Sale: CNG 64, Lot: 725. Estimate $200.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 24 September 2003.  Sold For $280. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

SYRIA, Decapolis. Gadara. Autonomous Issues. Year 1 (64/3 BC). Æ 22mm (10.31 gm). Bust of Herakles left, lion skin knotted around shoulders, holding club / LA ROMHS above ram of galley. Spijkerman 1; Rosenberger 1. VF, brown and green patina. Rare. ($200)

In 64-63 BC Roman troops, under Pompey, liberated the Greek cities conquered by Alexander Jannaeus. Pompey personally supervised the reconstruction of Gadara. The people of Gadara wished to make a record of their new foundation, and so in commemoration of this event they established the year 64-63 BC as the beginning of a new era for their history, in substitution for the Seleukid era.