Ancient Coin
Bronze
AE13
Pseudo-Autonomous
PHOENICIA
TYRE
Dated Regional Year 230, 104-105AD
Obv:
Turreted head of Tyche right
Rev: LZ MH TYP
Astarte standing left on galley
11.00 mm
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An interesting coin minted in Tyre, Phoenicia. Head of Tyche on obverse and Astarte standing on galley on reverse. This coin comes with display case, stand and attribution label attached as pictured. A great way to display an ancient coins collection. You are welcome to ask any questions prior buying or bidding. We can ship it anywhere within continental U.S. for a flat rate of 6.90$. It includes shipping, delivery confirmation and packaging material.
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TYRE
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Tyre (Sor in Phoenician, meaning the rock) is the most southern of the Phoenician cities. Located 70 km south of Beirut, it is now at the end of a peninsula, on a rocky promontory, connected to the Lebanese coast by a sandy area. The first inhabitants of the place occupied the small island, just 600 m from the shore. In the first millennium Tyre was a bipolar city with an island connected by a ford with the shore (which will be later expanded during the siege of Alexander the Great in 332 BC), where some other neighborhoods were built as extensions of the islands, called: Ushu (or Uzzu) in ancient texts, and afterwards, Palaetyrus (Tyre-the-old) by the Greeks.
The first archaeological excavations were carried out in March 1861 by Ernest Renan. He endeavored to rediscover the history of this rich and ancient city, meticulously described by the prophet Ezekiel. Between 1924 and 1936, the Reverend Father Antoine Poidebard, French aviator and archaeologist, had undertaken a submarine and aerial survey, a first of its kind. The results of his exploration demonstrated a port complex, protected by a natural barrier reef, reinforced by artificial moles. Various excavations followed, particularly those carried out by the Emir Maurice Chehab, Lebanese senior official and archaeologist, but the historical restoration of the site was difficult since the remains of the city, particularly the Phoenician layers, were obliterated by the successive occupations (Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, Arab, Frankish, ...) and by concentrated urbanization.
These multiple archaeological excavations in the city and its surroundings, have confirmed the occupation of the site since the third millennium, with permanent habitation from the Early Bronze Age. The concordance of archaeological discoveries with tradition preserved by the priests of Melqart, was documented by Herodotus, who established that the city and the temple were founded around 2750 BC.
The glory of Tyre was mainly due to its maritime power. The city presents itself as the most powerful Phoenician cities, with its two ports: the North Port, known as "Sidonian", always used, and the "Egyptian" port in south, disused since the Byzantine presence in the region.
In the fourteenth century, according to the letters of El-Amarna, the king of Tyre, Abi-Milku, asked Pharaoh to attribute to him some mainland in front of the island, since he lacked water, as well as wood, straw and clay, Adding that "there is no place where we can bury our dead"(1), but, in turn, the King of Gobal (Byblos) was complaining to Pharaoh that "the domain of Tyre is as wide as the sea".
The principal temple of the city, dedicated to Melqart, was erected by King Hiram I tenth century BC, over the location of an earlier temple in ruins. The facade was preceded by two pillars or columns, one with gold and the other of emerald. It was not possible to properly determine the location of this famous temple, but it is probable that it is in the Crusader cathedral, where excavations of Maurice Chehab, unveiled the remains of Phoenician imposing buildings. Other temples have been constructed in the city: that of Astarte, Baal...
Tyre was best known through its special relations with the Kingdom of Israel. The first Book of Kings (Bible) describes the friendly relations in the tenth century between king of Tyre Hiram and Solomon king of Israel. Hiram had furnished the cedar wood, and made available masons to build the temple in Jerusalem, desired by Solomon. This relationship between the two kingdoms was consolidated with the marriage of Jezebel, daughter of Ithobaal king of Tyre, and Achab king of Israel.
