103 



NOTES ON ANCIENT COINS. 



Bt J. D. BNYS, F.G.S., Vice-Pres. R.I.O. 



On a NuMiDiAN Coin found at Carn-Brea. 

 Date, Second Century B.C. 



Mr. Howard Fox of Falmouth placed a bronze coin in my 

 hands in 1894, which I took to the British Museum to be 

 identified. 



After some time spent in examination, it was found to be a 

 coin of Micipsa, King of Numidia, B.C. 148-115. 



The special interest of this coin to the Royal Institution 

 consists in the fact that it was found on Carn-Brea some years 

 since, and, as Numidia was a colony of Carthage, the coin is 

 classed as a Phoenician one, and, as far as I am aware, it is the 

 first coin of the kind found in Cornwall. 



Mr. Howard Fox has presented it to the Museum at Truro, 

 and I have had a photograph taken of it at Bodmin under the 

 superintendence of the Rev. V\^. lago, who has kindly sent me 

 the following particulars of King Micipsa and his country : — 



"Numidia, — situate on the Northern Coast of Africa, — is about 

 midway between Phoenicia and Cornwall. 



According to the late Sir William Smith, LL.D., we find the 

 name of the region thus given : — (Nov/tiSia, rj No/>taSta, and 

 '^ofxaSiK-q, — Numidia 3 No//,as, — Numida ; plural No/iaSe?, or 

 No/iaSes Aif^ves, — Numidoe : Algier.) 



Its boundaries were, on the north, the Mediterranean ; on the 

 west, the river Malva (dividing it from Mauritania) j on the east, 

 the River Tusca (dividing it from the territory of Carthage) ; whilst 

 it extended south, indefinitely, towards Mount Atlas. The fertility 

 of the region invited to agriculture. It was early taken possession 

 of by wandering Asiatic tribes, called, from their occupation as 

 herdmen (here, as elsewhere by the Greeks), No/xaSes. 



