SYRTICA. Leptis Magna. Pseudo-autonomous issue. As (Bronze, 25 mm, 11.32 g, 1 h), struck under Tiberius, 14-37. LPQY (in Neo-Punic) Head of Dionysos to right. Rev. Bull's hide with transverse club. MAA 19. RPC I 851. SNG Copenhagen 5. Rare and in exceptional condition for the issue. Slightly smoothed and with minor areas of weakness, otherwise, very fine.


While this interesting issue praises both Dionysos and Herakles, the patron deities of the city, the meaning of the bull's hide spanned across Herakles' club is unclear. It could be a reference to the Cretan Bull, but this beast was merely captured by Herakles and not killed, and a bull's hide thus seems inappropriate. Perhaps there is instead a connection with the mythical founding of Carthage by Dido. Arriving in Africa after fleeing Tyre, the Punic queen asked a local chieftain for permission to settle on a bit of land. The native ruler agreed, granting her only as much land as could be covered by an oxhide. The clever queen cut the ox skin into fine strips and encircled an entire hill, the site of the later Carthage akropolis, which was therefore called Byrsa ('hide'). Admittedly, Leptis Magna is not Carthage, but Dido's story will undoubtedly have been well known in this proud Punic settlement, the hometown of the later emperor Septimius Severus, and the coin may refer to the cleverness of the famous Punic ancestral queen.