Phoenician currency

thumb|300px|An electrum Carthaginian shekel, c. 310–290 BC, bearing the image of [[Tanit, consort of Baal Hammon]] A shekel or sheqel (; , , plural , ) is an ancient Mesopotamian coin, usually of silver. A shekel was first a unit of weight of a value that varied over time and by issuing authority. It was also used in ancient Tyre, Carthage, Philistia and Hasmonean Judea.