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Message:: [QUOTE="John Anthony, post: 1780728, member: 42773"] Four Kings Although type 3 is safely assumed to have been issued by Aretas II in Damascus, the remaining types could have been minted during the reigns of Aretas II, Obodas I, Rabbel I, and Aretas III, spanning a period between 120/110 BC to 62 BC. Since there is no evidence to assign the various types to various kings, I call them the “Four Kings” versions. The order of the remaining types does not constitute a chronological order. Thankfully, Aretas III eventually puts his name on a coin (Me 5, SK 9) and takes the guesswork out of dating all the Nabataean coins that come after. 4. Four Kings Obv.: Stylized, helmeted head of Athena r. Rev.: Nike standing left, holding wreath. In field letter Λ with crescent above. 4a. Four Kings II Obv.: Stylized, helmeted head of Athena r. Rev.: Nike standing left, holding wreath. No letter or crescent. 4b. Four Kings Obv.: Stylized, helmeted head of Athena r. Rev.: Nike standing left, holding wreath. Letter ח in field. Athena changes aspect in this type. She takes on decidedly masculine facial features, the helmet shows a sharp rim, and there is no ball or hair brush. Meshorer suggests that these busts are modeled after certain issues of Alexander Bala, and there are indeed similarities. Was Athena transforming into a Nabataean deity here? Or does this type illustrate the first efforts of Nabataean die cutters to portray their kings? Is it a portrait of Aretas II? Those are questions I can’t answer, but these coins present a distinctive departure in style from type 3, and deserve their own category. I have yet to find an example of 4b on the market, but hope springs eternal. <a href="http://postimage.org/" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://postimage.org/" rel="nofollow"><img src="http://s21.postimg.org/yvto43447/aretascoinproject.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></a> 4b is a re-categorization of Me 4, which is in the stylized Athena version, but presents the intriguing letter ח in the reverse field. This is the first letter of Aretas’s name spelled in Nabataean Aramaic, read from right to left : חרחח. One frequently finds the first initial of kings’ names on later Nabataean issues, so it’s probably safe to assume this letter is referring to Aretas II or III. Since early Nabataean coinage shifted from Greek inscriptions to Aramaic, is it also fair to assume that the letter Λ refers to Aretas on the other types? It seems likely, but there just isn’t enough evidence to say so definitively. 5. Four Kings Obv.: Stylized, helmeted head of Athena r. Rev.: Nike standing left, holding wreath. In field letter Λ with crescent above. Careless style. 5a. Four Kings Obv.: Stylized, helmeted head of Athena r. Rev.: Nike standing left, holding wreath. No letter or crescent. Careless style. Type 5 is distinguished from 4 by the careless style of the minting. These types are number two in Meshorer’s catalog, and of them he says, “Difficult to distinguish the details. Many of these coins are of a debased weight and struck on irregular flans”. <a href="http://postimage.org/" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://postimage.org/" rel="nofollow"><img src="http://s24.postimg.org/f9fub7tz9/meshorer1crescenr1a.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></a> Of the early Nabataean types, these are numerous and readily available. The 1st-century BC was a time of tremendous growth in the empire, and doubtlessly many workers and soldiers needed to receive salaries. The careless style and abundance of these coins suggests that they were produced quickly and in large quantities to meet an urgent economic necessity, and art be damned. 6. Four Kings Obv.: Unknown head r. Rev.: Nike standing left, holding wreath. No letter or crescent. Careless style. The prior types I’ve listed are simply a reorganization of coins cataloged by Meshorer and Schmitt-Korte. Type 6 is my own concoction, and I believe it can be distinguished from Type 5 in several ways. I’ve seen a handful of these coins on the market, and I own two which illustrate the possibility that the obverse design is an intentional attempt to portray a specific person. <a href="http://postimage.org/" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://postimage.org/" rel="nofollow"><img src="http://s7.postimg.org/u0oeqevdn/arabheads.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></a> Despite the barbarous character of the reverse, these coins exhibit a certain amount of artistry not evident in type 5. The busts are clearly trying to portray someone, likely one of the four kings. Hoover assigns such a coin with an Arabian bust to Aretas III, which is highly likely, but unprovable. Unless he has information not expounded in CCK (which is entirely possible) I think it’s safer to assign these coins to the “Four Kings” category. Addendum When Meshorer published “Nabataean Coins” in 1975, he was in the possession of two lead tesserae, one of which he thought was silver. They were both placed in his catalog of early Nabataean coins, as Me 3 and Sup 1, as they both exhibited the Bust/Nike designs. Schmitt-Korte submitted Me 3 to an X-ray fluorescence analysis, and it was discovered to be made of an alloy of 60% lead and 40% tin, making it the second known Nabataean tessera. SK, however, interpreted the coin as a test piece, as Meshorer did Sup 1. Since then, approximately 60 tesserae have appeared on the Israeli antiquities market, and they’ve been carefully categorized by Hoover as a separate species, taking Me 3 and Me Sup1 out of the family of early Nabataean bronze issues. I have two such tesserae, which in the past would have been attributed as Me 3 and Me Sup 1… <a href="http://postimage.org/" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://postimage.org/" rel="nofollow"><img src="http://s8.postimg.org/x3d07qg7p/leadboth.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></a> If you actually read this whole post, PM me your address and I will mail you a cookie. <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie2" alt=";)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" />[/QUOTE]

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