Elargire moneta tra tarda repubblica e prima età imperiale: ripensando alle coniazioni di Paestum

The coin donations of the Pompeian euergetes, attested by the inscription on the funerary monument unearthed outside Porta Stabiana, are part of widespread acts in the early imperial age. Less usual (or at least known) is to distribute coins purposely minted by magistrates and/or private individuals in favor of citizens. For this reason, regarding munus et honos, the question of the "euergetic" coinage of semissi minted in Paestum is addressed here. Peculiar aspects of the production and circulation of these small coins, issued in large quantities especially in the final decades of the 1st century BC, suggest that the real function was not only that of a modest sportula given occasionally. Rather, their minting responds to the widespread lack of small change throughout the Italian peninsula. In Paestum the mint activity is provided by local magistrates using public funds, increased by their own, and if necessary perhaps with those of a person like Mineia; in Pompeii there are many small foreign coins or those produced in unofficial mints; also Velia mint a large number of small bronzes. In this context of widespread need for small coins, the production of Paestum coins is motivated: low values to fill the lack of small change in circulation and not just an eccentric and occasional vehicle of popular consensus or political tool to access managerial roles.