Ancient Iberian coinage

The history of ancient Iberian coinage begins as early as the fifth century BC, but widespread minting and circulation in the Iberian peninsula did not begin until late in the third century, during the Second Punic War. Civic coinages - emissions made by individual cities at their own volition - continued under the first two and a half centuries of Roman control but ended in the mid-first century AD. Some non-civic coins were minted on behalf of Roman emperors during this period and continued to be minted after the cessation of the civic coinages. After the cessation of the civic coinages, these Imperial coins were the only coins minted in Iberia until the coins of the Suebi and Visigoths.

Ancient Iberia was connected to the eastern and central Mediterranean, and so there are links to the Greek, Roman and Punic or Carthaginian civic coinages. Yet there are also many points of difference that reflect dynamics within Iberia itself.

Small numbers of coins minted in other parts of the Mediterranean had circulated along the eastern coast of Spain perhaps from the sixth century, with an uptick from the fourth century. These coins were part of a colonial frontier economy in which indigenous towns traded wines, ceramics and finished goods primarily for raw materials: precious metals, wood, food products and perhaps slaves. Some coins may also have been earned by Iberian mercenaries fighting overseas.

Throughout the western Mediterranean, new coinage traditions appear around the 4th century. Non-Greek cities in the Italian Peninsula (including Rome) begin minting in the 4th and early 3rd century. Carthage minted from the mid-4th century, as with the Greek tradition following earlier emissions from Phoenician colonies in Sicily. In the north of the Iberian peninsula, the Massiliote colonies of Emporion and Rhode minted mainly silver coins from the mid-fifth and late fourth centuries, respectively. Further to the south, the Phoenician colonies of Ebusus and Gadir minted bronze coins from the second half of the fourth and early third centuries, respectively. Additionally, the prominent Iberian town of Arse (Roman Saguntum) minted bronze and silver coins from the middle of the fourth century.

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