Tetradrachm

Marathos was a Phoenician city on a small island just off the Syrian coast, connected to the mainland by a causeway. It maintained its own autonomous coinage for longer than most Phoenician cities, continuing to strike silver well into the period when Seleucid authority was tightening across the region. The city was eventually destroyed by the neighboring city of Arados — its bitter rival — around 148 BC, which places a hard terminus on this coinage and makes later dates in the production range considerably scarcer than earlier ones.