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Tetradrachm
| Issuer | Marathos |
|---|---|
| Year | 227 BC - 226 BC |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Drachm |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Bare head of a youthful male deity, likely Apollo or a local dynastic figure, facing right, with flowing curly hair adorned with a wreath or laurel, rendered in the Hellenistic style with fine naturalistic detail. The portrait occupies the central field of the flan, exhibiting high relief characteristic of Phoenician mint workmanship of the period. The hair falls in loose locks behind the neck, and the facial features display a serene, idealized expression typical of late Classical influence. No visible legend or inscription appears on the obverse. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | A seated male figure, likely a god or civic deity, positioned facing left on a throne or rocky seat, with the right arm extended forward offering an object, possibly a branch or patera. A palm branch rises vertically in the right field, serving as a civic symbol of Marathos. The Greek legend ΜΑΡΑΘΗΝΩΝ runs along the right margin, while an Aramaic inscription appears in the left field, together identifying the issuing city. The composition reflects Hellenistic artistic conventions adapted to the Phoenician civic coinage tradition of the Levantine coast. |
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| Additional information |
Marathos was a Phoenician coastal city on a small island connected to the mainland by a causeway, located near modern Tartus in Syria. The city maintained remarkable autonomy under Seleucid overlordship and developed its own civic era for dating purposes — one of the relatively few Phoenician cities to do so. This tetradrachm falls in the early decades of that era, initiated around 259/8 BC, placing it roughly in year 32 or 33 of Marathan civic reckoning.
The city was eventually destroyed by neighboring Arados, its more powerful rival, sometime in the mid-2nd century BC — making all surviving Marathan civic coinage a product of a civilization with a finite and documented end date.