It is in the Republican period of Roman history, during the Pyrrhic War (c. 280-275 BCE), that Roman coins were first struck to make military payments. Exergue legends that read ROMA begin to appear around 241 BCE, at the end of the First Punic War with Carthage. In the early stages of minting at Rome, Romans employed Greek craftsman from Magna Graecia in southern Italy, which explains the Corinthian helmet on the bust of Mars on the obverse. For many of the Republican series, it is unclear who was responsible for minting. There was an annually selected officers, the triumviri monetales, consisting of three men responsible for the mints. Unfortunately, detailed records of their names do not survive, so this coin is considered anonymous. The denomination, 60-as, refers to a fraction of the bronze as, a standard coin weight used in everyday commerce. During the Second Punic War, the value of bronze dropped significantly, due to wartime inflation. The Republican administration responded by minting small denomination gold coins that fought inflation both by debasing the purity of the gold, and restoring faith in the value of money more generally. Andrew Moore 2011.