Ancient Coinage of Spain Andalusia Castul

Castulo (Latin: Castulo; Iberian: Kastilo) was an Iberian town and bishopric (now Latin titular see located in the Andalusian province of Jaén, in south-central Spain, near modern Linares.

Evidence of human presence since the Neolithic period has been found there. It was the seat of the Oretani, an Iberian tribe which settled in the vicinity in the north of the Guadalquivir River beginning in the sixth century BC. According to tradition, a local princess named Himilce married Hannibal, gained the alliance of the city with the Carthaginian Empire.

It probably is the place of the ancient Castax (Ancient Greek: Κάσταξ).

In 211 BC, Castulo was the site of Hasdrubal Barca's crushing victory over the Roman army with a force of roughly 40,000 Carthaginian troops plus local Iberian mercenaries. Thereafter the Romans made a pact with the residents of city — who then betrayed the Carthaginians — and they became foederati (allied people) of Rome. According to Livy, the inhabitants of Castulo were intimidated by Scipio Africanus ordering the wholesale massacre of the inhabitants of the neighboring Illiturgis

Before the Second Punic War, Castulo was under Carthaginian rule. Hannibal married a woman from Castulo—named Imilce, according to Silius Italicus. However, during the Second Punic War, in 214 BC, the city sided with Carthage's adversary, the Roman Republic. Castulo switched sides again to support Hannibal in 211 BC. In the following years, Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus succeeded in driving the Carthaginians entirely out of Spain, and Castulo came under permanent Roman rule in 206 BC. Even after its incorporation into Roman territory, the city continued to mint its own coins.