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Obol
| Issuer | Uncertain Philistian city |
|---|---|
| Year | 450 BC - 333 BC |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | 0.74 g |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
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| Technique | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | A lion couchant to right occupies the central field, rendered in the archaic Near Eastern style characteristic of Philistian coinage. Behind the lion rises a crenelated city wall featuring three distinct towers, likely a civic emblem identifying the issuing mint city. Below the lion, a series of wave patterns suggests a body of water, possibly referencing a coastal or riverine location. The composition is contained within the irregular flan typical of hammered silver issues of this period. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
Philistian civic coinage of this period occupies a genuinely strange corner of ancient numismatics — these small silver fractions were struck by cities on the southern Levantine coast during the Persian satrapal period, when local authorities retained enough autonomy to mint but did so within an Athenian-influenced weight standard they had essentially borrowed wholesale. The attribution to a specific city remains contested; Gitler and Tal's classification acknowledges the uncertainty directly rather than forcing a provenance.
The reference XV.3O places this piece within a typological grouping rather than a firm civic attribution — a distinction worth noting when comparing against other cataloged Philistian material.