Exceptional Sidon Half Shekel

Sale: Triton X, Lot: 402. Estimate $3000.  Closing Date: Monday, 8 January 2007.  Sold For $7750. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

PHOENICIA, Sidon. Uncertain king. Circa 435-425 BC. AR 1/2 Shekel (7.10 g, 12h). Phoenician pentekonter sailing left over waves / King of Persia standing right, drawing bow, quiver over shoulder; behind, incuse facing head (Bes?); before, incuse head of goat right. Elayi & Elayi 75 var. (-/R23 [unlisted obv. die]); Betlyon 5; Rouvier 1078; BMC 2; SNG Copenhagen 188-9. Good VF, darkly toned. Exceptional for issue. Very rare.

Like the other cities of Phoenicia, Sidon was renowned for its seafaring abilities, both commercially and militarily. Because of this dependence on the sea for their livelihood, the Phoenicians applied their technological abilities to the development of swift and powerful ships. Beginning sometime in the ninth century BC, the Phoenicians developed a long, shallow-draft vessel powered primarily by a single row of twenty-five oars on each side, though a removable mast and sail was also used when wind was available. A bronze beak was placed on the bow of the ship for ramming one’s opponents. Known as the pentekonter, the ship’s defense included a line of shields along the gunwhale, which protected the oarsmen and could be used as necessary by the soldiers who manned the vessel. The tactical advantage such ships offered and the great naval capabilities of the sailors themselves made the Phoenician pentekonters the choice of the Persians for their imperial navy. Thus, the coinage of pre-Alexandrine Phoenicia, and this half-shekel in particular, reflects this important relationship between Persia and Phoenicia. Similarly, the reverse designs on the coins of Sidon indicate a particularly strong relationship between the city and its imperial overlord. While the larger dishekels show the Persian Great King in his chariot followed by the king of Sidon, the shekels display the Great King shooting a bow, similar to his depiction on imperial Persian sigloi (Carradice Type II).

The purpose of this particular issue is uncertain. One theory is that these coins were used to pay the captain and crew of the pentekonters. Persian involvement in Mediterranean affairs in the last third of the fifth century BC afforded ample opportunity for the deployment of the Phoenician fleet, and may well have occasioned the minting of this type of coinage. Most significantly, in 431 BC the Archidamian War, the first stage of what became the Peloponnesian War, broke out between Sparta and Athens. To counter Athens, the Spartans began diplomatic negotiations with Persia for support. Such support would likely have included sending ships to offset the Athenian advantage on the sea. Coinage would have been required to fund such an undertaking, and it is quite possible that this was the occasion for striking the present coin.