v53_0009 - CALABRIA - TARENTUM Demi-shekel

CALABRIA - TARAS

(212-209 BC)

In 272 BC, Taranto surrendered, after a long siege, to the consul Lucius Papirius Cursor. After the departure of Pyrrhus, Taranto submitted to Rome. Under the impetus of Consul Spurius Carvilius Maximus, Taranto, an ally of Rome at first, finally rallied to Hannibal in 213 BC. The Roman garrison, taking refuge on the acropolis of Taranto, resisted for five years. The city was finally submitted by Fabius Maximus in 209 BC who reduced most of the population to slavery, thirty thousand people according to Livy (XXVI, 39).