Achaemenid and Satrapic Coinage

Oh! I think you got a fourree there. I see a beginning of bronze disease. However, not that it diminishes the authenticity of the coin as it was probably minted by unscrupulous mint administrator.

 

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That Siglos Type II with the preserved shoe! It was actually the first post that made me discovered Cointalk. At that moment too, you expressed pride for its preservation state. Would you mind tell how it cost to you? I've got one, but clearly not as beautiful as that one.

As for the fractional sigloi of type IV, very good acquisitions. For fractional types of sigloi, these are the 2nd rarest type. Type II for smaller denominations are interestingly common, albeit lowly preserved. As for Type III, I have yet to see one in an actual auction or e-shop. Supposedly, 1/8 Type III sigloi exist...

 

Ancient fourrees exist. Sometimes, unscrupulous mint owners (or a worker that stole some dies) started to mint their own coins. Why I believe your seller is telling the true? Making a fake fourree is not really the best move to make money. First, Sigloi Type IV are common and can be regularly bought from 20 to 60 USD. Second, this is a low end coin. Fake low end coins exist, the fake plague affect more high end coins. Fakers want easy money will least effort. At last, making a fourree would be rather complex as it is a layered structure with the base metal within. Too much effort to reproduce compared to a full silver siglos.

Hope that helps.

Napata

 

Thanks for looking closely, but I believe you are wrong. What "green" you see is a green clay I sometimes use when trying to get a good photo. In this case, I didn't see the clay until afterwards, and I was too lazy to reshoot the image.

 

Now I understand. Due to the placement of the clay within a crack, I thought the true face of coin was starting to unveil.
Just like my type III siglos I bought from Solidus Numismatik that avered to be a fourree after close scrutinization. The official photograph couldn't tell between the two although the coin's tinge was rather dark...but it could have been strong patinization.

I basically compared your coin to what I experienced before.

Solidus Numismatik Photo:


My own photos:


Even the reverse displays bronze disease that wants ooze out.


This coin has terminal seven cancer.

 

Tissaphernes - Bronze Coinage Issues​

Tissaphernes - whose original non-Greek name was reconstructed and meant "with shining/bright splendor/fortune" - is a prominent figure in Achaemenid history for being a member of leading nobility line.
Over his career, he served two Achaemenid kings - Darius II and Artaxerxes II - until his political involvements led to his demise. Indeed, the narratives about him aren't free from bias as most comes from Greek sources and this grandee had many confrontations with them. From Persian perspective, we have nothing as Persians have few interconnected narratives about internal events. No surprises Roman and Greek cultures are prominent compared to other ancient cultures.

Now, we introduce three bronze coin issues whose attribution to Tissaphernes is seen as fairly certain (compared to other coins considered minted in his name).

There are three types/issues.

Type I - 'Athena in Attic Helmet/Zeus (or Dionysos)'

Type II - 'Head of Tissaphernes/Artemis of Astyra'

Type III - 'Athena in Attic Helmet/Rider (Tissaphernes?) in Persian attire'


Main reason the attribution is fairly certain is that his name is onto the flan of the coin - either the acronym 'Tissa' (ΤΙΣΣΑ) for smaller denominations or 'Tissaphernes' (ΤΙΣΣΑΦΕΡΝΟΥ) for larger ones. The second type has the additional legend that indicates the minting location: Astyra (AΣTYPH). A small village with a mint near Adramytteion.


Regarding Type II and III, the first is clearly minted at Astyra while the second coin is supposed either in Astyra or Adramytteion. Due to the lack of legend other than the coin attribution, scholars have various minting places in mind, but the two suggestions are the most likely.

To get back to Tissaphernes, his political career started in 413 BC where he became satrap of Lydia and karanos (title loosely translated as 'general'). He became the supreme Achaemenid official in Asia Minor and served Darius II (Nothos) at the time. What promoted him to this position was the defeat of the former Lydian satrap, Pissuthnes, who rose against his king.

Darius II apparently demoted Tissaphernes in 407 BC to the minor satrapy of Caria (see map) and his former titularies were given to Cyrus the Younger (second son to the eldest). During the Peloponnesian War (427-404 BC), Tissaphernes made manipulative negotiations with the city-state of Sparta where he requested them to no longer protect cities in Asia Minor. He did the same process with the Athenians who refused to get involved with the Persian grandee. When the negotiations were concluded, Tissaphernes never gave the promised navy to the Spartans in a play of realpolitik. This displeased both king Darius II and his queen Parysatis and it may the reason for Tissaphernes' demotion.

