EXHIBITION THE COINS OF TARSUS Saint Paul Tarsus

EXHIBITION THE COINS OF TARSUS

Saint Paul Tarsus was Paul’s home-town. He was very important in the early history of Christianity. Some of his letters are in the Bible in the New Testament. St Paul on a medal of Pope Pius XII (1939 -58)

Some of the cities visited by St Paul on his missionary journeys

Tarsus is a modern city in Turkey, but its history goes back thousands of years. It was a city in the Hittite Empire from 1800 to 1200 BC. From 850 to 550 BC it was in the Assyrian Empire. From 550 to 333 BC it was in the Persian Empire. Although coins were invented in about 650 BC they were not minted at Tarsus till about 450 BC.

The history of the coinage of Tarsus can be divided into 3 periods: 1. PERSIAN PERIOD: 450 -333 BC 2. SELEUCID PERIOD: 333 -63 BC 3. ROMAN PERIOD: 63 BC-268 AD

The First Coins of Tarsus This silver coin is from 450 – 400 BC. It shows a Persian archer drawing his bow.

The First Coins of Tarsus This silver coin is from 425 – 400 BC. It shows a Greek soldier, probably a mercenary. It might have been used to pay mercenaries. The Aramaic letters above the shield stand for TRZ.

From 374 to 362 BC the Persian governor of Tarsus was Datames. Baal (Lord) of Tarsus holds a bunch of grapes and an ear of grain. Ana (the sky god) points to Datames. Between them is a censer.

An obol of Datames Heracles (Hercules) has the paws of a lion-skin tied around his neck. The goddess Aphrodite (Venus) wears a necklace and ear-rings.

From 361 to 334 BC the Persian governor was Mazaios. Baal holds an eagle on a branch. A lion attacks a bull.

In 333 BC Alexander the Great defeated the Persian army at Issos. He went on to conquer the whole of the Persian Empire. Silver coins (tetradrachms) were minted by him at Tarsus. Heracles wears a lion’s skin with its head as a headdress. Zeus, the chief of the Greek gods, holds an eagle. The plough is the mint-mark of Tarsus.

The part of Alexander’s empire that was centred on Syria became known as the Seleucid Empire after Seleucus who was one of his generals. It was ruled by Seleucus’s descendants, the greatest of whom was Antiochus III (233 -187 BC). Antiochus III The god Apollo sits on the Omphalos (the navel of the world).

The Seleucid rulers promoted Greek (Hellenistic) culture. Antiochus IV (175 -164 BC), the son of Antiochus III, tried to suppress the religion of the Jews but they fought back in the Maccabean Revolt after which Judaea was an independent kingdom until it became part of the Roman Empire in 6 AD.

In 63 BC the Roman general, Pompey, incorporated the region into the Roman Empire, and Tarsus became the capital of the Roman province of Cilicia. Syria

The first Roman emperor was Augustus (27 BC– 14 AD). At Tarsus he issued tetradrachms with Tyche on the reverse. The river-god Cydnus swims at her feet. Augustus Tyche was copied from a statue of the Tyche of Antioch. There is a copy in the Vatican Museum.

At Tarsus in 41 BC the meeting occurred of the Roman general, Mark Antony, and the queen of Egypt, Cleopatra. They fell in love. Elizabeth Taylor played the role of Cleopatra.

St Paul was born in Tarsus in about 5 AD. The remains of the city that he knew lie several metres below the present street level. In 1993 when making an underground parking station this Roman street was discovered:

In Roman times a variety of coins was minted at Tarsus. The designs largely reflect Greco-Roman religion and mythology. Hadrian (117 -138 AD) issued tridrachms at Tarsus with Sandan on the reverse.

Heracles was a popular hero and he often appears on ancient coins. On a coin of Caracalla (198 -217 AD) his fight with Antaius is shown. Antaius was the son of Gaia (the earth goddess) and Heracles could only defeat him by holding him up above the ground.

Dionysus, the god of wine and revelry, was also popular. He is shown on a coin of Tranquillina, the wife of Gordian III (233 -244 AD) on the left and on two coins of Herennia, the wife of Trajan Decius (249 -251 AD): He holds an empty wine cup but is fully clothed. He is drunk and his clothes have fallen down to his knees. He is very drunk and leans on a satyr.

A marble statue found when digging the foundations of a building in Rome in the 16 th century. It is a 2 nd century Roman copy of a Hellenistic original.

The last coins were minted at Tarsus when Gallienus (253 -268 AD) was the Roman emperor. Artemis, the moon-goddess and huntress, draws an arrow from a quiver.

THE END Paul of Tarsus