Siglos - Azbaal

Kition, on the southeastern coast of Cyprus, operated under Phoenician dynastic rule from the late fifth century BC, with Azbaal among the earliest named rulers whose coinage can be attributed with confidence. The siglos denomination itself reflects the coin's role in a region caught between Persian administrative demands and active Aegean trade networks — Cyprus sat directly on the route between the Levantine coast and the Aegean, and its silver circulated accordingly.

BMC Greek #15 and the Tziambazis corpus together provide the primary framework for attributing this type, though die-linked specimens have helped clarify the sequence of Azbaali issues within what is otherwise a compressed and poorly documented dynastic record.