Hi. I've just acquired this silver coin weighing 12.74 g. It has a face on each side, and the lettering is Greek. Could you please assist me to identify it. Thanks.. Charles
Trajan AR Tetradrachm. Tyre, Phoenicia. Obv: AVTOKP KAIC NEP TPAIANOC CEB GERM DAK, laureate head right, club & eagle below. Rev: DHMAPC EX IC YPAT e, laureate bust of Melqart right, draped in lionskin knotted at neck. Martin
Excellent .. Martin. Melqart was a great typical Phoenician god. I did not recognize him myself on this coin. Why is the lettering in Greek ? Did the people of Tyre - Phoenicia speak Greek during the reign of the Roman Emperor Trajan.
I have to disagree with one letter here. The reverse "IC" is "IE". AllE's on the coin are rounded forms. This one is a Greek numeral for 5 added to the I=10 next to it to give the regnal year 15 which also is what we would see on a Roman coin as TR P XV. DHMAPC EX spells out the Greek words for the title. Following that 15 is YpiAT or Consul followed by another E telling us that Trajan had been Consul five times when the coin was made. Since these titles did not always start on January 1, we will see such a coin dated as 110-111 AD.
Lets read: Autocrator (in Latin this would be Imperator) Caesar Nerva Trajanos Augustus Germanicus Dacius (defeater of the Germans and Dacians) / Tribunical power 15 times and Consul 5 times Greek was the common language in much of the Roman Empire and most Provincial coins use it. Latin was Western and old school Italian which was becoming less important after Emperors started being from places other than Italy.
