Baalshillem II

The transition of the Sidonian monarchy from Eshmunazar I's dynasty to that of Baalshillem I coincided with Sidon independently issuing its coinage, featuring the likenesses of its reigning kings.

The most complete work addressing the dates of the reigns of these Sidonian kings is by the French historian Josette Elayi, who shifted away from the use of biblical chronology.

Elayi used all available documentation of the time, including inscribed Tyrian seals and stamps excavated by the Lebanese archaeologist Maurice Chehab in 1972 from Jal el-Bahr, a neighborhood in the north of Tyre.

[12][13][14][15] In 539 BC, the Achaemenid Empire conquered Phoenicia, resulting in Sidon, Tyre, Byblos and Arwad becoming Persian vassal kingdoms.

[16][17] Eshmunazar I, a priest of Astarte and the founder of his namesake dynasty was enthroned King of Sidon around the time of the Achaemenid conquest of the Levant.

[18][19][20] In the mid 5th century BC, Eshmunazar's dynasty was succeeded by that of Baalshillem I; this dynastic change coincided with the time by which Sidon began to independently mint its own coinage bearing the images of its reigning kings.

The coins dating from the reign of the Baalshillem I dynasty show the abbreviated names of the respective kings, a custom of the Sidonian royalty.

[25] In a passage of the Oxyrhyncus manuscripts, relating the events of the 398 BC Battle of Cnidus, the leader of the Sidonian fleet is named in the papyrus as Sakton.