SYRIA, Decapolis. Petra. Hadrian, 117-138. Tetrassarion (Bronze, 27 mm, 14.34 g, 6 h). ΑΥΤΟΚΡΑΤⲰΡ ΚΑΙϹΑΡ ΤΡΑΙΑΝΟϹ ΑΔΡΙΑΝΟϹ ϹЄΒΑϹΤΟϹ Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust of Hadrian to right. Rev. ΠЄΤΡΑ ΜΗΤΡΟΠΟΛΙϹ Turreted and veiled Tyche of Petra seated left on rocks, extending her right hand and holding trophy in her left. RPC III 4100. Spijkerman 3. An unusually well preserved and attractive piece. Repatinated and with a minor flan fault on the obverse, otherwise, good very fine.


Petra, the legendary capital of the Nabateans, was a center of caravan trade. Following the annexation of the Nabatean Kingdom by Trajan in AD 106, it lost its status as a capital and became one of the members of the Decapolis, a league of twelve cities. The city declined during the 2nd century AD, as trade routes increasingly bypassed it through the Red Sea. In 363, it was heavily damaged by the disastrous earthquake that shook much of the Levante, and finally abandoned in Islamic times, falling into oblivion until 1812, when the Swiss traveller Johann Ludwig Burckhardt rediscovered its impressive royal tombs entirely carved out of the surrounding sandstone formations.