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Home > Catalog > |Roman Coins| > |The Severan Period| > |Diadumenian| > RP06541 Diadumenian, Mid May - 8 June 218 A.D., Byblos, Phoenicia  Astarte, a Phoenician fertility and war goddess, was the principal deity of the port city of Sidon. Other major centers of Astarte's worship were Tyre and Byblos, and she was worshiped as far west as Carthage, Sicily, Sardinia and Cyprus. The Greeks associated her with Aphrodite. Byblos produced papyrus and our word bible was derived from the name of this city.RP06541. Bronze AE 24, BMC Phoenicia 40 - 43, Rouvier 699, gVF, Byblos (Jbail, Lebanon) mint, weight 8.21g, maximum diameter 24.3mm, die axis 0o, as caesar, May 217 - mid May 218 A.D.; obverse [MOΠ] ΔIAΔYMENIANOC KAI, bare-headed, cuirassed bust right; reverse BYBΛOYIEPAC, temple of two columns surmounted by arch of shell pattern, containing Astarte standing right, foot on prow, crowned by Nike standing on column; partially uncleaned, fantastic portrait; scarce; SOLD  |