Mazaios Stater: Seated Ba’al and the Walls of Jerusalem?

I was recently very happy to add an interesting coin with a provenance from the Stoecklin Collection. This coin was struck under the Persian satrap, Mazaios. Mazaios is most well known for surrendering the city of Babylon to Alexander the Great in exchange for an assurance that the city would not be sacked. After this he was named Satrap of Babylon by Alexander in exchange for his cooperation and advice. This coin was struck before Alexander's invasion while Mazaios was satrap of Cilicia and the levant. Hopefully you will all find my research on this coin useful and interesting.


CILICIA, Tarsus
Issued under the Persian Satrap Mazaios
AR stater, Tarsus mint, struck ca. 361-334 BC
Dia.: 23.00 mm
Wt.: 10.39 g

Obv.: (“Ba’altarz” written in Aramaic) Ba’altarz seated l., holding eagle-tipped scepter in extended r. hand; to l., grain ear and grape bunch above L; below throne, M.
Rev.: (“Mazaios who is over Beyond the River and Cilicia” written in Aramaic) Lion pouncing l., attacking a bull collapsing to r.; below, above crenellated walls.
Ref.: Hendin GBC6 6658; Casabonne Series 4, Group A. SNG France 360. SNG Levante 113.
Ex W. M. Stoecklin, Winterthur, Switzerland, acquired prior to 1981; Ex Obolos 8, lot 318; Formerly slabbed by NGC graded Choice VF, strike 4/5, surface 3/5, NGC n. 6376589-009.

Obverse Iconography
The obverse of this coin shows the god Ba’al seated on a throne holding a scepter. The Aramaic inscription “Ba’altarz” names this god explicitly as Ba’al of Tarsus. In the Northwest Semitic Languages (Phoenician, Hebrew, Aramaic etc.) Ba’al meant “Lord” or “Master” and was used as an epithet for many different gods. This can make identifying which god is being referenced somewhat confusing. Due to the later association with Zues (discussed below), I think it is clear that the god being referenced here is the storm god Hadad. This is the same Ba’al that is referenced in the biblical story of Elijah. After a great drought Elijah challenges the priests of Ba’al to a contest of making a sacrifice of a bull without lighting the altar. When the priests of Ba’al fail in this task, Yahweh sends fire from the heavens and burns the alter set up by Elijah. Soon after Yahweh sends rain to end the drought which is an important symbolic victory because of Ba’al Hadad’s association with rain, storms and fertility.

Numismatically, this coin is also important because the iconography of the seated Ba’al is taken up and used almost exactly as a reverse type by Alexander the Great for his silver issues. The only major change is that Ba’al is substituted for his Greek equivalent Zeus. This coin design would go on to become one of the most iconic designs in all of ancient coinage.

Reverse Iconography
A translation of the reverse inscription reads “Mazaios who is over Beyond the River and Cilicia” in Aramaic. “Beyond the River” (Abar Nahara) was the official name of the administrative district between the Euphrates and the Mediterranean in the Persian Empire. Therefore, Mazaios must have been the Satrap of both Cilicia and this larger region that extended south to include Jerusalem. The term “Beyond the River” for this region is attested in several places in the Bible, including in Ezra and Nehemiah. David Hendin points out that Nehemiah and Mazaios were both officials at the Persian royal court and would have been familiar with this nomenclature.

On this coin there are two main design elements that have an unclear meaning: 1) The double crenulated walls and 2) The lion attacking the bull.

1) I have read in various places that David Hendin has suggested that the walls could be a reference to Jerusalem and the extensive construction sponsored by the Kings and Satraps of Persia in that city. Hendin does discuss this coin in his Guide to Biblical Coins 6th edition, but he stops just short of suggesting a link between the walls on the coin and Jerusalem. I have only been able to reference the 6th edition so perhaps this is a change from earlier editions. Regardless, the suggestion is an interesting one that has merit. However, I think it is more likely that the walls referenced are those of Tarsus itself. Tarsus was a large and important city in antiquity. I found references dating to the middle ages that refer to Tarsus as being surrounded by a “double wall. [2]” If this was the case in antiquity as well, then I think the walls are likely a symbol of the strength and security of the city of Tarsus under Persian protection. The Persian satraps took up a permanent seat in Tarsus as late as 401 BC, so Persia may have sponsored some relatively recent construction projects that may have included expansion or upgrading of the city’s walls.

2) At first glance a coin showing a lion attacking a bull is a strange choice of iconography considering Ba’altarz is often associated with a bull. However, in this case I think we need to make a disconnect between the iconography on the obverse and reverse. The lion attacking a bull is an artistic motif that goes back centuries and possibly millennia before this coin was struck. The motif was embraced by the Kings of Persian and used extensively in the royal palace at Persepolis. As such I think it represents Persian royal power. Taken in connection with the representation of the double walls, it could be a reminder of the strength and security of the empire.


Lion attacking bull relief carving at the royal palace at Persepolis.

