ARABIA, Eastern. Oman Peninsula. Mleiha (?). Abi’el, daughter of Baglan, circa 200 BCE. Tetradrachm (Silver, 27 mm, 15.17 g, 9 h), imitating Alexander 'the Great' (336-323 BCE). Head of Herakles to right, wearing lion skin headdress. Rev. 𐡀𐡁𐡂𐡀𐡋𐡁𐡓𐡕𐡁𐡂𐡋𐡍 ('’by’l brt bgln' in Aramaic) Male figure seated left on low throne, holding long scepter in his left hand and eagle standing right with closed wings in his right. CCK 118 = Mitchiner, Trade, 1358 = Potts (Suppl.) 181 = Senior, Arabia, 5.4 = Van Alfen 376a (this coin, O1/R1). Haerink, Abiel, 1-3 and 5. Very rare, one of just twelve known examples. Beautifully toned and with an unusually clear legend. Very fine.


When publishing his supplement, Potts stated that his Class S2, to which this and the following two lots 2238-2239 belong, 'make the greatest contribution to the numismatic study of eastern Arabia… due to the length and clarity of the Aramaic legend'. Since the seated figure here holds an eagle instead of a horse protome, these are likely to be the earliest issues bearing the name of Abi’el. They are also the first coins with an inscription in Aramaic, instead of the ancient South Arabian alphabet.

On these early tetradrachms, the name Abi’el is followed by various patronyms. Macdonald has convincingly established that on all coins the patronym, rather than being preceded by bar, 'son (of)', with the patronym in all cases beginning with a t, and therefore consisting of rather impossible names, is in fact preceded by bar-t, 'daughter (of)', meaning that Abi’el was an Arabian queen! In fact, apart and beyond the legendary Queen of Sheba, North Arabia is remarkable within the ancient Near East for its succession of at least six priestess-queens in the eighth and seventh centuries BCE that make appearance in the Neo-Assyrian annals. Much later, the sisters/wives of the Nabataean kings are given significant prominence on coinage as well.