the character L, a symbol for "year," almost always precedes the date. This sign is sometimes also found on coins from Judaea, Palestine, and Phoenicia. It may have been derived from an Egyptian hieroglyph. For example, L GXR = Year 163.

Greek dates are also sometimes written out or abbreviated. Some examples follow (these are ordinal numbers):

The dates above may not be "proper" Greek. They are dates as actually written on Roman provincial coins minted in Alexandria and other cities.

To date a coin, you need to know the start date for the era. The eras in use at the various cities owed their origin to various circumstances. The local era of a city or province will often date from an important event in the history of the city, district,or province. The events that were the origin of many local eras are unknown. Sometimes the exact year from which an era started is also uncertain. Well-known and widely used historical eras include the following:

THE SELEUCID ERA. After the victory of Seleucus and Ptolemy over Demetrius at Gaza, B.C. 312, the former took possession of Babylonia. Hence the Seleucid era, in Syria and the neighborhood, was reckoned from October 1st, B.C. 312.

THE ERA OF THE PROVINCE OF ASIA, 134-133 B.C. The Ephesian cistophori bear dates reckoned from this era.

THE POMPEIAN ERA. In 64 B.C., after the defeat of Tigranes Pompey entered Syria. During the winter 64 - 63 B.C. he had his headquarters in Damascus and spent some months in organizing the affairs of Syria and reducing it