Sorry for the stupid question, but what did I buy here?

[Rupert]

This is an interesting coin that I bought (I don't have it yet) which was too interesting not to take at the price of about two McDonalds meals. It is of silver, 10 mm, the given weight is 0,4 grams. The obverse shows a male head with (satrap's?) cap r.; the reverse is one I've never seen before, with (four?) apparently Semitic letters on a kind of rectangular tablet. Unfortunately, Semitic letters are still a book with seven seals to me, so can anybody tell me anything about this coin? Thanks in advance,
Rupert

[Rupert]

This is what I think I see in this coin:

[Loukianos]

I should say something like Arados, Phoenicia. The basic type in IV^th century is a stater (and all the subdivisions) with head of Melkart laureate, and galley on waves. Letters indicating the date were added later.
Cf this one in Wildwinds :
AR 1/12 stater = obol, (0.60g) c. 340 BC, Head of Melkart right. / Two Phoenician letters. Galley right, waves below. S5980.

[Rupert]

Hello Loukianos, thank you for your reply. I studied the net a little and think you are right it's from one of those Phoenician cities (Sidon, Arados, Tyros). I have the coin in hand now and it looks slightly different than I thought from the picture. So now I MS-PAINTed again:

Red: Water with ship r. and oarsmen
Blue: Three letters
Green: Another letter or the mast of the ship?
Yellow: The dotted outline of the incuse square.

What I didn't find anywhere is the letters in the field. Can anybody read them? They should help to pin down the city.

Thanks in advance,
Rupert

[Loukianos]

Another one (from CoinArchives):
1/12 Stater (Obol), 400/350 BC

[Loukianos]

From this one (a stater from CoinArchives), I think there are only two letters, in the middle :

[Loukianos]

Perhaps the right one (same letters?)
Arados, AR 1/12 Stater (Obol), 400/350 BC.; 0.56 g.

[Loukianos]

Yours for an easier comparison :

[Loukianos]

I found the letters very similar in all these coins. But unfortunately I've no idea of their meaning. Nevetheless it seems to indicate the city, and it would be Arados.

[Loukianos]

Another one, with date 13 on the left side of the inscription(IIIL). As we are in a semitic writing, it is to be read from right to left. The two letters are "MA", as I found in the description of another coin:
ARADOS. Stater, ca. 400-350. Kopf einer männlichen, bärtigen Gottheit mit Lorbeerkranz rechts. Rs: Galeere mit einer Reihe von Schilden über dreifacher Wellenlinie nach rechts fahrend, darüber "ma" (in phönikischer Schrift); das Ganze in Perlquadrat und in vertieftem Quadrat.

[Rupert]

Thanks a lot! I've looked it up in Coinarchives now as well, and searching "stater and arados" I found these pictures. Now I see the right "letter" actually is part of the ship's prow, as the left one belongs to its stern. That leaves two letters, which occur in similar shape on all these coins (it thus quite evidently belongs to this Arados series). The first letter on the right seems to me to be a mem, the second an aleph?, but I'm not sure. This is how I re-design the coin now with ship, letters, water and frame:

[Loukianos]

The meaning of "MA" seems to be "from Aradus". I found the explanation 'ex Arado’ (Latin translation); in semitic writing only the consonants are written down. So M stands for a word meaning "from", and A is the first letter of Arados.
In one of the previous pictures, these letters are followed (on the left) by numeral indicating the date.

[Rupert]

Thanks a lot, now it's all quite clear!

Rupert

[Loukianos]

Yes, we've got it...
Now it's time for me to go to bed, I've to get up early tomorrow (it's 11.30 pm here...)

[Rupert]

So we're in the same time zone. Same goes for me. Good night!