Philosophical transactions, Vol. L. Part II. For the year 1758. / Giving some account of the present undertakings, studies, and labours, of the ingenious, in many considerable parts of the world.

by Various; Royal Society

III.

Three coins of Sidon, different from the former, occur in[171] Sig. Haym, and seven[172] more in my little cabinet, whose type is altogether the same, with Phœnician dates, preceded by the two aforesaid initial letters, upon them. To which we may add five, preserved in the noble[173] cabinet bequeathed to Christ-Church, Oxon. by Archbishop Wake, and another in the valuable collection of the Rev. Dr. Barton[174], Canon of the said collegiate church, and a worthy member of this Society. On one side these medals all exhibit the head of Jupiter, and on the reverse the prow of a ship, the common symbol of Sidon. Most of them had various Phœnician letters at first imprest on the upper part of the reverse, and one of them (which is pretty remarkable) nearly the same characters there that appear in the exergue. The first of the coins mentioned here was struck in the year of Sidon 5. This has been perfectly well preserved, and is more curious than any of the rest; which were emitted from the mint at Sidon in various years of the proper æra of that city, viz. the 107th, 108th, 110th, 111th, 112th, 114th, 115th, 116th, 117th, and 119th. We meet on none of these medals with the figure denoting TWENTY, used by the Sidonians, during the period I am now upon. It not a little resembles that which prevailed at Tadmor[175] in the reign of the emperor Claudius, about forty-nine years after the birth of Christ. The most antient of the Phœnician coins I am now considering preceded the commencement of the Christian æra 104 years, and is consequently 153 years older than the earliest Palmyrene inscription that has hitherto come to our hands[176].

IV.

Some years since I published a small brass medal of Sidon[177], with the heads of Jupiter and Juno on one side, and the prow of a ship on the reverse; but did not accurately enough describe the numeral characters, and two initial letters, in the exergue. I therefore take the liberty to send[178] you a new draught, perfectly well done, of that inscription. Two more coins of the same type I have since acquired, and another may be seen in[179] Sig. Haym. These four pieces only exhibit the years of Sidon 125 and 132.

V.

My small collection likewise affords two[180] other Phœnician medals of Sidon,[181] and Archbishop Wake’s noble cabinet one, of the same type, with different Phœnician dates in the exergue. To these may be added five, with the publication of which the learned world has been obliged by Sig. Arigoni[182]. The anterior faces of these coins are adorned with a veiled head, representing the genius of the city wherein they were struck; and the reverses with a human figure leaning upon a pillar, and holding a branch of palm in its right hand. Several Phœnician letters also there appear, which may perhaps at first sight seem to render it somewhat doubtful, whether the medals belong to Sidon or not. But every suspicion arising from hence must immediately vanish, when we cast our eyes upon the two initial elements, and the numeral characters, in the exergue; which clearly enough indicate the pieces to have been struck at Sidon, in the 83d, 87th, 95th, 105th, 106th, 108th, 114th, and 116th years of the æra peculiar to that city. A Phœnician coin of Sidon likewise occurs in one[183] of Sig. Arigoni’s plates, and another[184] in my collection, with the turrited head and branch of palm visible on three of the[185] medals above described, which indisputably appertain to that city, together with the very Phœnician letters and symbol imprest on the Sidonian coins now before me. This, exclusive of other considerations, that might be offered, must set the point I am here insisting upon beyond dispute.

VI.

I have another brass Phœnician medal of Sidon[186], not a little resembling those above-mentioned, both in workmanship and size, presenting to our view on one side the head of Jupiter, and on the other a human figure with a lance in its right hand. This coin, which has never yet been published, is adorned with a Phœnician legend on the reverse, different from those of all the others that have hitherto appeared. I therefore judged that a draught of it would not be unacceptable, though the date imprest originally in the exergue (answering to the 26th year of Sidon) has a little suffered from the injuries of time.

VII.

The next Phœnician medal of Sidon, which I shall take the liberty here to describe, is a small brass one[187], now in my hands, with a veiled head on the anterior face, and the prow of a ship on the reverse. M. Bouterouë[188], who has published it, rightly asserts it to be a Phœnician coin. The year of Sidon, preserved in the exergue of mine, is 74; and that in the exergue of M. Bouterouë’s, 73, though the first numeral character of the latter is somewhat deformed.