Difficult Transitions of Greek Numbers on Dated Coins of Sidon

Abstract

In a period of less than a century after Alexander’s defeat of the Phoenician cities in 333 BCE,
the conventions for denoting numbers, and in particular for recording dates, changed three times
in one of those cities, Sidon. The dates of these transitions are pinpointed on the city’s coins. It
will be shown that, soon after the new systems were adopted, the die engravers of those coins
made mistakes. This study revises several erroneous dates on gold and silver coins of Sidon
struck under Alexander and Ptolemy II.