Tarsos (BC 425-400) Stater

ca 425-400 BC. AR Stater (10.66g). Melkart riding hippocamp right; waves below / Marine deity standing left, holding trident and grain ear. Toned VF. Very rare. Ex von Aulock Collection, 5908.

Contemporary to these coinage issues, Cilicia was part of the Achaemenid Persian empire, with Tarsos being its most prominent eastern city. According to Colin Kraay's article "The Celenderis Hoard" (NumChron [1962], pp. 1-15) and book, Archaic and Classical Greek Coins, they are among the earliest issues of Tarsos. Based on the marine implications of the obverse types (and reverse of the stater), coupled with the general dating of the issue, it is quite possible that they were made in conjunction with the mobilization of the Phoenician fleet by Tissaphernes at Aspendos in 411-410 BC.