References

[1] Hendin, David, Guide to Biblical Coins Sixth Edition, American Numismatics Society, 2022

[2] https://www.biblicalcyclopedia.com/T/tarsus.html

Please post your:

• Mazaios coins
• Coins of Tarsus
• Alexander coins with seated Zeus
• Lions on the attack!
• Coins issued under Persian rule

 

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Great coin! I was actually looking up the specific question you ask about -- when did Hendin discuss the "walls of Jerusalem" hypothesis. I believe that was only in the 3rd and 4th editions of Guide to Biblical Coins (it's not in the 2nd or 5th). Originally, I believe that came from his article in The Celator (June 1998): https://social.vcoins.com/files/file/133-vol-12-no-06-june-1998/.

There he acknowledges there that it's somewhat speculative, but clearly at the time he thought it worth writing the article about. (The title has a question mark at the end, and uses phrases like "I think that there is a possibility that these are the walls of the city of Jerusalem..." & "these connections suggest that it is quite plausible." My italics.)

He did include that in his GBC, but pulled it from later editions, so he may have changed his mind. That doesn't mean others can't argue it (some dealers clearly like the explanation), but I'm not sure if there's any new evidence.

 

Fantastic @Curtisimo

 

One of my favorite coins is a Mazaios Tarsus Stater (but of the lion-bull type without city walls).



This is the only coin I've ever been very conflicted about removing from encapsulation. It was from the first large sale of encapsulated ancient coins ever, in 2002. At their Signature Sale 296 (27 July 2002), Heritage Auctions first tried it out by having ICG encapsulate >350 of the ancient coins from the Dr. Joseph Seventko Collection (Lancaster, PA area physician & coin collector).



It was a big promotional event with booths at coin shows and full-page ads in magazines. The first sale didn't seem very successful (certainly not for this coin, on which Seventko lost big), perhaps partly because the photos were awful (showing only the full slab, no close-ups). But Heritage kept it up, and it has become commercially successful.



(CNG & NGC had attempted a slabbing collaboration in 1991, but amazingly, in response to a letter-writing campaign led by Harlan J. Berk and a few others, NGC suspended the effort and published an open letter to that effect! The Celator, July 1991, page 23: https://social.vcoins.com/files/file/50-vol-05-no-07-july-1991/!)

Removing from the slab meant discarding some of its physical "object biography," but meant I was able to find new provenance. By the time I bought it, any provenance before 2002 had been lost. And about 1.5-2mm of the edges were covered by the ICG insert, so only by removing it could I positively match it to old photos.

It turns out the coin had been part of another important moment in the late 20th century history of ancient coins: The Athena Fund! This was Merill-Lynch's ancient coin investment fund, run by Bruce McNall (owner of NFA & LA Kings NHL hockey team, and producer of Weekend at Bernie's!). The fund went bust. McNall was imprisoned for financial crimes & wrote a classic autobiography about his life in the high end ancient coin world, Fun while it Lasted.

This coin was part of the liquidation sale at Sotheby's in 1993 (the left reverse illustrated in Lot 808). It probably originally came from the so-called "Tarsus Hoard" of the late 1970s, which flooded the market with similar Mazaios Staters in the 1980s.




It's hard to find Mazaios Staters with pre-1980s provenance. If I get another, I'll try to get one that pre-dates this find.

That is a nice bonus to Curtisimo's Stocklein Collection example. It certainly doesn't seem to be from the same hoard. (Although acquired "prior to 1981," it was probably quite a bit beforehand.)

 

Thanks for posting a link to the article, Curtis. It’s an interesting question and I look forward to reading more about his thoughts.

That’s a wonderful coin! I think you made the right move to remove it and search for additional provenance. Your research skills in this regard are very impressive.

I suspect my new coin has a much older provenance than pre-1981. I hope to find it eventually. Looking forward to some fun research.

Thanks @Bing !

 

KINGS OF PERSIA AR silver siglos. Achaemenid Empire, time of Artaxerxes I to Darius III, circa - 450-330 BC. Profile of Persian King moving right, in half-kneel, holding spear & bow. Reverse - Incuse punch.

 

I can see no special reason to consider the double city wall on Mazaios coins, obviously minted at Tarsus, as a representation of Jerusalem more than of Tarsus itself.

I suppose there have been many books and articles about the symbolic of the city walls. It is a symbol you can find as soon as pre-dynastic Egypt in the 3rd Millenium BC (Narmer as a bull dismantling the enemy city-walls). In the late Bronze Age the enemy cities are symbolized in Egyptian art by a double city wall on a mound, and in hieroglyphic script the name of enemy nations or city-states is enclosed in crenellated cartouches. Later, the same symbolic of the fortress-city is found in neo-Assyrian art, when sieges are depicted.


The city of Qadesh, relief from Ramses II temple in Abu Simbel

In neo-Assyrian art as well as in archirecture, one can notice that the merlons are triangular. Triangluar merlons will be later found on Hellenistic and Roman era temples, sarcophagi, Nabataean tombs, and even later on mosques. This particular merlon shape is likely to have a religious signification meaning "holy" or "sacred". Near-Eastern cities often claimed to be "sacred"; it is the meaning of the city-name Qadesh, for example, in the late Bronze Age, and in Hellenistic times many cities claimed to be "hiera kai asylos".

