Coinage of Cales
The coinage of Cales concerns coins minted in Cales, a city in Campania, the most important urban center of the ancient Italic population of the Ausones. Cales was located on the Via Latina, halfway between the mountains of Samnium and the plains of Campania felix, a few kilometers north of Casilinum (present-day Capua) and just south of Teanum Sidicinum.
—Strabo, Geography, V, 3, 9; V, 4, 11
| Litra (?) | |
|---|---|
| Laureate head of Apollo at left; spearhead behind | Man-headed bull moving to the right; lyre at top. |
| Æ 3rd century BC.; ref.: Sambon 922, SNG ANS 175 | |
| Litra (?) | |
|---|---|
| Head of Minerva with Corinthian helmet | CALENO; standing rooster, star behind. |
| Æ 3rd century BC. | |
The archaeological site is located in the municipality of Calvi Risorta, a short distance from the town.
The city minted coins in the period between 268 BC and the Second Punic War. The coins of Cales are included among those issued by colonies and allies of Rome, in an area centered around ancient Campania. After the Second Punic War, Cales, like most centers in Roman Italy, no longer minted its own coins and used Roman coinage centered on the denarius.
Traditionally numismatists treat Calenian coins as Greek coinage.