An unpublished tremissis of Iliorice/Eliocroca (Lorca) struck by Sisebutus and its historical implications

Abstract

A Visigothic tremissis minted in Eliocroca by Sisebutus (AD 612-621) was found in 2021 during the construction of a porch in a private garden in Calle Rodríguez del Valle in the city of León. The new tremissis is kept in the León Museum and is the third known coin of this rare Visigothic mint located in the Southeast. Its reverse legend —Iliorice— is most interesting, because it is a closer to the original Iberian place name of Lorca than the two well-known, similar legends, Ilocrici and Iliocri[ce/i]. In this regards, the original place name was probably Iliorici/ILIORIKi, with the important native element Ili-. This confirms, as Untermann believed, the preservation of a genuine Iberic place name; now on a Visigothic coin as an excellent and indirect written testimony. Although remarkable, this is not totally surprising, because, as modern philological research has shown, place names on Visigothic coins are often from colloquial language. At the same time, the new Iliorice on the Visigothic coin is related to the Ilorcire of an 8th century AD Latin manuscript copy of Pliny (Nat.: 3, 9) from Northumbria. A long-debated topic is elicited:
Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio Calvus could died in the territory of present-day Lorca (211 BC) during the Second Punic War.