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Obol
| Issuer | Uncertain Philistian city |
|---|---|
| Year | 450 BC - 333 BC |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Bare male head facing right, rendered in a distinctive eastern style with elaborately rendered hair arranged in tight curls and bound at the nape, reflecting strong Achaemenid-period artistic influence. The facial features are depicted in profile with a pronounced jaw and sensitively engraved eye, consistent with the eclectic Graeco-Persian stylistic tradition prevalent in Philistian coinage of the fifth and fourth centuries BC. A beaded border frames the design along the coin's periphery. No legend or inscription appears in the field. The die work is finely executed for a coin of this diminutive denomination. |
|---|---|
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| Mintage | ND (450 BC - 333 BC) |
| Additional information |
Philistian coinage of this period emerged from a cluster of coastal cities — Gaza, Ashkelon, Ashdod among them — operating under Achaemenid Persian oversight while drawing almost entirely on Athenian and broader Greek iconographic conventions. Attribution to a specific mint remains contested; Gitler and Tal's corpus established workable groupings, but the "uncertain" designation reflects genuine scholarly disagreement rather than incomplete cataloging. These fractional silver pieces circulated in a region that served as a commercial corridor between Egypt and the Levant, and their small denominations suggest active use in everyday market transactions rather than tribute payments.