The Bronze Coinage of Tyre: The First Years of Autonomy

The excavations at Gamla yielded several hundred small bronze coins of Tyre, minted in the first decades following the city's autonomy in 125 BCE. The study of these mostly unpublished coins casts light on the mint in this transitional period. Coins of four different types are dated "year 1," and another, showing Melqart and a palm tree, is dated from year 3 to 28. This latter type is probably often confused by numismatists with the similar Seleucid issues of the city. A checklist is provided for identifying and differentiating the coins with this civic type from the Seleucid coins.