Amrit, also known as Marathos (sometimes spelled Marathus) was the northernmost Phoenician city state. My Phoenician ancestors held temple games centuries before the Greeks conceived the Olympics and they got the idea when they sailed to Amrit and saw the temple games. This shows how sporting events have pagan origins. Therefore, I don't see why many American Christians have nothing else to talk about other than sports. Nevertheless, shown below is a bronze coin from Amrit circa 174 - 173 B.C. The obverse shows the bust of Ptolomy VI with a kerykeion over his shoulder. The reverse of the coin shows Marathos, standing left and the date of IIIIIIINNNN on the left.
To translate the date to Arabic numerals, the I in Phoenician is equavilent to a 1 and the N to a 20. Therefore, adding all the 1's and 20's presents us with the date the coin was minted to be in the regnal year of 87.
The name of the city is found on the right side of the reverse and those Phoenician letters correspond to TRM (read from right to left). Since early semitic scripts didn't generally have vowels, the A and the I were not written with the name of the city. Some people will interpret the MRT as an abbreviation for Marathos instead of the Phoenician spelling of Amrit.
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