1/4 Shekel Philistia

Philistian coinage emerged in the late sixth century BC almost certainly under Achaemenid Persian administrative pressure — the satraps needed a standardized medium for tax collection and troop payment across the Levantine coast. These small silver fractions circulated in a corridor of city-states, Gaza most prominently among them, that maintained remarkable commercial autonomy under Persian oversight. Attributing specific issues to individual cities remains contested; Hendin's framework offers the best available taxonomy, but the question of which mint struck which type is genuinely unresolved.

The fractional denominations dominate the surviving corpus, suggesting small-scale market use rather than state disbursement.