The style of this coin is quintessentially Iberian – a large head, and somewhat geometric in design. Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) was captivated by this pre-Roman Spanish style, taking inspiration from all manner of Iberian art, particularly in his earlier works. He visited the Louvre in 1906 and was entranced by several Iberian sculptures dating to around the time of this coin. The following year, he completed one of his signature paintings, Les Demoiselles d’Avignon (1907), which shows five figures with faces that are all somewhat reminiscent of the head on this coin of Carmona. Picasso was able to gracefully integrate the ancient Iberian style with the contemporary trend of proto-cubism (1906-1910).

Carmona is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in Europe. Located in the heart of the Iberian Peninsula, Carmona sits on a slightly elevated plateau some 30 miles from the Spanish city of Seville. Remains dating to the Paleolithic period (ca. 100,000 – 20,000 BC), a time when both humans (homo sapiens) and Neanderthals inhabited Europe. The city was inhabited by local Iberian/Spanish tribes for many thousands of years, until the arrival of the Tyrians, from all the way across the Mediterranean in Phoenicia (modern Lebanon). The original Tyrians were eventually expelled by their also-Tyrian cousins, the Carthaginians, who were closer to Spain. “Carmona” may derive from the Punic words for city (Kar) and the sun-god (Hammon).

Carmo/Carmona inevitably became entangled in the titanic struggle between Rome and Carthage for control of the western Mediterranean. It was within just miles of Carmona’s walls that Roman general Scipio Africanus won perhaps his greatest tactical victory – over Hannibal’s brothers Hasdrubal and Mago. Outnumbered and in a difficult position, Scipio ironically used the exact same maneuver that Hannibal had used to destroy the Roman army at Cannae a decade earlier. The Romans asserted their control over Carthage’s possessions in Spain from about 200 BC, including the Mediterranean coast and some inland cities like Carmona.