Sidon Shekel Demetrios II 1st reign 145 - 138 B C

Obv: Diademed head right

Rev: Eagle standing left HEP (date 145/144 BC) and monogram at left, SIDTH (in Greek) and aplustre at right

Metal Silver 13.73grams, 25 mm diameter. Condition: EF toned with minor lamination on reverse

After the wars for Alexander's empire, Sidon became part of the Selucid empire. With peace, trade flourished and the city became Hellenized and later Romanized.

Sidon became rich under the Selucids and later the Romans. Sidon was a great intellectual center with philosophers in the sciences of Astronomy and Arithmetic, having begun their studies with practical calculations and with night-sailings. According to Poseidonius, the ancient dogma about atoms originated with Mochus, a Sidonian before Trojan times. Sidon was famous for its glassware, purple dyeing and commercial bronze casting. Caligula commissioned from the people of Sidon a bronze statue of himself as Zeus to be erected in the Temple of Jerusalem.

The principle god of Sidon was Eshmun, a god of healing and associated by the Greeks with Asclepius. As well as the temple of Eshmun, there was also a temple in Sidon dedicated to Europa, the name sake of the continent of Europe.