Arados, Phoenicia, 2nd-1st Century BC, Tetradrachm

Arados (Phoenicia), tetradrachm, AR, civic issue, Year 150 (110/09 BC), 15.14 g, 26 mm. Turreted, veiled and draped bust of Tyche right. Reverse with AΡAΔIΩN and the date/control marks NP–BC across the fields, indicating Year 150 of the Aradian era. Struck on the Phoenician standard; minting attributed either to Arados or to the so‑called pseudo‑Ephesian workshop (per Duyrat). References: apparently unpublished in silver; cf. Duyrat, Arados hellénistique, 2984–2987 and 4416–4417 (bronze issues of the same year with NP–BC). Arados was a leading Phoenician maritime city-state whose civic coinage reflects both its local identity and its commercial reach. The Aradian civic era (beginning in the 3rd century BC) allows precise year attribution; Year 150 corresponds to 110/09 BC, a period of diminished Seleucid power and increased municipal autonomy in coastal Syria–Phoenicia. The NP–BC field marks tie this issue to contemporaneous bronze series and support Duyrat’s observation of parallel production between Arados and a “pseudo‑Ephesian” workshop, illustrating the city’s Aegean connections and the administrative coherence of its dated series across denominations.