Mazaios Stater

CILICIA, Tarsos. Mazaios. Satrap of Cilicia, 361/0-334 BC. AR Stater (23mm, 10.6 g, 10h).
O: Baaltars seated left, his torso facing, holding eagle-tipped scepter in extended right hand; to left, grain ear and grape bunch above L (in Aramaic) to left, M (in Aramaic) below throne, B’LTRZ (in Aramaic) to right
R: Lion left, attacking bull right above crenellated walls; MZDY ZY 'BRNHR’ W ḤLK (‘Mazaios, Governor of Transeuphrates and Cilicia’ in Aramaic) above.
- Casabonne Series 4, Group A; SNG France 360; SNG Levante 113; Sunrise 67.

The Aramaic inscription on the reverse of this stater has prompted Biblical coin researcher David Hendin to reconsider the meaning of this coin type. It traditionally is translated as “Mazaios governor of Transeuphrates and Cilicia,” but Hendin translates it somewhat differently as “Mazaios who is over Eber Nahara and Cilicia.” The similarity of this inscription and a descriptive phrase used in two books of the Old Testament (which was codified at approximately the time this coin was struck) has led to Hendin’s suggestion that the walls on this coin represent the ones encompassing Jerusalem, which less than a century before had been rebuilt by Nehemiah, as related in the Books of Ezra and Nehemiah. (A fuller discussion of the subject is presented on pages 100-103 of the 4th edition of Hendin’s Guide to Biblical Coins.)