The first coins appeared in Syria shortly after 550 BC, about the time they were invented by King Croesus of Lydia. They were introduced to Syria by the Persians when the country became a satrapy in the vast Achaemenid Empire. The image of a ship with oars stamped on the coin reflects the importance of the Mediterranean Sea trade at the time and the ambition of the Great Kings, living in Iran, to profit from the commercial exchange through Syria and its maritime contacts. Coins greatly simplified transactions, as can well be imagined.
Provenance: unknown.
Era: about 400 BC.
Substance: silver.
Diameter: 3.9 cm.
Text: adapted from Fortin (p. 230).
Photography: Muḥammad ar-Rūmī.
Collection of the National Museum of Damascus.
Michel Fortin, Syria, Land of Civilization. Les Éditions de l'Homme, Musée de la Civilisation de Québec 1999.
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