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Dishekel - Addirmilk
| Issuer | Byblos |
|---|---|
| Year | 375 BC - 351 BC |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 1 Dishekel = 2 Shekel |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | A Phoenician war galley rendered in fine detail occupies the upper field, depicted in left profile with a prominent ram prow, multiple oar ports along the hull, and a row of soldiers' shields and helmets visible above the deck rail. Beneath the vessel, a stylized wave pattern separates the ship from the lower register. Below the waves, a winged hippocamp or sea-horse creature advances to the left in the lower field, its equine forequarters and scaled, serpentine hindquarters finely engraved in the Phoenician artistic tradition. A Phoenician inscription appears in the field to the right. The entire composition is enclosed within a plain linear border on the irregular flan. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | AD |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
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| Additional information |
Addirmilk ruled Byblos during one of the most turbulent stretches of Achaemenid administration in Phoenicia, a period when Persian satraps were actively suppressing the broader Phoenician revolt that would eventually consume Sidon under Tennes in 345 BC. Byblos itself avoided the worst of that reckoning, likely through calculated loyalty. The city retained its minting privileges throughout, making its royal coinage a continuous thread where Sidon's was violently interrupted.
The dishekel denomination — essentially a double shekel on the Phoenician weight standard — was never a coin of casual commerce. These circulated among merchants and officials operating at a scale where silver was counted by weight as much as by piece.