SAMARIA. Series with personal names and miscellaneous letters. Sanballat (?), governor of Samaria, circa 430-407 BCE. Rbʾ Šql = Drachm (Silver, 16 mm, 3.20 g, 1 h). Two male figures in close combat: at left, a dominant figure standing right, grasping his opponent by the hair and pressing a dagger (?) to his throat; at right, his opponent giving way to left, right leg slightly bent, left leg deeply flexed, both arms extended in defence; between them, 𐡎𐡁 (SB in Aramaic); all within dotted square border. Rev. Two bearded soldiers standing face to face, each holding spear and round shield; the left figure with a quiver (?) on his back; the right figure rendered incuse except for the shield boss, which is decorated with a facing head of Bes in relief; all within incuse square. CSC 71 = Samuels, Rynearson & Meshorer 24 = Shoshana I 20059 = Wyssmann p. 259, MQ 49.a (same dies). Hendin -. Jeselsohn -. Meshorer & Qedar 49 (same dies). Sofaer -. Extremely rare and of great historical interest. Large test cut and some cleaning scratches, otherwise, nearly very fine.



This highly important coin forms part of the so-called Sanballat group of Samarian coinage. The point of departure for this group is the Aramaic legend 𐡎𐡁, SB, long associated with Sanballat, one of the few historically well-attested officials of Persian-period Samaria. Sanballat, called 'the Horonite' in the biblical tradition, is best dated, in the narrower framework of recent scholarship, to about 430-407 BCE, when he appears to have served as governor of Samaria. He is known above all from the Book of Nehemiah, where he emerges as the principal opponent of Nehemiah, a Jewish official at the Persian court who came to Jerusalem with royal authorization to strengthen the city’s political and defensive position. Already Nehemiah’s arrival 'displeased them greatly' (Neh. 2:10), and Sanballat, Tobiah and Geshem responded to the rebuilding of Jerusalem’s wall with the pointed question: 'Are you rebelling against the king?' (Neh. 2:19). The conflict is therefore best understood not as a matter of personal or religious hostility, but as one of regional power politics: a fortified Jerusalem strengthened Yehud and could diminish Samaria’s influence.

The most important extra-biblical testimony for Sanballat’s historical existence is the Elephantine letter of 407 BCE, which explicitly refers to 'Delayah and Shelemyah, the sons of Sanballat, governor of Samaria' (TAD A4.7 and lot 125 below). This confirms Sanballat’s office independently of Nehemiah and shows that his sons Delayah and Shelemiah were already politically relevant figures in 407 BCE. Sanballat thus appears not as an isolated adversary of Jerusalem, but as the head of a Samarian elite family whose next generation becomes historically visible in Delayah and Shelemiah.

The attribution of the coins to Sanballat himself remains unproven, but their late 5th-century BCE date is technically and iconographically convincing. Of particular interest is the scene on the obverse of the present coin, depicting two male figures in close combat. The dominant figure on the left seizes his opponent by the hair and holds a dagger (?) to his throat. The meaning of the scene is not entirely clear, but it recalls representations of the Great King on Sidonian coins and on Samarian issues of Sidonian type (CSC, pp. 257 ff.), although in these depictions the king grasps a lion by the mane. For the reverse, see the commentary under lot 123 below.