Its a little slow, so I will post this one: I won it a few weeks ago. Its a Tet from Tyre of Trajan, (love the illiteration), on the obverse, and Melqart on the reverse as Hercules. Melqart was an old near eastern regional god, and it appears the Romans were trying to tie his legend into their Pantheon. Anyway, I always thought it was a neat coin. I am kind of proud of myself in that the auction before they had a number of these in a lot, and I didn't buy those but bought a single example instead. Well, truth be told I was outbid on the lot, but still.
Yeah, I should have spoke on the obverse elements. THere is an eagle beneath Trajan, a club, (most assuredly a reference to Hercules), and a stalk of grain. The grain once was thought to be a palm frond, but I agree with new research its grain. Also, this coin used to be assigned to Antioch, and its in Mcalee's book on Antioch, but has been reassigned to Tyre. Tyre makes more sense, since Melqart was a Phoenician god, and Antioch never followed them much.
Nice!! ... wow medoraman, that's an amazingly cool coin (congrats!!) I have a similar type of coin ... well, the obverse is similar, but the reverse differs somewhat ... => I think both coins are awesome ... PHOENICIA, Tyre. Trajan AR Tetradrachm AD 98-117 Struck AD 110/1 Diameter: 27 mm Weight: 14.44 grams Obverse: Laureate head right; below, club left and eagle standing right with wings folded Reverse: Tyche seated right, foot set on river-god swimming to right below Reference: McAlee 470 (Antioch); Prieur 1498 Other: 7h ... toned, some porosity, light scratches in field on obverse, slight die shift on reverse
"tet from tyre of Trajan"...say that five times fast. wonderful new coins med...glad you posted yours also stevex, I thought of it right away, but couldn't remember what was on the reverse.
Really great coin Medoraman! Love the eagle and club! Attractive obverse and reverse portraits, and nice legends as well!!
