This is my first silver coin of either this ruler or from this region of central Anatolia in what is now Turkey. Ariarathes appears to have been regarded as an 'enlightened despot' and was distinguished by his cultivation of philosophy and the liberal arts---and seems to be considered by some to have been the greatest of the Kings of Cappadocia. Ariarathes ruled from 163-130 BC, killed in 130 BC in a war of the Romans against Aristonicus of Pergamum. The last of his successors was Archelaus (35 BC-AD 17) -------Cappadocia became a Roman Province upon his death. AR Drachm of Ariarathes, struck 131-130 BC; Mint A, Eusebeia-Mazaca 18 mm, 4.28 grams; Simonetta 17 Diademed bust right, Athena Nikephoros standing left, holding spear and shield set on ground; monograms inner left and outer right.
Great coin ! Shows some family resemblance with the contemporary Seleukid issues. On the reverse i find interesting that Athena is holding Nike who seems to be crowning the letters of the name of the ruler.
The thing I see as odd here is that these coins have a regnal year in exergue. Sear lists a gamma lambda or year 33 which this must be but the lambda has a bottom making it look like a delta. Gamma delta is not an allowable date since both are units and we need one tens place number. My only similar example is a later ruler Ariobarzanes I (95-62 BC) year 29. The bottom line above the date is Philoromanoy or friend of the Romans. This king owed his position to the intervention of Sulla.
That is a nice looking coin. I have one similar: CAPPADOCIAN KINGDOM: Ariarathes V AR Drachm OBVERSE: Diademed head of Ariarathes V right REVERSE: Athena standing left, holding Nike & resting hand on grounded shield, HDI monogram in outer left field, PAFI monogram in inner left field, HF monogram in outer right field, date GL in exergue Struck at Cappadocia, Year 33 (= 130 BC) 4.2g, 18mm SNG Copenhagen Suppl. 673–678. Simonetta p. 24, 20b
I noticed this too, but I don't quite know what to make of it ?? These two examples on acsearch are similar and seem to be from regnal year 33 as well and one has a more DELTA looking lambda as mine???
The letter forms as a whole on the OP coin and others posted seem rather crude. Being a Hellenistic successor state, Greek was used on the coins of the Cappadocian Kingdom but the Cappadocians themselves did not speak Greek until a later period. It should not be surprising then that a mint worker semi-literate in Greek might confuse Δ for Λ.
There is a book, "Dated Coins of Antiquity" by Edward E. Cohen, that discusses almost all explicitly dated Greek (not Roman) types from antiquity on 652 pages with many enlarged illustrations of coins and further enlargements big enough to really see the dates. It's a big book, 11 1/4" x 8 1/2" by 1 3/4". Pages 267-272 list all the dates known on coins for the Cappadocian rulers with dated coins. It is published by CNG and not cheap, but it is very interesting.
Wow, that's a sweet OP-coin, Mikey-Z (congrats, coin-brother) ... sadly, I do not have an example to toss-into your cool thread (*sigh*)
Very nice portrait on this coin, and I agree it looks very much like a Seleucid coin from a similar timeframe. Then again there was widespread copying of the style of coins of Alexander III a few centuries earlier; is this is a similar situation does anyone know?
Beautiful coin JB....and the copying of previous issues seems clear to me as well NicK19.... In this case, Ariarathes was of both Persian and Macedonian descent so the influences of a Greek heritage and culture would seem inevitable....even after Roman domination.
