Arse was the pre-Roman Iberian name for the city Rome would later call Saguntum — the same city whose siege by Hannibal in 219 BC triggered the Second Punic War. By the time these drachms were struck, the city had been rebuilt under Roman protection and was operating under a hybrid Ibero-Roman civic identity, issuing coinage that borrowed Emporitan Greek weight standards while remaining firmly rooted in Edetani epigraphy.
The Iberian script inscription reading "arse" places these among the more legible of the peninsular series for attribution purposes. CNH 308 is a well-documented type; ACIP 1970 cross-references confirm consistent die axis and module across known specimens.
Arse was the pre-Roman Iberian name for the city Rome would later call Saguntum — the same city whose siege by Hannibal in 219 BC triggered the Second Punic War. By the time these drachms were struck, the city had been rebuilt under Roman protection and was operating under a hybrid Ibero-Roman civic identity, issuing coinage that borrowed Emporitan Greek weight standards while remaining firmly rooted in Edetani epigraphy.
The Iberian script inscription reading "arse" places these among the more legible of the peninsular series for attribution purposes. CNH 308 is a well-documented type; ACIP 1970 cross-references confirm consistent die axis and module across known specimens.