jahrbuch numismatik geldgeschichte - Medievalcoinage.com

14 J. Elayi, A.G.Elayi
one bears on the obverse a vertical stroke possibly representing figure one.
If the bronze coin is part of a first bronze coinage issue and if the stroke
represents figure one", these two coins can be dated from the end of the
period. M could be the abbreviation of MLK, already known on 'Elpa'al's
coins12: therefore `MG would mean IYN'L) MILK) G(BL), however the
meaning of IYN'L) G(BL) without MLK is not satisfactory. On the other
hand, the hypothesis proposed for GL and GB is very likely: these letters
which cannot be abbreviations of 'Aynel's name probably represent the
name of the city, with two kinds of abbreviations in order to distinguish two
issues. The replacement (for the first time) of the name of the king and the
royal title by the city's name has a political meaning13. Moreover, the purpose
of transfering the abbreviation into the reverse is probably not, or not
only, to occupy an empty space, but the space reserved for the royal name.
Since this series is characterized by the name of the city, there is another
more interesting hypothesis for interpreting `MG and `G: 'M GBL,
„(assembly of) the people of Byblos". As a matter of fact, the word 'M
followed by the name of the city was often used during the hellenistic period
for indicating the official era of Phoenician cities14.
In Byblian coinage, the role of abbreviations has been limited because of
the presence of complete inscriptions: they have sometimes been added to
these inscriptions, probably in order to distinguish the different issues of
each king. If the meaning of some of them is not clear, likely hypotheses can
be proposed for the others.
Tyre
The first series of Tyrian coins with a dolphin on the obverse comprises
some uninscribed coins (unless the inscription is off field) and coins with a
complete (or supposed so) inscription. The following series bearing on the
obverse a god on a seahorse comprise uninscribed and inscribed coins,
followed or not by a number. The location of the inscription on the obverse
or reverse is evidently for practical reasons (Table 2): in the series with the
dolphin on the obverse, the large free space above the dolphin was the best
space for the inscription. On the other hand, when the dolphin was replaced
by the god on the seahorse, there was no space left on the obverse and the
inscription was naturally transfered into the free field on the reverse. We can
" Baramki, op. cit., p. 150, n° 11; BN Paris, Coll. de Luynes, n° 3154.
12 Babelon, Traite 112, n° 866.
13 In the sense of a weakening of royal power; cf. Elayi, op. cit.
14 For ex. KAI 19, 1.8: gLg HMgM gT [SR], „in the 53th year of the people of Tyre";
the existence of an assembly of the people ('M 'RS) seems to be attested at Byblos (KAI
10, 11. 10, 11).