Catalog
Stater
| Issuer | Arados |
|---|---|
| Year | 348 BC - 338 BC |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Silver Stater (3) |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
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| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | A war galley (trireme) depicted in right profile, rendered with careful detail including oarports along the hull, a projecting ram at the prow, and a stern ornament. The vessel sails above a stylized double wave line representing the sea, which occupies the lower portion of the field. Above the galley, a Phoenician-Aramaic legend in bold retrograde or standard orientation reads the civic abbreviation 'MN' of Arados (Arwad) along with a numerical date expressed in Aramaic strokes, indicating the regnal or era year of issue within the Aradite dating system. The composition is well-centered on an oval, irregular flan typical of Phoenician silver coinage of the fourth century BC. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
Arados — the Phoenician island city-state off the Syrian coast — operated with unusual autonomy under Achaemenid Persian overlordship, and its coinage reflects that ambiguity: locally controlled minting, but production timed to Persian military and commercial demands. The decade spanning 348–338 BC coincides with Artaxerxes III's brutal reconquest of Egypt and his campaigns to reassert Persian dominance across the Levant, a period during which Phoenician cities supplied critical naval assets and received economic concessions in return.
Arados was notably the last Phoenician mint to submit to Alexander after his 332 BC siege of nearby Tyre.