Silver Dome-shaped Coins from Persian-period Southern Palestine

Abstract

The paper discusses a so far unknown group of peculiar Athenian-styled Palestinian
coins. This group, which includes mainly “drachms” but some “obols” as well, was struck
from worn obverse dies (i.e., dies damaged by prolonged use), which were then recut and
repolished. As a result, the coins’ obverse in many cases is simply dome-shaped, with no
traces of Athena’s head or helmet being recognizable. The coins’ distribution suggests
that they circulated in the boundaries of what we define as Edom in the later part of the
Persian period and might well have been the silver money mentioned in several of the
Edomite ostraca.