Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
Drachm
| Issuer | Uncertain Philistian city |
|---|---|
| Year | 450 BC - 333 BC |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 1 Drachm |
| 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 | Helmeted head of Athena facing right, rendered in the Athenian style with a frontal eye in archaic convention. The goddess wears a crested Attic helmet adorned with three olive leaves over the visor and a curved palmette motif on the bowl. Additional adornments include a visible earring and necklace, reflecting the local Philistian adaptation of the Athenian prototype. The portrait is executed in a slightly crude provincial style characteristic of Philistian imitative coinage of the fifth and fourth centuries BC. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | A winged lion seated in profile to the right, raising its left forepaw in a heraldic pose, occupying the central field. An Aramaic letter Beth (ב) appears above the creature. To the right stands a frontal facing head of the Egyptian dwarf deity Bes, a motif frequently encountered on Philistian coinage reflecting Egyptian cultural influence. The entire design is enclosed within a dotted square border set within a broader incuse square, a characteristic feature of this series as catalogued by Gitler and Tal. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
Philistian coinage of the fifth and fourth centuries BC remains one of the least understood series in ancient numismatics — the issuing cities are largely unidentifiable, the political structures behind them poorly documented, and attribution often rests on stylistic groupings rather than inscriptions. Gitler and Tal's landmark 2006 catalog brought order to the chaos, but type XIII.14D sits in the "uncertain" column for good reason. These small silver pieces circulated in a region caught between Persian administrative demands and Greek commercial influence, with Attic weight standards adopted for practical trading purposes rather than any formal monetary alignment with Athens.