PHILISTIA. Central Mint. Philistian-styled, circa 420-350 BCE. Rbʾ Šql = Drachm (Silver, 17 mm, 3.88 g, 6 h). Bearded male head to right, wearing helmed decorated with a lily on the bowl. Rev. Bes standing facing, wearing plumed helmet; to upper left, 𐡔 (Š in Aramaic); to upper right, uncertain letter or symbol; all within incuse square. Gitler & Tal XVIII.2Da = Gitler, Johananoff & Tal, Bes (forthcoming), Table 1. 11. CP XVIII.2Da = Mildenberg, Palästina, pl. LIX, 89 = Mildenberg, Petra, p. 65, 22 (this coin). Hendin -. Jeselsohn -. Shoshana -. Sofaer -. Apparently unique. A wonderful, beautifully toned coin. Somewhat rough and with a test cut on the reverse, otherwise, good very fine.



This coin presents, for the first time, a full figure of Bes, the ancient Egyptian apotropaic deity; for further related representations, see Gitler & Tal XVIII.4-7. By contrast, its obverse depicts a bearded male head wearing a helmet reminiscent of Athena’s, though without the crest and with the ornaments on the helmet bowl reduced to a lily. The piece remains unique; recently, however, an obol or m‘h from the same series appeared on the market (Roma XXVII (2023), 463), its obverse showing the beard more clearly and thus confirming beyond doubt that the head is male.