Mint and Coinage Propaganda of the Rulers and Usurpers of North Africa

Abstract

This paper examines numismatic material from Roman North Africa – present-day Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya – from the late Republic to the Principate and Dominate periods. A sub-objective of this work is a survey of important personalities, especially emperors and usurpers from North Africa, who had coins minted with their likenesses. The overview and interpretation can therefore contribute to the study of Roman numismatics, Roman economic history and the history of North Africa in general. From the surviving finds of coins in North Africa, it is assumed that the vast majority of them was struck in Rome. However, local mints, such as those in Carthage, were also typical of the North African region.