Mauretania, Tingi
2nd-1st Centuries BCE
AE 27mm, 14.13g, 12h
Head of bearded Baal-Melqart to right; to right, scepter (?)
Rev: P’LT TING’ (in Neo-Punic) Two grain ears; below, pellet in crescent.
MAA 153. Mazard 589-92. SNG Copenhagen 721-4
Ex Collection of Prof. Dr. Paul Probst
ex Roma 2018
Tingi was the ancient name for the modern-day city of Tangier, Morocco. Originally a Carthaginian city, it was supposedly named for a daughter of Atlas who supported the vault of Heaven. Herakles had traveled there in search of the golden applies, and then slept with her after killing her husband Antaios. His bones, or likely those of some dinosaur, were a tourist attraction in ancient times.
She in turn gave birth to Syphax, the berber hero and not the later king. The Caves of Herakles may still be visited today.
In the first century BCE, the city came under Roman rule and became a significant port. This coin, though, was minted before the Roman occupation and has in Punic – City of Tingi. This was after Carthage had been defeated by Rome, during which Mauretania was ruled by a series of Roman-allied kings.