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1⁄16 Shekel Hippocamp
| Issuer | Tyre |
|---|---|
| Year | 425 BC - 394 BC |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
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| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | GCV#5916, BMC Greek#26.233 |
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|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Owl standing to left with head facing, displayed in the Egyptian hieratic tradition. The bird is accompanied by a transverse crook and an Egyptian flail, emblems of divine authority drawn from Phoenician cultural interchange with Egypt. The composition is compact, filling the small flan with minimal field space, consistent with the fractional denomination. |
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| Mint | Tyre |
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| Additional information |
Tyre's fractional silver coinage of the fifth and fourth centuries BC served the intense commercial traffic of the Phoenician coast, where small-denomination pieces were essential for port transactions that larger denominations couldn't practically serve. The hippocamp type is closely associated with Tyre's maritime identity — the city controlled critical sea lanes and operated as the dominant trading hub between the Levant and the Aegean world during precisely this period.
The BMC Greek reference places this alongside a well-documented sequence, though die links across the fractional issues remain incompletely mapped in the literature.