Tyre, Phoenicia (hippocamp coll.)

[B]Byblos, Phoenicia (time of King Azemilcus/Uzzimilk; 347- 340 BC.) AR Shekel[/B] [U]Obv[/U]: Melquart holding drawn bow & riding hippocamp, facing right; dolphin below stylized waves; raised circular decorative border. [U]Rev[/U]: Owl standing right, facing head; crook and flail over shoulder, date year mark 10 (338/7 BC) to right; raised circular decorative border. [u]Attribution[/u]: Betlyon 37, n.112; BMC 13; SNG Cop. - [u]Provenance[/u]: ex. Harlan J. Berk, MB151 (#209), 11.1.06 [u]Weight[/u]: 8.20 gm [u]Maximal Diameter[/u]: 19.5 mm [u]Axis[/u]: 12 [u]Note[/u]: Azemilcus, king of Tyre, was serving in the Persian fleet under Autophradates at the time when Alexander arrived at Tyre (c.334 BC). He was in the city when it was finally taken after a seven-month seige by Alexander (Arrian, ii. 15, 24.). Quintus Curtius (4.2.10-12) writes that at the time of Tyre's fall to Alexander, a Carthaginian delegation is in Tyre to celebrate the annual festival of Melkart-Heracles. Azemilcus, the chief magistrates and the Carthaginian embassy take refuge in the temple of Heracles. To them Alexander grants full pardon but he severely punishes the people of Tyre. Some thirty thousand are sold into slavery, and two thousand Tyrians are nailed to crosses along a great stretch of the shore. GK245