The pro-Carthaginian and pro-Roman Hispanorvm Coin Issues of Sicily (214-210 BC)

The Sicilian coin issues with the legend HISPANORVM were not only coined after the fall of Syracuse late in the year 212 BC, and neither were they of exclusively Roman pedigree. Half of the HISPANORVM issues display a typology and manufacture that must be linked with the fifth Syracusan (and pro-Carthaginian) democracy of Epicydes and Hippocrates (214-212). HISPANORVM coins were minted at Leontini, Syracuse, Messana and Agrigentum by non-Hispanic engravers, and never in large quantities. They were made for delivery to a HISPANORVM military unit of 300, or, more plausibly, 600 Hispanic and Numidian troops who became the personal guard of Epicydes and Hippocrates. In the years 211 and 210, Marcellus and Laevinus used this Hispanic unit for their own purposes in almost all of the Sicilian locations which had previously served Carthage, while the hispani who settled in Morgantina, on the other hand, probably did not do so until the pacification of Sicily in 210.Las series monetales sicilianas con leyenda HISPANORVM no se acuñaron únicamente tras la caída de Siracusa a finales del ano 212 a. C. No tuvieron tampoco una filiación exclusivamente romana. La mitad de las emisiones HISPANORVM presenta unas tipologías y unas facturas que deben vincularse con la V democracia siracusana -pro-cartaginesa- de Epícides e Hipócrates (214-212). Las monedas HISPANORVM fueron acuñadas en las cecas de Leontini, Siracusa, Mesina y Agrigento por grabadores no hispanos y nunca en grandes cantidades. Fueron fabricadas para ser entregadas a una cohors hispanorvm de 300, o, mas probablemente, de 600 hispanos y númidas, la cual se convirti6 en guardia de corps de Epícides e Hipócrates. Marcelo y Laevino utilizaron a esta cohorte hispánica en su beneficio durante los anos 211 y 210, Yen casi todas las áreas geográficas sicilianas anteriormente útiles a Cartago. Los hispani que se instalaron en Morgantina lo hicieron probablemente no antes de la pacificación de Sicilia en el año 210