The historian Pliny noted that Tyre was known in ancient times, especially for its overseas activities and its geographical position, "in the middle of the sea", inviting poets to compare it to a boat. The expansionary reputation of the city was brought about by two significant events, belonging more to legend than to historical truth. The first concerns the propagation of the Phoenician alphabet in Greece by Cadmus, son of King Agenor (founder of the city), during his journey in search of his sister the Princess Europa who was kidnapped by Zeus. The second fact is related to the founding of Carthage by the Princess Elissa (Dido in the Latin tradition), sister of King Pygmalion of Tyre.
This attraction towards the sea can also be explained by a desire to preserve some autonomy. The Tyrians have opposed the greatest invaders on several occasions. The position of the city, island in the middle of the waves, its maritime richness as well as the expansion of its sailors, attracted conquering cravings. Like other Phoenician cities on the coast, it became part of successive empires that settled throughout the centuries (Egyptian, Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian, Greek ...) but its annexation has not always been peaceful. It resisted to the siege of Nebuchadnezzar king of the Babylonians for thirteen years. The Tyrians opposed Alexander the Great, who could not conquer it, even after seven months of siege, following the construction of a breakwater connecting the island to the mainland.
One of the most characteristic activities of Tyre was the extraction and the purple industry. This production was so typical of the Phoenicians that it could be at the origin of their name (Phoinix in Greek means purple). As per legend, the purple discovery is attributed to Melqart-Heracles. While the God was walking along the beach with the nymph Tyros, his dog found a Murex and munched on it, and its jaw was tinged with purple color. The nymph admired the color and asked God to offer her some clothing of such a beautiful color. Melqart procured many murex and ordered to have a tunic dyed which he presented to the nymph.
From all the Phoenician cities, Tyre was the most famous in the production of this coloring substance. This was obtained from a seashell, the murex. These shellfish were recovered from the sea in the early spring, during the reproduction period and before spawning, and transported to the shore where they were placed in large vats. There, the mollusks were crushed in order to release the colored pigment contained therein. The collected liquid was mixed with sea salt, and three days later was transferred to stone or lead tanks. After ten days, the dye would rise to the surface where it was easily collected. It could obtain different shades of purple, from red to pink, through to purple more or less intense, depending on whether the dye was diluted with sea water or exposed to sunlight.
This substance, with refined colors was used for textile dyeing (wool pieces, linen or fine cotton) and leather. These products enjoyed an international economic prestige, also related to the excellence of the Phoenicians weavers. The Old Testament, the Assyrian annals and Homer testify the famous Phoenician purple, each in (their) his own approach. The importance of such production has pushed the Tyrians to make it the emblem of their city, and to use it to illustrate their coins.
PHOENICIA
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Phoenicia was an ancient civilization centered in the north of ancient Canaan, with its heartland along the coastal plains of what is now Lebanon. Phoenician civilization was an enterprising maritime trading culture that spread across the Mediterranean during the first millennium B.C.E. Though ancient boundaries of such city-centered cultures fluctuated, the city of Tyre seems to have been the southernmost. Sarepta between Sidon and Tyre, is the most thoroughly excavated city of the Phoenician homeland. Although the people of the region most likely called themselves the kena'ani, the name Phoenicia became common because of the Greeks who called the land Phoiniki - Φοινίκη). This term had been borrowed from Ancient Egyptian Fnkhw "Syrians." Due to phonetic similarity, the Greek word for Phoenician was synonymous with the color purple or crimson, φοῖνιξ (phoînix), through its close association with the famous dye Tyrian purple. The dye was used in ancient textile trade, and highly desired. The Phoenicians became known as the 'Purple People'. The Phoenicians often traded by means of a galley, a man-powered sailing vessel. They were the first civilization to create the bireme. Carthage which rivaled Rome until its defeat was originally a Phoenician colony. They dominated sea trade for at least 3,000 years. They were a conduit through which many ideas were passed on from Asia into Europe, especially into the Greek world. The word 'Bible' is almost certainly derived from Phoenician.