In 404 BC, Darius II was not found among the livings. Cyrus the Younger along with Tissaphernes were hastily going to Babylon to Darius' deathbed. However, during the traveling period, his older brother (the eldest), Artaxerxes II (formerly Arsicas) was enthroned in Parsagadae. Cyrus the Younger was furious. He subsequently conspired to murder his older brother to get the throne of Persia. Tissapernes reported Cyrus the Younger to Artaxerxes II about his murderous intents. Then, Cyrus the Younger was arrested, but pardoned thanks to his mother's pleas, Parysatis. He was then sent back to the satrapy of Lydia. However, another Persian grandee and military officer, Orontes, held the city of Sardis from Cyrus the Younger. Perhaps, Artaxerxes II conspired this to prevent his younger brother to restore his former position.

Still, Cyrus the Younger submitted Orontes and recovered Sardis. Artaxerxes gave up in meddling with his brother as he had more crucial matters: Egypt revolted few time after his taking of the Persian throne (typical event from subjugated kingdoms during successions). The Persian king built up his army for a march to Egypt. He had no other choice than acknowledging his younger brother to the Lydian satrapy.

Cyrus the Younger was no longer holding a huge satrapy and nor still held his title of karanos. This disgrace was unbearable for him. He lost the Ionian cities for instance. His resources were limited to Lydia and even complained he barely had resources to sustain his own court at Sardis. Perhaps, he knew his brother would degrade him further after his Egyptian campaign.

Tissaphernes was holding the Satrapy of Caria and the Ionian cities. Since he was now the enemy of Cyrus the Younger, he felt justified to take back what belongs to him.

In 401 BC, Tissaphernes suspected big to happen soon. Cyrus the Younger mustered mercenaries in Ionian cities and troops levied elsewhere. Tissaphernes knew the goal of taming the Pisidians was a fluke reason. The army was too big. Hastily, he warned Artaxerxes II to diminish the magnitude of the army sent to Egypt otherwise the center of the empire would be left vulnerable. This last-minute warning allowed the Persian king to defeat this attempt of subversion. Cyrus the Younger was slain and the remaining mercenaries negotiated the truce. Then, they returned to the West with difficulty as they were harassed by Tissaphernes' troops.

Then, in 400 BC, Tissaphernes was re-appointed as satrap of Lydia and got back his karanos title as Artaxerxes was satisfied by his loyalty.

Tissaphernes' downfall abruptly occurred in 395 BC when a courtier asked the Persian grandee to come to Colossae. There, Tissaphernes was murdered and scholars suspect Cyrus the Younger's mother, Parysatis, is behind this planning in revenge for his slain son.

To get to the subject of his bronze coin issues, Tissaphernes is seen as a forerunner in bronze coinage in Asia Minor. For a while, the earliest dated bronze coins were those in his name. As one of the pioneers in bronze coinage, this was a drastic change of paradigm from the traditional metals such as electrum, silver or gold. Some hypothetize he was a shrewd satrap that minted these base coins to minimize cost when hiring his mercenaries in Asia Minor, the cradle of bronze coinage where this coinage was acknowledged. Either Tissaphernes learnt from the local dynasts or he really was the pioneer. However, to mint coins in his name, this requires a strong authority and access to mints. Only during the periods when he was the satrap of Lydia and karanos that he had such ability. This means the period 413-407 BC or 400-395 BC. When he was demoted to the minor satrapy of Caria, he had no such power to mint coins nor access to mints. The three bronze coin types above are traditionally dated 400-395 BC mainly to a scholar who thinks the Persian bust representing Tissaphernes is one of a man past his prime time. Thus, they must be minted in the latest period. Plus, at the time, bronze coinage were not in big amount to derive conclusions compared to today. The earliest bronze coins at that time where from a Lycian dynast and were dated later than Tissaphernes' second office as Lydian satrap and karanos (400-395 BC). Now, there is a big possibility to be dated either 413-407 BC or 400-395 BC and this is why such coins are often characterized by two possible range of dates.

At last, I present a Tissaphernes Type III bronze coin. On the obverse, Athena is wearing the Attic helmet and, on the reverse, we see a horseback rider in Persian attire holding a spear. It is supposed to represent Tissaphernes as his name is put as legend above the rider.







Here are examples of the same type gathered from various sources.



Collecting coins is one thing, but the historical meaning behind them is the most fascinating part.

