I'm very excited to share this new acquisition(!), an imitative owl of South Arabia from the 4th-century BC. These coins are extremely rare, even in poor grades, and this example is quite respectable. This coin comes from the Biblical land of Sheba, comprised of several small kingdoms: Aksum, Himyar, Qataban, Saba', and Hadhramaut. Source These small kingdoms became quite wealthy in antiquity, owing to the export of rare spices indigenous to the area, i.e. frankincense and myrrh. Southern Arabia, Qataban, Unknown ruler(s). AR Hemidrachm, 1.98g, 11mm, 9h. Timna, circa 350-320/00 BC. Obv.: Head of Athena right, Γ on cheek, wearing earring, necklace, and crested Attic helmet decorated with three olive leaves over visor. Rev.: Owl standing right, head facing; [olive sprig] and crescent behind, Royal Qatabanian monogram, composed of South Arabian letters h and l, and ÅQE to right. Reference: Munro-Hay p. 71, 1.0aii, pl. 48, 30-32; HGC 10, 711. These are the earliest known coins from South Arabia, originally attributed to the Sabaeans, but reassigned to Qataban by Munro-Hay. It is likely, however, that they crossed borders in trade. Although they are closely modeled after their Athenian progenitors, they possess some distinctly Arabian features, Athena's large nose being the most conspicuous. The Γ on her cheek denotes denomination, while the Old Southern Arabic letters on the reverse comprise a royal monogram. These monograms are yet to be deciphered. Now I know at least a couple of you CTers have some handsome Himyarite drachms, so let's see them.
Well, I have to get my kids off to school before dawn, which mostly consists of making lunches and mitigating inane disputes.
The Kingdom of Sheba is shrouded in mystery, as different ancient sources give different accounts. There is the famous account in the Hebrew Bible of the Queen of Sheba visiting King Solomon, but the same source describes two different kingdoms, Sheba and Seba, deriving from entirely different genealogies. Josephus writes about a kingdom of Saba in Ethiopia, the Koran also describes the Queen of Sheba's visit to Solomon, and ancient Ethiopian traditions also describe a Sheba - in Ethiopia. It seems confusing, and the matter is muddled even further by the fact that there was a considerable amount of cultural overlap among the Southern Arabians. For instance, scholars can't decide whether the various civilizations on the above-posted map spoke different languages, or dialects of the same. But archeologists generally agree that Sheba was located in Southern Arabia. The different ancient traditions may not be in conflict at all - they may simply be describing different cultures at different times with similar names. A Sabaean stele of a priestess... Source
I would like to collect one from Gaza as well, but they are typically in much worse shape than this NEWP, and enormously expensive. I will wait until some dealer grows weary of asking an arm and a leg for one while it collects dusts in his inventory.
Interesting coin. The ANA magazine had a writeup of these not long ago. Qatabian coins are much rarer than Sabean and Himyarite successors. I always find progenitor civilizations and their successors interesting. In the west it was the Greeks, in Arabia it was Qatabians, just like SE Asia was Funan. Such progenitor civilizations cannot be underestimated, as they set the tone and expectations for all that followed. Think of Rome. Does anyone think they really would have had such beautiful art and advanced engineering if it weren't for the Greeks? That is an example of the effect of a progenitor civilization, it sets up expectations for all subsequent civilizations in the area.
JA you've been a Ancient coin buying machine of late, i love the owl reverse, very nice pickup and great info too!!!
A very interesting subject concerning this coin is the South Arabian Alphabet. This alphabet evolved from proto-Sinaitic, in a completely different direction than Phoenician. The Phoenician alphabet is the ancestor of the Greek and Roman, to name a couple, but since South Arabian diverged from proto-Sinaitic long before the advent of Phoenician, it appears, visually, very different from the alphabets we are accustomed to. Source There are some beautiful examples of the script in the National Museum of Yemen... Source
That strikes me as a very, very nice coin doubtlessly from the East. My problem comes with the rather large numbers of smaller, uglier owls we see that might be from here or there or even from Athens if we allow enough for the ravages of time. For example, what is this .22g thing? I bought it in 1987 as a hemiobol of Athens but is it Greek or a copy from wherever? There are thousands of these little chips around.
This is a way-cool & informative thread. I've got this little coin (which is modern compared to JA's much older owl): I really have no understanding of the ligate letters/symbols on my coin. Here is how I've got my little coin described: ARABIA, Southern Saba' AR Unit (Light Drachm) ca. 50 B.C. – A.D. 50 2.15 gms, 14 to 15.4 mm Obv: Simple diademed head left with symbols in fields. Pellet within crescent at top, beaded boarder. Lower 50% of beading is off flan. Rev: Bucranium (Bull’s head) facing with symbols in fields Grade: Near Mint, lustrous and properly conserved. Slightly off center on a small diameter planchet. Other: No listing in Sear for this Southern Saba / Himyarite coin. SNG.ANS.1516. The biblical kingdom of ‘Sheba’ (ca. 1200 BC) was the ancient Semitic civilization of Saba’ in Southern Arabia (modern day Yemen). The ancient Saba’ Kingdom fell after civil war resulting in the rise of the late Himyarite Kingdom. Ex Pegasi, from Allen Berman October 2013
This coin has the gestalt of a Southern Levantine imitation, maybe Samaria, Ascalon, Gaza...The style does not seem Athenian at all, and at .22g it fits into the Philistian or Samarian standards (drachm = 3.9g) as a hemiobol, whereas in the Attic standard it's in the cracks between a tetartemorion and hemiobol. Of course, it might have lost .1g in circulation, but I've looked at quite a few Levantine imitative owls, and this one just "feels" like it belongs in that group. I wish I could be more precise.
that's a cool little coin from a part of the world that doesn't get to many threads. i wouldn't have guessed where it came from however, if i just saw a pic without your explanation. very interesting! picking this little 1st century himyarite up was one of my top 2014 scores! never did get a pic of my own that was worth a flip.
