VOL. L.] PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. 293 



Three coins of Sidon, (fig. 3) different from the former, occur in Sig. Haym, 

 and 7 more in Mr. S.'s little cabinet, whose type is altogether the same, with 

 Phoenician dates, preceded by the 2 aforesaid initial letters upon them. To 

 which may be added 5 preserved in the noble cabinet bequeathed to Christ- 

 Church, Oxon, by archbishop Wake, and another in the valuable collection of 

 the Rev. Dr. Barton, canon of the said collegiate church, and a worthy member 

 of this Society. One side of these medals all exhibit the head of Jupiter, and on 

 the reverse the prow of a ship, the common symbol of Sidon. Most of them 

 had various Phoenician letters at first impressed on the upper part of the reverse, 

 and one of them (which is pretty remarkable) nearly the same characters there 

 that appear in the exergue. The first of the coins mentioned here was struck in 

 the year of Sidon 5. This has been perfectly well preserved, and is more curious 

 than any of the rest ; which were emitted from the mint at Sidon in various years 

 of the proper aera of that city, viz. the lO/th, 108th, 110th, 111th, 112th, 

 114th, 113th, llOth, 117th, and llQth. The most ancient of the Phoenician 

 coins now considered, preceded the commencement of the Christian aera 104 

 years, and is consequently 153 years older than the earliest Palmyrene inscription 

 that has hitherto come to our hands. 



Some years before Mr. S. published a small brass medal of Sidon, with the 

 heads of Jupiter and Juno on one side, and the prow of a ship on the reverse 

 (fig. 4) ; two more coins of the same type he has since acquired, and another 

 may be seen in Sig. Haym. These 4 pieces only exhibit the years of Sidon 125 

 and 132. 



Mr. S.'s collection also afi^brds tv/o (fig. 5) other Phoenician medals of Sidon, 

 and archbishop Wake's noble cabinet one, of the same type, with different Phoe- 

 nician dates in the exergue. To these may be added 5, with the publication of 

 which the learned world has been obliged by Sig. Arigoni. The anterior faces of 

 these coins are adorned with a veiled head, representing the genius of the city 

 where they were struck ; and the reverses with a human figure leaning on a pillar,, 

 and holding a branch of palm in its right hand. Several Phoenician letters also 

 appear, which may perhaps at first sight seem to render it somewhat doubtful, 

 whether the medals belong to Sidon or not. But every suspicion arising hence 

 must immediately vanish, when we cast our eyes on the two initial elements, 

 and the numeral characters in the exergue; which clearly enough indicate the 

 pieces to have been struck at Sidon, in the 83d, 87th, Q^th, 105th, 106th, 

 108th, 114th, and 11 6th years of the aera peculiar to that city. A Phoenician 

 coin of Sidon likewise occurs in one of Sig. Arigoni's plates, and another (fig 6) 

 in Mr. S.'s collection, with the turrited head and branch of palm visible on 3 of 

 the medals above described, which indisputably appertain to that city, too-ether 



