This coin records new honors that
Sidon had received from
Elagabalus, the titles colony and
metropolis.
Sidon's rival Tyre, in contrast, which
had become colony and
metropolis under Septimius, temporarily lost these honors under
Elagabalus and issued coins with the bare
ethnic TVRIORVM.
It seems likely that
Sidon had supported
Elagabalus in
his revolt against
Macrinus whereas Tyre
had supported
Macrinus, and that the two cities were rewarded and punished accordingly after Elagabalus'
victory.
The AETERNVM BENEFICIVM or Perpetual Benefaction commemorated by the
rev. type apparently refers to an imperial gift of grain to the city, symbolized by the
modius, with the promise that it would be repeated in the future. Several other imperial gifts of grain to Greek cities, sometimes specified as being grain from
Egypt, are known.
Caracalla had apparently granted a similar benefit to
Laodicea in 215 or 216 when he was in
Syria for
his planned
Parthian campaign, as evidenced by a coin of the bearded
Caracalla struck by
Laodicea with
modius rev. type just like Sidon's, and
inscription AETERNVM BENEFICIVM LAOD
DAT, 'A Perpetual Benefaction Accorded to the Laodiceans'.
The above is summarized from R.
Ziegler,
Antioch,
Laodicea, and
Sidon and their Political Relationship to the Severans,
Chiron 8, 1978 (in
German).
