Shekel Tyre Civic Year 4 (123/2 BC)

PHOENICIA. Tyre. AR shekel (30mm, 14.09 gm, 12h). Dated Civic Year 4 (123/1222 BC).
O: Laureate head of Melqart right
R: TYPOY IEPAΣ KAI AΣYΛOY (Tyre the Holy and Inviolable), Eagle standing left on prow, palm frond over wing; to left, LΔ (date) above club, M and Phoenician bet between legs.
- DCA Tyre 9. DCA 921. ex ClassicalCoins.Com 2005

Note the unusual placement of the monogram. From years 1-4 the placement of the monogram varies, after which it became standardized to the right of the eagle.

A development which encouraged the wealth of Tyre seems to have been a religious revolution in the city under the reigns of Abibaal and Hiram which elevated the god known as Melqart (a deified version of Hercules) over the traditional divine couple of the Phoenicians, Baal (also known as El) and Astarte (Asherah). The primacy of Melqart (whose name means `King of the City') drew power away from the priests of the traditional pantheon of the gods and placed it at the disposal of the palace. Richard Miles notes, "It seems that a desire to bring the temples to heel lay behind the royal decision to replace the traditional chief deities of Tyre with a new god, Melqart"(32). The result was not only an increase in the wealth of the palace but, through a more efficient distribution of that wealth, increased prosperity for the whole of the city.