didrammo di Cora charm bracciale

The city of Cora, one of the most important foundations of the Prisci Latini, mythologically connected to the hero Dardanus, minted silver coinage in the period immediately following the First Punic War (254–241 BC). Only two specimens of this series are known: one discovered by Francesco Carelli in the early decades of the 19th century, preserved at the Cabinet des Médailles of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, and the other found in Baselice by Canon Vincenzo Fanelli in 1896, kept in the Numismatic Collection of the National Archaeological Museum of Naples.

The didrachm bears on the obverse a laureate head of Apollo and a beribboned palm branch; on the reverse, it features the image of a hero on horseback, armed with a spear, wearing a characteristic pileus with a cloak billowing over his shoulders. In the exergue on the reverse, it displays the legend Corano(rum). As early as the 19th century, leading numismatists such as Cavedoni supported the identification of the horseback figure as Dardanus himself, serving as a symbolic self-celebration of the cavalry of Cora that would later distinguish itself alongside the Romans at the battles of the Ticinus and Cannae.

Thanks to Dr. Chiara Vicario for the in-depth analysis.