The Phoenician language is counted among the Canaanite languages in the Semitic language family. In addition to their many inscriptions, the Phoenicians, contrary to some reports, wrote many books, which have not survived. Evangelical Preparation by Eusebius of Caesarea quotes extensively from Philo of Byblos and Sanchuniathon. Furthermore, the Phoenician Punic colonies of North Africa continued to be a source of knowledge about the Phoenicians. Saint Augustine knew at least a smattering of Punic and occasionally uses it to explain cognate words found in Hebrew. The name of his mother, Saint Monica, is said to be of Punic origin as well. Many European, North African and Middle Eastern cities can trace themselves back to Phoenician origins. Although overshadowed by the legacy of Greece and of Rome, the Phoenicians opened up trade and commerce and communication on a grand scale, from which all subsequent Empires continued to benefit. The Phonenicians made a substantial contribution to the development of human civilization.
Origins
Recent DNA (Y chromosome) studies conducted by the National Geographic Magazine on the bones of ancient Phoenicians and living people from Syria, Lebanon and elsewhere in the Mediterranean have shown that the modern peoples carry the same ancient Phoenician genetic material. Further, the Phoenician bloodline has been proven to come from an ancient Mediterranean sub-stratum. Stories of their emigrating from various places to the eastern Mediterranean are unfounded. Hence, Herodotus' account (written c. 440 B.C.E.) refers to a faint memory from 1,000 years earlier, and so may be subject to question. This is a legendary introduction to Herodotus' brief retelling of some mythical Hellene-Phoenician interactions; few modern archaeologists would confuse this myth with history:
According to the Persians best informed in history, the Phoenicians began to quarrel. This people, who had formerly reached the shores of the Erythraean Sea, having migrated to the Mediterranean from an unknown origin and settled in the parts which they now inhabit, began at once, they say, to adventure on long voyages, freighting their vessels with the wares of Egypt and Assyria.
In terms of archeology, language, and religion, there is little to set the Phoenicians apart as markedly different from other local cultures of Canaan, because they were Canaanites themselves. However, they are unique in their remarkable seafaring achievements. Indeed, in the Amarna tablets of the fourteenth century B.C.E. they call themselves Kenaani or Kinaani (Canaanites); and even much later in the sixth century B.C.E. Hecataeus writes that Phoenicia was formerly called χνα, a name Philo of Byblos later adopted into his mythology as his eponym for the Phoenicians: "Khna who was afterwards called Phoinix." Egyptian seafaring expeditions had already been made to Byblos to bring back "cedars of Lebanon" as early as the third millennium B.C.E.
To many archaeologists therefore, the Phoenicians are simply indistinguishable from the descendants of coastal-dwelling Canaanites, who over the centuries developed a particular seagoing culture and skills. But others believe equally firmly, with Herodotus, that Phoenician culture must have been inspired from an external source. All manner of suggestions have been made: that the Phoenicians were sea-traders from the Land of Punt who co-opted the Canaanite population; or that they were connected with the Minoans, or the Sea Peoples or the Philistines further south; or even that they represent the maritime activities of supposed coastal Israelite tribes like Dan.
While the Semitic language of the Phoenicians, and some evidence of invasion at the site of Byblos, suggest origins in the wave of Semitic migration that hit the Fertile Crescent between ca. 2300 and 2100 B.C.E., some scholars, including Sabatino Moscati believe that the Phoenicians' ethnogenesis included prior non-Semitic people of the area, suggesting a mixture between two populations. Both Sumerian and Akkadian armies had reached the Mediterranean in this area from the beginning of recorded history, but very little is known of Phoenicia before it was conquered by Tutmoses III of Egypt around 1500 B.C.E. The Amarna correspondence (ca. 1411-1358 B.C.E.) reveals that Amorites and Hittites were defeating the Phoenician cities that had been vassals to Egypt, especially Rib-Addi of Byblos and Abimelech of Tyre, but between 1350 B.C.E. and 1300 B.C.E. Phoenicia was reconquered by Egypt. Over the next century Ugarit flourished, but was permanently destroyed at the end of it (ca. 1200 B.C.E.).
