This striking silver coin was struck in Tyre, Phoenicia, between 400 and 360 BC. It shows Melqarth (more properly Melqart, Melkart, Melkarth or Melgart), the Akkadian-inspired defender of the Phoenician city of Tyre, facing right and riding astride a hippocamp (literally a sea-horse) through a series of waves containing fish. The reverse shows an owl, facing right and face to viewer, with a flail and a hook under its wing, contained within a cable border.
Melqarth became identified with Herakles when the Greeks spread across this area. The symbolism of the owl is uncertain but it is usually identified with wisdom and good fortune. It is also the symbol of Athena.
A tetradrachm is a Greek coin worth four drachms. It was minted for most of the second half of the first millennium BC throughout the Greek world.
This is a rare and impressive coin, in VF condition.