Having defeated the Carthaginian commander Hannibal, Ancient Rome obtained a valuable resource that allowed the authorities of the Eternal City to establish world domination, the authors of a new study say.
A group of German and Danish scientists led by researchers from the Goethe University (Frankfurt am Main, Germany) analyzed 70 Roman silver coins dating from 310-300 to 101 BC. e. This period covers the time before and after the Second Punic War, which ended with the defeat of the Carthaginians (218-201 BC).
It turned out that the chemical composition of most coins produced after 209 testifies to their origin from mines in Iberia (modern Spain) - the silver mines in this region went to the Romans as a result of the aforementioned war. It was in 209 that a turning point in the conflict came in favor of the Italians.
“The massive influx of Iberian silver has significantly changed the economy of Rome, allowing it to become the superpower of its time,” says study co-author Dr. Katrin Westner of the Institute of Archaeological Sciences at Goethe University.
“We know this from the historical writings of Livy, Polybius and other authors, but our work provides a modern scientific explanation of the reasons for the rise of Rome. As our work shows, the defeat of Hannibal and the rise of Rome are written in the coins of the Roman Empire,”the scientist notes, quoted by the Daily Mail.
Nikolay Guryanov