Seleukid Empire. Antiochos VII Euergetes (Sidetes) AR Tetradrachm (12.5g, 30mm, 12h). Tyre, 135/4 BC (Year 178 SE)
Obverse: Diademed and draped bust right. Bead border.
Reverse: BAΣIΛEΩΣ ANTIOXOY. Eagle standing left on prow left; palm frond over far shoulder; to left, club of Hercules surmounted by Tyre mongram (YTP), A/PE above; to right, AΣY-mongram above date, HΟΡ (Seleukid Era 178); Σ between eagle’s legs.
References: SC 2109.6a; HGC 9, 1074; DCA 198.
Pedigree: Ex-Roma Numismatics e-Sale 11, Lot 363 (part; London, 23 August 2014)
Numis Notes: Nice broad flan, devices centered. Surface roughness & a bit light (neither unusual for type)
Hist Notes:The Seleukid Eagle Tetradrachm was the predecessor & stylistic model for the famous “Shekel of Tyre,” and, as I explain elsewhere, represent a sort of “Proto-Shekels of Tyre.” (The Seleukid type was, in turn, influenced by the Ptolemaic Tetradrachm of similar style.) Even after Pompey Magnus took Tyre for Rome in 64 BC, the city continued to issue the iconic Shekel for another 130 years. When production ceased in 65/66 AD, the design of the coin remained strongly influential for Roman Provincial Tetradrachms.
Dating under SE (Selucid Era) on these coins uses the Bablyonian Calendar, a rather complicated “lunisolar” system based on phases and cycles of the moon, resulting in a year of approximately 354 days.
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