Europa Programme 2011 with the theme 'Explorers' - Phoenician explorers
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2011
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Europa Programme 2011 with the theme ‘Explorers’
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Phoenician Explorers
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In 2011 the Central Bank of Malta issued a silver and a gold numismatic coin as part of the Europa Programme 2011 ‘Explorers’. A Phoenician oar-driven vessel and the 'Europa Star', which is the official logo of the programme, are depicted on the reverse side of the coin. The Phoenicians, an ancient nation of seafarers and traders, inhabited a small country on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea whose indigenous name was Kanaan. Its two main maritime cities were Sidon and Tyre. In their westward voyages in pursuit of new trading opportunities since the second millennium B.C., the Phoenicians founded many colonies in the Mediterranean as far west as Spain.
The exact date of their settlement in Malta, whose large, sheltered harbour they exploited to great commercial advantage, is not known but it is generally accepted that they occupied the Maltese Islands around the 8th century B.C.
To this new colony they brought their syllabic alphabet and their religion, with its two chief deities, the god Baal and the goddess Astarte.
The most important colony of the Phoenicians was the city of Carthage, on the Tunisian headland in North Africa. In the course of time, the Carthaginians supplanted the Phoenicians in the Central and Eastern Mediterranean, including in Malta some three centuries later.
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Type
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Denomination
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Diameter (mm)
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Gross Weight (g)
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Finesse
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Designer
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Mint
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Mintage
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Silver Proof
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€10
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38.61
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28.28
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0.925
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Royal Dutch Mint
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Royal Dutch Mint
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10,000
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Gold Proof
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€50
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21
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6.5
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0.916
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Royal Dutch Mint
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Royal Dutch Mint
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2,000
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