★ Rare Depiction of Kronos-El ★

SELEUKID KINGS OF SYRIA. Antiochos IV Epiphanes, 175-164 BC. (Bronze, 21 mm, 5.67 g, 1 h), quasi-municipal issue, Byblos, circa 168-164. Diademed and radiate head of Antiochos IV to right. Rev. ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΑΝΤΙΟΧΟΥ and "[belonging] to holy Gebal ( in Phoenician ) Six-winged Kronos-El standing left, holding was -scepter in right hand. HGC 9, 663. Rouvier 652. SC 1443. Very rare type. Brown patina. Porous, otherwise, about very fine.

From the Thomas Kirby Collection, USA.

Like other Phoenician cites under Antiochos IV, Byblos was granted authority to mint quasi-municipal issues with the head of the king on the obverse and types of local importance on the reverse. Here the figure on the reverse is the many-winged god Kronos-El, who was thought to be a Canaanite ruler who founded Byblos, one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. Known as El to the Phoenicians, he was the most important deity on their pantheon, and was equated by the Greeks with the Titan Kronos.