1⁄16 Shekel - Abdashtart I Sidon

Abdashtart I — rendered in Greek sources as Straton I — ruled Sidon during a period of carefully managed autonomy under Achaemenid Persian overlordship. His reign saw Sidon reach its commercial and political peak among the Phoenician city-states, and his close ties with Athens, documented in ancient literary sources, made his court something of a cultural bridge between the Greek and Persian worlds. The fractional silver denominations of this period circulated heavily in local trade along the Levantine coast.