This is a very rare coin minted between 100 BC to 20 BC featuring the head of Hercules/Melkart (Melqart), the Punic god of Tyre, on one side and 2 Tunafish facing left on the reverse.


Melqart (Phoenician: 𐤌𐤋𐤒𐤓𐤕, romanized: Mīlqārt) was the tutelary god of the Phoenician city-state of Tyre and a major deity in the Phoenician and Punic pantheons. He may have been central to the founding-myths of various Phoenician colonies throughout the Mediterranean, as well as the source of several myths concerning the exploits of Heracles. Many cities were thought to be founded (in one way or another) and protected by Melqart, no doubt springing from the original Phoenician practice of building a Temple of Melqart at new colonies. Similar to Tammuz and Adonis, he symbolized an annual cycle of death and rebirth.


This coin comes from the ancient city of Gadir, which was a Phoenician colony in what is now modern-day Spain.


This coin was minted in Gades following the fall of Carthage.











5990