Here's a tetradrachm of the Characene king Attambelos III (AD 37/38 - 44/45). Absolutely nothing is known of this king except his dates of rule, and that only because the Characenes were nice enough to date their coins according to Seleucid precedent. (Unfortunately the date on my example is too much off-flan to make it out.) If you're not versed in the history of this Arabian/Persian neck of the woods, basically Antiochus IV installed a satrap in this region (Aspasine), and when the Seleucid Empire started dissolving, the satrap became the ruler of a new kingdom that was mostly independent, but under the hegemony of the Parthians. First-Century sources record that the Characenes were called Mesene, and lived mostly on the Arabian side of the Persian Gulf. Here's a nice map from wiki... The earliest coins of this kingdom are billon tetradrachms, but they appear to the naked eye to contain quite a bit of silver - I'm guessing 60-70%. By the time of Attambelos III, however, they've been debased to bronze. This is one of those coins where you take what you can get. The surfaces are rough, and it's a bit overcleaned, but the detail on this example is superior to any I've seen. You can do much, much worse as far as the reverses go - just look at the Wildwinds page. Also, it would seem that the reverse dies were considerably larger than the flans. Still working on attribution, but it's Hercules with his club...
Very cool coin, JA ... and apparently a sweet big chunky dawg as well, eh? (14-ish grams, or what?) Nice, I may even think about this puppy when you decide to flip it?
Yes, quite chunky, 15.1g. I'll let you know if I decide to flip it, but I intended to keep it for my Arabian-themed collection.
=> good for you (I'm glad to see you holding on to a few of the winners that pass through your hands)
BMC and SGI only call it a rock, but omphalos sounds good to me. An omphalos IS a rock after all, but of course not every rock is an omphalos. Did the Characenes employ baetyls in their religion? Many Arabian cultures did, but the Characenes were also heavily influenced by the Greeks and Persians. So who knows? Something to investigate....
what a cool coin, looks familiar...yet it isn't quite like anything else exactly in style. looks like someone has a good coin show trip! characene: how do you say this? kar a sine? cha rasine?
I think Kerasene? Kingdom of Characene Kuwait, Charax-Spasinu Attambelos I (r. BC 47-24 AD(?)) Bi Tetradrachm (s. ZΠΣ 287 SE AD 26/5) Obverse: Diademed bust of Attambelos I right. Reverse: BAΣIΛEΩΣ / ATTAMBHΛOY behind, ΣΩTHPOΣ / KAI EYEPΓETOY before, Herakles naked seated left on a cuirass holding club, monogram above arm, Π below arm, ZΠΣ (date) in ex. Ref: Unlisted date. Note, Trésor 1976 Note:Unique Date VF, cupric deposit. ex. Mervin Collection 8/2015
Thanks for the nice map which is far better than just stating modern day Kuwait. I pronounce Characene like the petrochemical Kerosene (care – oh – scene) but I just do that because it is easy to remember & nobody has told me otherwise. Apparently there is much difference in the metal purity & style between Attambelos I and III. Here is my coin of care-o-scene: Kingdom of Characene (Tigris Valley - Kuwait) Attambelos I AR Tetradrachm 44 - 39 B.C. 12.39 gms, 27.1 mm Obv: Diademed bearded head right Rev: Naked Hercules seated left on stone (possibly an Omphalos stone) club resting on knee held with right hand. Monogram above right arm. BAΣΙΛ[?] / ATTAMB[?] to right, [Σ]ΩTHP[?] to left. Grade: gVF with sharp strike on good silver fabric. Coin is nicely centered with attractive toning. Some letters off the flan as noted with only rough planchet surface in exergue. Other: BMC 3. Listed in the Catalogue of the Greek Coins of Arabia, Mesopotamia, and Persia page 291 & plate LV #11. Coin may be dated 269-273 a.s. = 44-39 B.C. The existence of king Attambelos I was unsuspected until 5 silver tetradrachms were acquired by a soldier in Mesopotamia and submitted to the British Museum in 1920. Purportedly purchased from BC Universal, New Britain CT in 2011. From private sale March 2014. Edit to add: I think all our coins depict a cool Omphalos stone.
