Lopadusa mint: bronze issues with Punic legends
This is the English version of the original paper in Italian about the bronze coin with Heracles/Melqart on the Obverse and a crab on the reverse and punic legend brby: an interpretation of the legend as the Punic toponym of the island of Lampedusa is discussed along with its etymological link with the Greek denomination of the island. A chronology for this particular coin is also discussed after reviewing the archeological data available and the nearby chronology of Malta more widely studied and more firmly established. Finally, based on the discussed chronology between 250 and 202 B.C. the relation with this coin with other crab coins attributed to Lampedusa (Lopadusa as called by the ancient Greeks) and with the coin with the tuna fish and the legend Lopadoussaion in Greek.
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For a discussion about the Phoenicians in Lampedusa and related archaeological evidence the last chapter of "Lampedusa Preistorica" can be read (it is written in Italian and available for download on this website).