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

Arados, Phoenicia, tetradrachm, AR, 2nd–1st century BC, Arados mint, 15.22g, 32mm. Obverse with veiled, draped, and turreted bust of Tyche right. Reverse with legend APAΔIΩN ΘΛP ΘC, within a laurel wreath. Well-centered on a broad flan with clear legends and devices; minor areas of flatness consistent with the issue. Reference: HGC 10, 72.

This civic silver tetradrachm reflects the monetary autonomy of Arados, a major Phoenician island-city whose coinage circulated widely in the eastern Mediterranean during the late Hellenistic period. The depiction of Tyche, the city’s protective fortune, is characteristic of civic iconography employed by regional mints to assert identity and stability amid shifting political control following the Seleukid decline and the expansion of Roman influence.