Coin (obverse), Didrachm

This silver didrachm of Rome was minted between 280 and 276 BC, possibly at Metapontum in southern Italy. It is one of the earliest attempts of minting coins by the Romans. This picture shows the obverse of the coin.

A didrachm had a value of two drachmai. The coin's weight averaged 4 grams or slightly above, with a diameter of about 16 millimeters. The drachm supposedly took its name from a handful (drax) of six iron spits (obeloi), which were formerly used as currency. This ratio of six obols to the drachm continued long after the invention of coinage. The word is probably derived from "drax" - Greek for as much as you could hold in a hand. The Romans also used drachmai but created a new system of coinage around about 211 BC.

The coin depicts Mars, the Roman god of war, with a beard and wearing a Corinthian helmet. An oak-sprig is behind him. The coin is fairly worn.

The earliest Roman silver coins were modelled on Greek types, in a denomination known as a didrachm. However, only during or after the Pyrrhic War (280-275 BC) did the Romans start an unbroken sequence of minting coins.

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