Coins from the Roman Republic period found in the ancient Acropolis

A group of 27 Roman Republic-era silver coins were found on the ancient Acropolis of San Marco and Santa Teresa on the island of Pantelleria in the Strait of Sicily. These coins were minted in Rome between 94 and 74 BC.

The first coins emerged when rain disturbed the topsoil. The rest were found under a boulder during excavations of the Acropolis led by University of Tübingen archaeologist Thomas Schäfer. Schäfer and his colleagues have been excavating the site for 25 years, and in 2010 they found 107 Roman Republican silver coins of exactly the same date in that area of ​​the Acropolis. Schäfer believes the two coins were buried at the same time.

Schaefer speculates that this small treasure was hidden during one of the frequent pirate attacks of the time: indeed, at the time Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus was on campaign in the Mediterranean, fighting and destroying a powerful pirate fleet on behalf of the Roman Senate. Coastal villages were frequently attacked, and it is not difficult to imagine that someone hid the money when the ships arrived and was unable to recover it.

The site straddles the hills of San Marco and Santa Teresa and contains the remains of the Acropolis of Corsula (the Roman name for Pantelleria). The town was found by the Carthaginians in the 7th century BC, who built the acropolis on and between the hills. The Romans captured the island in 217 BC during the Second Punic War. They put their own stamp on the acropolis, adding the Council, the meeting place for the Roman Council and the center of Roman political and legal activity. The Council is well preserved and is one of only five in the Roman world.