Historian Gerhard Herm asserts that, because the Phoenicians' legendary sailing abilities are not well attested before the invasions of the Sea Peoples around 1200 B.C.E., that these Sea Peoples would have merged with the local population to produce the Phoenicians, who he says gained these abilities rather suddenly at that time. There is also archaeological evidence that the Philistines, often thought of as related to the Sea Peoples, were culturally linked to Mycenaean Greeks, who were also known to be great sailors even in this period.
The question of the Phoenicians' origin persists. Professional archaeologists have pursued the origin of the Phoenicians for generations, basing their analyzes on excavated sites, the remains of material culture, contemporary texts set into contemporary contexts, as well as linguistics. In some cases, the debate is characterized by modern cultural agendas. Ultimately, the origins of the Phoenicians are still unclear: where they came from and just when (or if) they arrived, and under what circumstances, are all still energetically disputed.
Some Lebanese, Syrians, Maltese, Tunisians, Algerians and a small percentage of Somalis, along with certain other island folk in the Mediterranean, still consider themselves descendants of Phoenicians. The Melungeons are also sometimes claimed to be descendants of the Phoenicians.
The cultural and economic "empire"
Phoenician sarcophagus found in Cadiz, Spain; now in Archaeological Museum of Cádiz. The sarcophagus is thought to have been designed and paid for by a Phoenician merchant, and made in Greece with Egyptian influence.
Fernand Braudel remarked in The Perspective of the World that Phoenicia was an early example of a "world-economy" surrounded by empires. The high point of Phoenician culture and seapower is usually placed ca 1200 – 800 B.C.E.
Many of the most important Phoenician settlements had been established long before this: Byblos, Tyre, Sidon, Simyra, Aradus and [Berytus (Beirut) all appear in the Amarna tablets; and indeed, the first appearance in archeology of cultural elements clearly identifiable with the Phoenician zenith is sometimes dated as early as the third millennium B.C.E.
This league of independent city-state ports, with others on the islands and along other coasts of the Mediterranean Sea, was ideally suited for trade between the Levant area, rich in natural resources, and the rest of the ancient world. Suddenly, during the early Iron Age, in around 1200 B.C.E. an unknown event occurred, historically associated with the appearance of the Sea Peoples from the north who were perhaps driven south by crop failures and mass starvation following the eruption. The powers that had previously dominated the area, notably the Egyptians and the Hittites, became weakened or destroyed; and in the resulting power vacuum a number of Phoenician cities established themselves as significant maritime powers.
Authority seems to have stabilized because it derived from three power-bases: the king; the temple and its priests; and councils of elders. Byblos soon became the predominant center from where they proceeded to dominate the Mediterranean and Erythraean (Red) Sea routes, and it is here that the first inscription in the Phoenician alphabet was found, on the sarcophagus of Ahiram (ca. 1200 B.C.E.). However, by around 1000 B.C.E. Tyre and Sidon had taken its place, and a long hegemony was enjoyed by Tyre beginning with Hiram I (969-936 B.C.E.), who subjected a rebellion in the colony of Utica. The priest Ittobaal (887-856 B.C.E.) ruled Phoenicia as far north as Beirut, and part of Cyprus. Carthage was founded in 814 B.C.E. under Pygmalion (820-774 B.C.E.). The collection of city-kingdoms constituting Phoenicia came to be characterized by outsiders and the Phoenicians themselves as Sidonia or Tyria, and Phoenicians and Canaanites alike came to be called Zidonians or Tyrians, as one Phoenician conquest came to prominence after another.
