PHOENICIA, Marathos. Civic bronze, dated CY 105 (155/4 BC).

PHOENICIA, Marathos. Civic bronze, dated CY 105 (155/4 BC). Æ 22 mm, 10.01 g, die axis 12 h. Veiled and draped female bust right, usually identified as Queen Berenike II or the city-goddess; dotted border. Rev. MARATHOS standing left in military dress, left arm resting on a column, right hand holding an aphlaston (ship’s stern-ornament); Phoenician date 𐤀𐤌 𐤋𐤅𐤁 (“year 105”) in outer left field, mint monogram inner left. Attractive dark chocolate surfaces with lighter earthen highlights; well-centered on a broad flan. Very scarce, especially in this preservation. Duyrat Ateliers Series 4, 141–147; HGC 10, 193; DCA² 798.

Struck during the turbulent mid-Hellenistic era, this coin encapsulates Marathos’ unique position between the Ptolemaic and Seleucid spheres of influence. The veiled bust is widely thought to honor Berenike II, whose marriage to Ptolemy III secured Egyptian control of the Phoenician coast in the early 3rd century BC; by 155 BC, however, Marathos was back under loose Seleucid suzerainty, and the reverse proclaims the city’s own maritime aspirations. The aphlaston, emblem of naval prowess, evokes the war fleets that once made Marathos (modern Amrit, Syria) a coveted harbor, while the Phoenician dating formula asserts local civic identity amid larger imperial rivalries. As such, the piece offers a rare, bilingual snapshot of cultural negotiation—Greek portrait style, Phoenician script, and a proud city personified—at the very moment when Hellenistic power in the Levant was beginning to fracture.