I have attached a paper below for those who might be interested to know more about Tissaphernes' bronze coin issues.

Napata

 

Thanks for the info, Napata ... a bit overwhelming, but awesome

 

Thanks Napata, that's very interesting information. I never realized bronze coinage came so late to Asia Minor. As far as I know, coinage in bronze in the Western world started about 450 BC in Sicily. I think that's an area that would be very rewarding to collect. For me, this is new.

 

Cilician Tetartemorions

In Asia Minor, Cilicia has many interesting variants of the satrapal coinage. The rarest amongst them are often these little 5-6 mm coins barely weighting 0.14 g on average. I think I have forgotten to post that following one among the others I have posted in another thread.

Troxell & Kagan Type #4 Variant
Obverse: Typical Running-Kneeling Archer
Reverse: Bearded royal head assimilated to the Persian king.





Other variants seen elsewhere:






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Then, the two other tetartemorions I have posted elsewhere while it should be here for all things Achaemenid-themed.

Troxell & Kagan Type #2b
Obverse: Running Archer iconography.
Reverse: Facing Apollo (or female facing figure).





Troxell & Kagan Type #2a
Obverse: Off strike of the running-kneeling archer where upper body is visible.
Reverse: Facing Apollo trying to emerge his nose out of the dirt.

 

Gee...I finally found a reference to a smaller denomination of sigloi Type III. Here it is mentioned only 1/8 siglos weight exists for the running-kneeling Persian king Type III. Yet I have to wade through a gigantic pool of archived coins to get to see one example.

And, on top of its rarity, the incuse is rather strange.

CNG Auction 334, Lot 179

The bidding war occurred to be quite fierce with an estimation of 150 USD for ending up to 850 USD. I see the bidders knew how rare is to see this pokemon.

It is interesting to see how common fractional Sigloi Type II (Persian king kneeling and ready to shoot an arrow) have become recently when they were rare few years ago.
As for fractional Sigloi Type IV, they are relatively accessible (most common being 1/4 Siglos).

But the Type III...I don't understand why being so rare while a full siglos Type III is rather common. I have heard this type was a new series introduced by Artaxerxes III while the previous ones belonged to Darius the Great. I wonder if there is a link.

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Have you ever felt you missed a great opportunity for a coin not only cheap and rare? I'm sure everyone did felt that gut-wrenching emotion at least once.

I have never had the chance to meet this hieratic and glorious Achaemenid-themed coin with a lance standing upright and his bow over his shoulder. Only 85 USD. That coin had no competition and thus was an easy grab within my financial capabilities (even with the hammer price tax). Plus, I don't remember seeing another like that one. The obverse (Athena) is quite nice too.

CNG Auction 322, Lot 324

 

I got three of those small buggers, still I am wondering how you could pay with them, you loose them all the time, so small and light.

 

Two New Tetartemorions​

The region of Cilicia offers quite an array of cute tetarmorions. This new one displaying the Achaemenid iconography (again!) has for reverse the head of Athena wearing the Attic helmet. By reason of its condition, Numismatik Lanz couldn't sell it even at 150 euro back then in June 2015. Apparently, this coin ended up at the hands of Savoca-coins where I could buy it for half the price. It is always nice to review the handover of a coin through many coin firms as it suggestively enhances its authenticity.


Troxell & Kagan Type 12. I have attached the article in a prior post.

Also, from my personal database, I gathered all instances of this coin.
Those bounded by a green rectangle are special cases where Athena faces right. The die-engravers (a.k.a. celators) must have made a mistake in those rare cases.




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Savoca-coins is certainly an interesting source of little rarities or uncommon coins. Indeed, due to the bad condition, little coins are often tagged as "Uncertain". Lack of identification leads to interesting deals albeit this one must have been identified by my contenders just as I did.



The coin itself really looks like a very small denomination of royal Achaemenid sigloi series.


I gather all examples from my personal database and it really looks like either a 1/32 or 1/24 of siglos (Type IV). It tends to be the latter.


It is interesting to obverse how the first coin (tetartemorion Troxell & Kagan #12) has such quality of details on a tiny flan while the second (1/24 siglos) has a very poor design for a flan of the same scale. It is almost burlesque to represent the grandeur of the Great King of an empire with this second coin.

Anyways, for the past months, I have also missed nice other fractional sigloi where competition was real (or rather I was too stingy). The second was my favorite and I still regret losing it.

 

Nice coins!!!

I'm trying to snag a modest example----a siglos---hopefully at my price.