Latin, the term "semis" means "half". Interestingly, the Romans also used this term as a unit of measurement for weight, length, and area (as half of the corresponding basic units).
