The Roman Imperial Coinage VIII

analyses of metal content, a technique not readily available when R. wrote, and this should certainly be undertaken. R. argues (pp. 70-1) that the coinage of 'Hyrina' lasted only for a short time and goes on, on this basis, to argue that all the coinages except that of Neapolis ceased by 380. Yet R. has done no more than destroy traditional arguments for supposing the coinage of' Hyrina' to have lasted over a long period. If the coinage of Cumae ceased by 380, there is a very long gap before the isolated issues of the late fourth century. And the coinage of Cumae, 'Hyrina' and so on still appears in quantity in the late fourth century hoard of San Giorgio Ionico and other hoards. Accepting R.'s synchronisms between Neapolis and the other mints, it seems preferable to compress the coinage of Neapolis dated after 380 by R. and bring Cumae,' Hyrina', and so on down towards the middle of the century. In general, the provision of coinage by whatever means was one of the trade-offs which the Greeks had to offer to the Samnite occupiers of Campania, and R. has written an important chapter of that fascinating process of symbiosis.