PHILISTIA. Azotos (Ashdod). Circa 420-350 BCE. Rbʾ Šql = Drachm (Silver, 16 mm, 3.32 g, 12 h). Female head with long hair to left, wearing a crested Corinthian-style helmet, its facial section rendered as the face of a long-bearded man to left. Rev. Bearded male figure (Bes?) advancing right, head facing, with two pairs of wings, the upper pair straight, the lower pair curved; to upper right, 𐡀𐡔 (ʾŠ in Aramaic); to upper left, 𐡃𐡃 (DD in Aramaic); in lower left field, head of a horse to left; in lower right field, head of an uncertain animal to right; all within dotted square border within incuse square. Gitler & Tal II.3Dc corr. (this coin, but described as a male head to left). Hendin -. Jeselsohn 10 var. (same dies, but with 𐡁 (B in Aramaic) added later to the female's cheek). Shoshana -. Sofaer -. Extremely rare and among the finest known examples of this fascinating issue. Beautifully toned and with highly complex and unusual iconography. Slightly rough and with a test cut on the reverse, otherwise, very fine.



The iconography of this piece is exceptional. The Philistian die engravers’ fondness for hidden images and optical illusions is strikingly evident on the obverse: the ‘facial section’ of the Corinthian helmet is rendered as the head of an older man with a carefully shaped long beard. Gitler & Tal describe the principal head, facing left, as male; perhaps they saw in the image a deliberate play on stages of life, in which the face of an inexperienced youth is concealed beneath the martial countenance of a mature, bearded man. More likely, however, the principal head should be understood as female, analogous to the depictions of Athena on Corinthian Pegasoi, which clearly served as the model for the type; the intended effect would then be a play on gender rather than on age. Unlike the Greek prototypes of the fifth century BC, where the hair is usually straight and gathered into a knot, the hair on the Philistian imitation is rendered as a wavy eastern-style coiffure.

The reverse is no less striking. The bearded male figure with two pairs of wings cannot be identified with certainty. While the frontal, mask-like head recalls Bes, the two pairs of wings place the figure within a broader Near Eastern repertoire of winged protective beings. Four-winged forms of Bes are attested in Phoenicianizing contexts, and the motif also invites comparison with Mesopotamian figures such as Pazuzu, whose developed iconography includes two pairs of wings, as well as with the winged genii or apkallu of Neo-Assyrian art and the four-winged protective figure of Achaemenid Pasargadae. The figure on the present coin is therefore perhaps best understood not as a straightforward image of Bes, but as a local Philistian hybrid, combining an Egyptianizing, Bes-like head with the wider Near Eastern iconography of winged protective beings.