Obolos 18

PHOENICIA. Byblos. Uzzibaal, Circa 400-365 BC. Shekel (Silver, 23.5 mm, 13.28 g, 2 h). Galley, with an eyed prow ending in a ram and a lion’s head figure head, and with three armored Greek hoplites standing left on deck, moving to left above waves; below, Phoenician letters ’z o above a hippocamp swimming to left with a murex shell below. Rev. zb’l mlk gbl (in Phoenician) Lion attacking a bull to left. BMC 4-5. HGC 10, 133. SNG Copenhagen 132. Reverse struck slightly off center, otherwise, extremely fine.

From the Trausnitz Collection, ex UBS 78, 9 September 2008, 1059.

The coins of the Phoenician cities often commemorate their naval prowess. The lion and bull on the reverse are clearly ‘oriental’ in style, far less ‘Greek’ than the similar type found on the coinage of Akanthos; yet both go back to the same age-old Eastern prototype, as found on the much earlier issues of Kroisos of Lydia.