c 083-82 BC - ARADOS, Phoenecia - TYCHE & NIKE, Silver 4drachm

$575.00

Silver Tetradrachm, Ancient Phoenecia

Arados, c. 83-82 BC (yr 177).

Obv: Turreted head of Tyche, right.

Rev: Nike standing left, within wreath.

Ref: Sear-G5991, BMC 239 (25mm, 14.63gm)

Arados (modern Arwad) was an important city of Northern Phoenicia. It occupied an island but also controlled an extensive area on the mainland.

Tyche (meaning "luck"; Roman equivalent: Fortuna) was the presiding tutelary deity that governed the fortune and prosperity of a city, its destiny. She is the daughter of Aphrodite and Zeus or Hermes.

Increasingly during the Hellenistic period, cities venerated their own specific iconic version of Tyche, wearing a mural crown (a crown like the walls of the city).

Tyche appears on many coins of the Hellenistic period in the three centuries before the Christian era, especially from cities in the Aegean. 

  • Inventory# PA-3157