LACONIA. Las. Geta, as Caesar, 198-209. Assarion (Bronze, 23 mm, 4.91 g, 3 h), 202-205. ΛΟΥ ϹЄΠ ΓЄΤΑϹ ΚΑΙ Bare-headed, draped and cuirassed bust of Geta to right, seen from behind. Rev. ΛΑⲰΝ Herakles standing facing, resting his right hand on club and holding lion skin draped over his left arm. BCD Peloponnesos 995. NCP p. 64, 1. Rare. Some deposits, otherwise, good fine.



In the first years of the 3rd century, a whole series of Peloponnesian towns issued their own bronze in the name of Septimius Severus, Domna, Caracalla, Plautilla, and Geta, forming, for some of the lesser-known settlements, the only coinage ever issued by these communities. As noted by Seyrig, such coins often ended up in the Near East. The most likely explanation for this remarkable cross-regional movement of local bronze coins is that they were carried there as pocket money by Peloponnesian soldiers.