The Last Ptolemaic Bronze Emission of Tyre

Abstract

A bronze coin of Ptolemy V, struck at Tyre, bears his epithet Epiphanes and a spearhead
symbol. These features associate the bronze with a few precious metal coins (Svoronos
1904:206, Nos. 1247–1249), confirming Otto Mørkholm’s attribution of the “Monogram
and Spearhead Series” to Syro-Phoenicia. Ptolemy V assumed the demotic form of his
epiklesis before December 11, 199/January 9, 198. Our bronze and the tetradrachm
Svoronos 1904:206, No. 1249 are apparently the earliest documents with the Greek form
of the epiklesis. The numismatic evidence indicates that Tyre passed from Ptolemaic to
Seleucid control in the Egyptian/Macedonian year 199/8.