In the centuries following 1200 B.C.E., the Phoenicians formed the major naval and trading power of the region. Perhaps it was through these merchants that the Hebrew word kena'ani ('Canaanite') came to have the secondary, and apt, meaning of "merchant." The Greek term "Tyrian purple" describes the dye they were especially famous for, and their port town Tyre. The Phoenicians also traded cedar for making ships and other things. Phoenician trade was founded on this violet-purple dye derived from the Murex sea-snail's shell, once profusely available in coastal waters but exploited to local extinction. James B. Pritchard's excavations at Sarepta in Lebanon revealed crushed Murex shells and pottery containers stained with the dye that was being produced at the site. Brilliant textiles were a part of Phoenician wealth. Phoenician glass was another export ware. Phoenicians seem to have first discovered the technique of producing transparent glass. Phoenicians also shipped tall Lebanon cedars to Egypt, a civilization that consumed more wood than it could produce. Indeed, the Amarna tablets suggest that in this manner the Phoenicians paid tribute to Egypt in the fourteenth century B.C.E.
They obtained many other materials from distant lands, perhaps the most important being tin and silver from Spain and possibly even from Cornwall in Great Britain, which together with copper (from Cyprus) was used to make bronze. Trade routes from Asia converged on the Phoenician coast as well, enabling the Phoenicians to govern trade between Mesopotamia on the one side, and Egypt and Arabia on the other.
Colonies and Settlements
The Phoenicians established commercial outposts throughout the Mediterranean, the most strategically important ones being Carthage in North Africa, and directly across the narrow straits in Sicily—carefully selected with the design of monopolizing the Mediterranean trade beyond that point and keeping their rivals from passing through. Other colonies were planted in Cyprus, Corsica, Sardinia, the Iberian Peninsula, and elsewhere.[3] They also founded innumerable small outposts a day's sail away from each other all along the North African coast on the route to Spain's mineral wealth. The name Spain comes from the Phoenician word I-Shaphan, meaning, thanks to an early double misidentification, 'island of hyraxes'.
The date when many of these cities were founded has been very controversial. Greek sources put the foundation of many cities very early. Cadiz in Spain was traditionally founded in 1110 B.C.E., while Utica in Africa was supposedly founded in 1101 B.C.E. However, no archaeological remains have been dated to such a remote era. The traditional dates may reflect the establishment of rudimentary way stations that left little archaeological trace, and only grew into full cities centuries later.[4] Alternatively, the early dates may reflect Greek historians' belief that the legends of Troy (mentioning these cities) were historically reliable.
Phoenician ships used to ply the coast of southern Spain and along the coast of present-day Portugal. The fishermen of Nazaré and Aveiro in Portugal are traditionally of Phoenician descent. This can be seen today in the unusual and ancient design of their boats, which have soaring pointed bows and are painted with mystical symbols. It is often mentioned that Phoenicians ventured north into the Atlantic ocean as far as Great Britain, where the tin mines in what is now Cornwall provided them with important materials, although no archaeological evidence supports this belief. They also sailed south along the coast of Africa. A Carthaginian expedition led by Hanno the Navigator explored and colonized the Atlantic coast of Africa as far as the Gulf of Guinea; and according to Herodotus, a Phoenician expedition sent down the Red Sea by Pharaoh Necho II of Egypt (c. 600 B.C.E.) even circumnavigated Africa and returned through the Pillars of Hercules in three years.
The Phoenicians were not an agricultural people, because most of the land was not arable; therefore, they focused on commerce and trading instead. They did, however, raise sheep and sold them and their wool.
The Phoenicians exerted considerable influence on the other groups around the Mediterranean, notably the Greeks, who later became their main commercial rivals. They appear in Greek mythology. Traditionally, the city of Thebes was founded by a Phoenician prince named Cadmus when he set out to look for his sister Europa, who had been kidnapped by Zeus.
The Phoenician alphabet was developed around 1200 B.C.E. from an earlier Semitic prototype that also gave rise to the Ugaritic alphabet. It was used mainly for commercial notes. The Greek alphabet, that forms the basis of all European alphabets, was derived from the Phoenician one. The alphabets of the Middle East and India are also thought to derive, directly or indirectly, from the Phoenician alphabet. Ironically, the Phoenicians themselves are mostly silent on their own history, possibly because they wrote on perishable materials, papyrus or skins. Other than the stone inscriptions, Phoenician writing has largely perished. There are a very few writers such as Sanchuniathon quoted only in later works, and the Phoenicians were described by Sallust and Augustine as having possessed an extensive literature, but of this, only a single work survives, in Latin translation: Mago's Agriculture. What is known of them comes mainly from their neighbors, the Greeks and Hebrews.
