Achaemenid coins

The Royal Achaemenid coinage was as magnificent and powerful as the Achaemenid kings were themselves. The gold daric was, next to Athenian “owl”, the most significant type of coin in the ancient world before Alexander the Great, as confirmed in ancient written and epigraphic sources. Apparently blinded by the magnificent glow of royal gold coins, ancient writers like Aristotle (Oec.2.1345β) failed to notice that the picture of Achaemenid coinage is much more complex and includes also coins struck by satraps and other representatives of the Great King. It is not my intention to present here a detailed typological and metrological analysis of the royal or satrapal coins; this has been done elsewhere1. My purpose here is rather to define some important features of the royal coinage and compare these to the so-called satrapal coinage. A further aim is to expand on satrapal coinage, i.e. to define the phenomenon, to determine its distinctive features and to place it correctly in the pattern of coinage of the Achaemenid Empire. Particularly important is indicating the exact position of satrapal coins in reference to royal and local coinages.

This paper gathers sixteen unlisted coins from several auction cata logues with identical typology: a helmeted head (identified as Athena) on the obverse and a falcon inside a pelleted square on the reverse. Nine of them show the first coin legend in Phrygian identified so far: iman, a personal name. After the analysis of their iconography and legend, a location of the mint in Phrygia during the 5 th or 4 th century BC is suggested.

This article concerns an extremely rare tetradrachm struck in the
Rhodian standard, bearing an image of the Great King on the obverse and a depiction of a prow on the reverse. The coin surfaced on the antiquarian market in 2017 and was published by the Classical Numismatic Group. By comparing this tetradrachm to the coins of the “Great King/map of Ionia” type and the very rare daric from
the former de Luynes collection, the present article proposes that the coin be dated to the first half of the 4th century BC. The author also analyzes the symbolism of the monetary types used in the case of the present coin within the context of other examples of Achaemenid coinage.

There is an imitation of Athenian “owl” struck in the name of
Sabakes, the penultimate Achaemenid satrap of Egypt, preserved in the District Museum in Toruń. The piece found its way to the museum together with the coin collection of Walery C. Amrogowicz (1863–1931). It was Professor Mariusz Mielczarek, who originally recognized and published the item. The aim of this article is to publish some new information about the piece. First of all, it has been established that the coin came from the former collection of Jean P. Lambros (1843–1909), a well-known dealer in antiquities from Athens, and had originally been found in Egypt. Some remarks concerning the minting activity of Sabakes
are also presented. The iconography, purpose and output of the satrap’s silver and bronze coins are analyzed.

The topic of my Mémoire de licence at the UCL (Université catholique de Louvain), this research was started in October 1981 at a time I had no knowledge of the paper published by O.H. Zervos in NC 1982. Dealing with the same problem (when Alexander the Great began to issue his silver tetradrachms "Herakles/Zeus Aetophoros"), it turns out that we arrived at the same conclusion: not before autumn 332 BC, while in Tarsus after the battle of Issus. The reasons are several: iconographical (the first Macedonain issues show a Oriental throne, parallel legs, dotted sceptre and a stool which are non-Greek [even more so if taken together]), stylistic (it looks like if the same engraver was responsible of the last Persian issues at Tarsus for Mazaios [Tarkumuwa] and the first for Alexander) and metrological (it makes more sense to adopt a new standard for silver after the first victories in Asia than because the exploitation of the mines of the Mount Pangeus). In addition, the pattern of the hoards buried before 330 BC also argues for a lowering of the traditional date given to the first Alexanders in silver: 332 BC instead of 336 BC.

Study of 2189 coins found on three archaeological sites in Jemmayzeh, the eastern entry of Beirut. The finds stretch from the Persian to the modern period. The Medieval and contemporary coins are studied by Hassan el-Akra. Find attached the contents and the introduction.

Two lesser-known satrapal coin issues, which both date to the Achaemenid period, will be discussed in this article. The first is represented by a unique bronze piece which bears the image similar to the well-known “Great King/Iranian horseman” issue. The coin was probably struck in south-western Asia Minor or the Levantine-Egyptian region around 350-333 BC, although the issuer remains unknown. The second issue is made up of silver obols with an Iranian horseman on the obverse and a walking Iranian-clad personage on the reverse. The most similar coin types to both come from Tarsiote coinage from the end of the 5th century BC. As a result, this issue is attributed to the Tarsos mint and dated to c. 400 BC or a little earlier. The coin was probably struck by a local ruler called Syennesis, that ruled Cilicia around approximately 400 BC.

The Greek Overstrikes Database (GOD) includes 44 cases of overstrikes under and over Pamphylian or Cilician silver staters. For Pamphylian and Cilician mints active during the 5th and 4th c. BC, identified overstrikes include cases of: Soli (c. 475-450 BC) on Aegina (before); Aspendos (c. 460-420 BC) on Phaselis (c. 530-500 BC)  x 2; Side (c. 460-410 BC) on Phaselis (c. 530-500 BC); Aspendos (c. 420-410 BC) on king of Kition (449-400 BC); Aspendos (c. 420-410 BC) on Evagoras of Salamis (411-373 BC); Side (c. 400 BC) on uncertain Cypriot (?) x 2; Side (c. 400 BC) on king of Kition (c. 449-400 BC)  x 2; Issos (c. 400 BC) on Evagoras of Salamis (411-373 BC) x 2; Aspendos (c. 400-380 BC) on Tarsos - Pharnabazos (379-374 BC); Side (c. 400-375 BC) on Aspendos  (c. 420-375 BC?); Nagidos (c. 380-370 BC) on Kelenderis (c. 425-400 BC); Nagidos (c. 380-370 BC) on Tiribazos (386-380 BC) or Salamis or Nagidos; Issos (c. 380-370 BC) on “wrestlers/slinger” (Aspendos?); Tarsos – Datames (378-362 BC) on Side (c. 360-333 BC); Aspendos (c. 380-330 BC) on Side (c. 400-350 BC); Tarsos – Mazaios (c. 361-333 BC) on Aspendos (c. 385-325 BC); Issos (c. 333-323 BC – Balakros) on Tarsos – Mazaios (361-334 BC); and Selge (c. 325-190 BC) on Aspendos (c. 325-250 BC). This paper aims to put this highly interconnected network of overstrikes into historical perspective.