The kingdom of Paphos is situated on the west coast of the island of Cyprus. Its successive kings are known to us from literary sources, epigraphic finds and mainly by their coin production, dated from the end of the sixth century down to 310/309. The first coins are shekels on the Cypriote weight standard, with a kneeling bull with a human face on the obverse, and on the reverse an astragalus (a symbol that refers to the consultation of oracles through the casting of dice), with the name of Siromos in Cypriot-Syllabic script.
The shekels of the next king, whose name starts with the Cypriot-Syllabic sign a, show a walking bull on the obverse and the head of an eagle on the reverse, while the third of the early kings, Pnyt (-), employs the same iconography and the same weight standard as his predecessors.
Stasandros and his successors
The next king, Stasandros, retained the bull on the obverse of his shekels but inaugurated a new reverse type, an eagle standing with wings closed, with an ankh (or occasionally a small vase and an ivy leaf) in front of its claws and his name in Cypriot-Syllabic script. Stasandros, who also issued smaller fractions such as sixths, twelfths and twenty-fourths of a shekel, reigned in the second half of the fifth century.
His three successors, Pnytos, Mineus and Zoalios, all issued shekels with the same types. Zoalios has been shown to have recut worn dies of his predecessor for his own coinage. An ankh was added on the reverse, and the part of the legend indicating the king's name was altered while the part of the legend indicating the royal title 'king' was retained.
Onasi(-) and his successors
Towards the end of the fifth century the next king Onasi (-) issued shekels on the Cypriote weight standard showing a walking bull accompanied above by a solar disk and a mihr (winged disk) on the obverse and a flying eagle, sometimes with an ivy leaf in the field, on the reverse.
Fractions of the same king, such as thirds, sixths and twelfths of a shekel, bear the same types.
To the same period can be dated coins with the same iconography but on the obverse the name of a king Ari (-), and that of another king, whose name cannot be read with certainty ( mo-a-ke-ta, a-ke-ta-mo ).
Timocharis and his successors
His successor, Timocharis, introduced new types on his shekels. We find on the obverse Zeus seated on a throne holding a sceptre and a sacrificial bowl (phiale), on the reverse a female figure standing (possibly Aphrodite), wearing a wreath and dressed in a chiton and peplos; in her left hand she holds a branch with fruits, in her right a phiale over an incense-burner. The legend in Cypriot-Syllabic script reads 'of king Timocharis'.
Timocharis' successor Timarchos was the first king of Paphos to coin in gold and the first to use the Greek alphabet on his coins. The obverse type of a head of Aphrodite and the reverse type of a dove appear both on his silver coin issues and on a unique tenth of a gold stater. His bronze coins bear a diademed head of Aphrodite on the obverse and on the reverse either a dove standing on a base or a rose with a letter on either side.
The last king of Paphos, Nikokles, is mentioned in epigraphic documents discovered in the Paphos area as the son of Timarchos. A rare issue in silver of this king shows on the obverse a head of Aphrodite wearing a combination of a tall stephanos and a mural crown, and on the reverse Apollo seated on the omphalos and the Greek legend NIKOKLEOUS PAPHION. Only one of three specimens known is authentic.
A remarkable feature was discovered only recently: on several dies of the Alexander coinage issued by the Paphos mint, the name of Nikokles was incorporated in minute letters between the strands of hair on the head of Herakles. These exceptional issues must be dated in the period that followed the death of Alexander the Great, characterised by the struggles of his successors for control of the island.