v49_0007 - CALABRIA - BRUNDISI Semis, (PB, Æ 20)

CALABRIA - BRUNDISIUM

(2nd century BC)

The name Brundisium (Brindisi) would come from the shape of its port with two basins having the shape of deer antlers in the local idiom. Phalantos, the hero perched on a dolphin, would be dead and buried there, according to the account of Strabo in his Geography (VI. 3,6), would be an explanation for the representation of the reverse of many coins. Having become a Roman colony in 244 BC, Brundisium became the main port on the eastern coast of Calabria on the Adriatic bound for the Orient and played an important role in the various wars waged against Antiochos III, the Macedonian kings, Philip V and Perseus, finally Mithridates VI of Pontus. The Via Appia (Appian Way) ended at Brundisium where an arch was raised by decree of the Senate in 31 BC at the instigation of Octavian.