PHOENICIA. Marathos. Circa 240/39-151/0 BC. Tetradrachm (Silver, 28 mm, 16.24 g, 12 h), CY 35 (?) = 227/6 BC. Turreted head of Tyche to right. Rev. [MAPAΘHNΩN] Marathos seated left on pile of shields, holding aphlaston in his right hand and filleted palm frond in his left; below, date in Phoenician. Duyrat, Ateliers, 57-58. HGC 10, 184. Extremely rare. Minor edge chip on the obverse, otherwise, fine.


The Phoenician city of Marathos lay on the Levante mainland in close proximity to its rival, the island polis of Arados. Periods of independence alternated with domination from its powerful neighbor, which considered Marathos part of its mainland peraia. The Aradians eventually destroyed Marathos in the late 2nd or early 1st century BC, as reported by Strabo: '[...] Marathus, the latter an ancient city of the Phoenicians, now in ruins. Aradians divided up this country among themselves [...]' (Strab. XVI, 753). Rebuilt on a smaller scale sometime thereafter, the settlement never fully recovered and was eventually abandoned in the late 1st or early 2nd century AD.