With the rise of Assyria, the Phoenician cities one by one lost their independence; however the city of Tyre, situated just off the mainland and protected by powerful fleets, proved impossible to take by the Assyrians, and many others after them. The Phoenician cities were later dominated by Babylonia, then Persia. They remained very important, however, and provided these powers with their main source of naval strength. The stacked warships, such as triremes and quinqueremes, were probably Phoenician inventions, though eagerly adopted by the Greeks.
Did the Phoenicians 'Discover' America?
The possibility that the Phoenician's may have made a pre-Columbian voyage or voyages to the Americas has been explored by several scholars from as early as T. C Johnston's 1892 book, Did the Phoenicians Discover America?. Work on Phoenician coins carried out by Mark McMenamin suggests that gold coins minted in Carthage between 350 and 320 B.C.E. may depict a map of the Americas. Some have speculated that the Phoenicians may even have colonized the Americas. Thor Heyerdahl's Ra I and Ra I expeditions were designed to prove that Egyptian ships could have crossed the Atlantic but could also be applied to the Phoenicians, who were renowned for their seamanship and who were often employed as sailors and explorers by the Egyptians. Some first century peruvian pottery resembles Phoenician pottery. Wreckage of Phoenician ships and an inscription on a rock in Brazil suggests Phoenicians had visited there.
Decline
Cyrus the Great conquered Phoenicia in 538 B.C.E. Phoenicia was divided into four vassal kingdoms by the Persians: Sidon, Tyre, Arwad, and Byblos, and they prospered, furnishing fleets for the Persian kings. However, Phoenician influence declined after this. It is also reasonable to suppose that much of the Phoenician population migrated to Carthage and other colonies following the Persian conquest, as it is roughly then (under King Hanno) that historical records identify Carthage as a powerful maritime entity. In 350 or 345 B.C.E. a rebellion in Sidon led by Tennes was crushed by Artaxerxes III, and its destruction was described, perhaps too dramatically, by Diodorus Siculus.
Alexander the Great took Tyre in 332 B.C.E. following the Siege of Tyre. Alexander was exceptionally harsh to Tyre, executing 2,000 of the leading citizens, but he maintained the king in power. He gained control of the other cities peacefully: the ruler of Aradus submitted; the king of Sidon was overthrown. The rise of Hellenistic Greece gradually ousted the remnants of Phoenicia's former dominance over the Eastern Mediterranean trade routes, and Phoenician culture disappeared entirely in the motherland. However, its North African offspring, Carthage, continued to flourish, mining iron and precious metals from Iberia, and using its considerable naval power and mercenary armies to protect its commercial interests, until it was finally destroyed by Rome in 149 B.C.E. at the end of the Punic Wars.
As for the Phoenician homeland, following Alexander it was controlled by a succession of Hellenistic rulers: Laomedon of Mytilene (323 B.C.E.), Ptolemy I (320 B.C.E.), Antigonus II (315 B.C.E.), Demetrius I of Macedon (301 B.C.E.), and Seleucus I Nicator (296 B.C.E.). Between 286 and 197 B.C.E., Phoenicia (except for Aradus) fell to the Ptolemies of Egypt, who intalled the high priests of Astarte as vassal rulers in Sidon (Eshmunazar I, Tabnit, Eshmunazar II). In 197 B.C.E., Phoenicia along with Syria reverted to the Seleucids, and the region became increasingly Hellenized, although Tyre actually became autonomous in 126 B.C.E., followed by Sidon in 111. Syrian lands, including Phoenicia, were seized by king Tigranes the Great from 82 until 69 B.C.E. when he was defeated by Lucullus, and in 65 B.C.E. Pompey finally incorporated it as part of the Roman province of Syria.