Log in or Sign up
Coin Talk
Home
Forums
>
Coin Forums
>
Ancient Coins
>
Bizarre Parthian Mash-Up
>
Reply to Thread
Message:
<p>[QUOTE="Bob L., post: 3748928, member: 56976"]A couple of years ago, on an April 1st morn, I posted some silly mash-up’s of coins that included the following:</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1005429[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>This morning there was a thread over at CCF concerning a rather manly looking rendition of Tyche on a Provincial AE. It reminded me of an actual mash-up on a coin from Parthia. Thought I’d repost my contribution to that thread here:</p><p><br /></p><p>On the Parthian tets of Phraates II (138-127 BC), die engravers referenced the Tyche reverses of Demetrios I Soter and the Zeus reverses of Alexander I Balas, both of the Seleukid Empire. The Parthians had supplanted the Seleukids in that part of Western Asia but, at least early on, tried to copy the regional Greek archetypes for the coinage. The models for the reverse are:</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1005432[/ATTACH] </p><p>[ATTACH=full]1005433[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>Well, note what happened on the unique reverse of Phraates II's tetradrachms:</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1005434[/ATTACH]</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1005440[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>As Vesta Sarkhosh Curtis points out in <i>Religious Iconography on Ancient Iranian Coins</i>, "The religious iconography of the Hellenistic Tyche figure was clearly unfamiliar to the Arsacid court and the (Parthian) die engraver at the end of the second century BC, as otherwise the attributes of a female goddess would not have been used for a clearly male figure."</p><p><br /></p><p>As CNG states it, "The god depicted on the reverse of these tetradrachms appears on no other Parthian coin, and apparently nowhere else...Such a representation of a transgender pantheistic deity is very unusual in ancient art. One wonders if the artist...simply misunderstood the types he was copying."</p><p><a href="https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=131058" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=131058" rel="nofollow">https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=131058</a></p><p><br /></p><p>Mine: <a href="http://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/albums/userpics/16274/Sellwood_17_1v_Phraates_II_tetradrachm.jpg" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/albums/userpics/16274/Sellwood_17_1v_Phraates_II_tetradrachm.jpg" rel="nofollow">http://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/albums/userpics/16274/Sellwood_17_1v_Phraates_II_tetradrachm.jpg</a>[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="Bob L., post: 3748928, member: 56976"]A couple of years ago, on an April 1st morn, I posted some silly mash-up’s of coins that included the following: [ATTACH=full]1005429[/ATTACH] This morning there was a thread over at CCF concerning a rather manly looking rendition of Tyche on a Provincial AE. It reminded me of an actual mash-up on a coin from Parthia. Thought I’d repost my contribution to that thread here: On the Parthian tets of Phraates II (138-127 BC), die engravers referenced the Tyche reverses of Demetrios I Soter and the Zeus reverses of Alexander I Balas, both of the Seleukid Empire. The Parthians had supplanted the Seleukids in that part of Western Asia but, at least early on, tried to copy the regional Greek archetypes for the coinage. The models for the reverse are: [ATTACH=full]1005432[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]1005433[/ATTACH] Well, note what happened on the unique reverse of Phraates II's tetradrachms: [ATTACH=full]1005434[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]1005440[/ATTACH] As Vesta Sarkhosh Curtis points out in [I]Religious Iconography on Ancient Iranian Coins[/I], "The religious iconography of the Hellenistic Tyche figure was clearly unfamiliar to the Arsacid court and the (Parthian) die engraver at the end of the second century BC, as otherwise the attributes of a female goddess would not have been used for a clearly male figure." As CNG states it, "The god depicted on the reverse of these tetradrachms appears on no other Parthian coin, and apparently nowhere else...Such a representation of a transgender pantheistic deity is very unusual in ancient art. One wonders if the artist...simply misunderstood the types he was copying." [URL]https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=131058[/URL] Mine: [URL]http://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/albums/userpics/16274/Sellwood_17_1v_Phraates_II_tetradrachm.jpg[/URL][/QUOTE]
Your name or email address:
Do you already have an account?
No, create an account now.
Yes, my password is:
Forgot your password?
Stay logged in
Coin Talk
Home
Forums
>
Coin Forums
>
Ancient Coins
>
Bizarre Parthian Mash-Up
>
Home
Home
Quick Links
Search Forums
Recent Activity
Recent Posts
Forums
Forums
Quick Links
Search Forums
Recent Posts
Competitions
Competitions
Quick Links
Competition Index
Rules, Terms & Conditions
Gallery
Gallery
Quick Links
Search Media
New Media
Showcase
Showcase
Quick Links
Search Items
Most Active Members
New Items
Directory
Directory
Quick Links
Directory Home
New Listings
Members
Members
Quick Links
Notable Members
Current Visitors
Recent Activity
New Profile Posts
Sponsors
Menu
Search
Search titles only
Posted by Member:
Separate names with a comma.
Newer Than:
Search this thread only
Search this forum only
Display results as threads
Useful Searches
Recent Posts
More...