Tetradrachm - Cleopatra VII Ascalon

Struck at Ascalon during the final decade of Ptolemaic rule, this tetradrachm belongs to a period when Cleopatra VII was locked in succession struggles following the death of Ptolemy XII Auletes in 51 BC. Ascalon, a semi-autonomous coastal city in Judaea, operated its own mint and produced Ptolemaic-type silver under royal authority — an arrangement reflecting the fragmented administrative reach of a kingdom already hemorrhaging territory to Rome.

The 50–49 BC window places this coin squarely in the period of Cleopatra's joint reign with her brother Ptolemy XIII, before he forced her into exile in 48 BC.