In numismatics I don't remember if there were any European Greek coins depicting walled cities, but in the 5th and 4th c. BC this walled city type can be seen on Phoenician and Philistine coins, at Gaza, Sidon, Tyre... In Hellenistic times this city-wall symbol will become the walled crown of the local Tyche.


Philistia (Gaza?) AR 4.11 g (5th or 4th c. BC). Not my coin


Sidon, 1/16th of shekel, late 5th c. BC



Syria, Laodicea, AE 25mm under Trajan. The local Tyche wearing her mural crown

This is why we may consider these walled cities on pre-Alexander Oriental coins as ancestors of the later Tyche theme, wearing a mural crown: a symbol of the city herself with her sacred status. In ancient literature we can find an equivalent of this theme in Revelation 21: the new Jerusalem, of which only the city walls are described.


Rome, basilica Santa Maria Maggiore, the vision of Heavenly Jerusalem with her walls made of gems and precious stones (Revelation 21). 5 th c. AD mosaic

 

I think it's probably not the Jerusalem walls, but there was a special reason, at least in Hendin's reading for a certain period (he may have withdrawn that reading/opinion).

It was a specific phrase inscribed on the coin (I can't read Aramaic, so I have to either accept Hendin's reading or the alternative readings by others).

The following except from the 3rd edition of Guide to Biblical Coins was reprinted in The Celator (June, 1998) 12 (6) p. 24 (there's more). (It's worth keeping in mind Jerusalem was within Mazaios' Satrapy.)

"Beyond the River," Eber Naham is the Aramaic or Hebrew phrase the Tarsus silver stater and the Old Testament have in common.... the Aramaic inscription: Mazaeus, who is over Beyond the River and Cilicia.

"Beyond the River" was at the time the official name of the administrative district that encompassed the land between the Euphrates and the Mediterranean, and went far enough south to include Jerusalem. Since the phrase "Beyond the River" is used seven times in Ezra and twice in Nehemiah we must recognize it was a rather important territory at the time.
​

Just to reiterate, though, Hendin only considered it "possible" or "plausible," so he wasn't coming out strongly in favor of it. And may have even withdrawn the opinion (it wasn't in later editions of GBC).

Still interesting: It is a very distinctive design -- an architectural type in combination with the lion / bull -- so one wonders what it meant and/or what events it may have memorialized.

Perhaps some union, political or marital? If a city/kingdom allied with Cilicia or the Achaemenid Empire, it could make sense to honor it with this design.

Also, I just noticed this, that coin type may be discussed in Nathaniel Elkins' 2015 book on Monuments in Miniature: Architecture on Roman Coinage. (See Pocket Change blog, which illustrates one of these.)

NOT MY COIN!! ANS Collection: 1947.81.4[/S]

It seems to be one of the few Greek coins included as some kind of comparanda. I don't have the book (yet!), so I don't know what he says (or whether he comments at all on Hendin's hypothesis).

ANS is having a big book sale lately, clearing out copies of some titles. (I bought 3 cheap titles so far -- Agoranomia, Essays Thompson, and Coin Hoards X -- but will buy more if I get to them in time.)

I haven't seen the Elkins 2015 yet but I might get it if it does show up discounted. (The standard 30% member discount is NOT additional, but is pretty good even without the clearance sale.)

 

Fantastic coin Curtis, I see you have been playing in my sand pit again..that's alright I couldn't afford that one anyway love the great detail both sides, congrats on another brilliant pick up.
I have a type similar.
SIDON, PHOENICIA AR silver 1/16th shekel. Late 5th to early 4th century BC. Galley with oars, rudder and row of shields to left in front of city’s fortifications with three towers. Reverse - Archer standing right drawing bow. SNG COP. 193. 8mm, 0.7g

 

I completely agree. Extremely interesting. Trying to interpret the original meaning behind coin designs is one of my favorite avenues of numismatic research. I have a very speculative theory on this.

I suspect that the walls of Tarus may have been largely or entirely a Persian sponsored building project. If you consider the history of Tarsus before Mazaios this theory might make more sense.

In 401 BC Cyrus began his campaign to attack his brother for control of the Persian throne. His army forced their way through the Cilicia Gates which were guarded by King Syennesis of Cilicia. Syennesis‘s capital was Tarsus. Xenophon describes Tarsus as follows:

“Descending through this plain country, he advanced four stages--twenty-five parasangs--to Tarsus, a large and prosperous city of Cilicia. Here stood the palace of Syennesis, the king of the country; and through the middle of the city flows a river called the Cydnus, two hundred feet broad. They found that the city had been deserted by its inhabitants, who had betaken themselves, with Syennesis, to a strong place on the hills.” - Xenophon​

Notice that Xenophon notes the palace and other aspects of the city but does not mention walls. Further, the fact that the inhabitants of the city fled in mass to the hills may suggest that the city either did not have walls or that the walls were inadequate to the defense of the city.

It’s not clear what happened to Syennesis after the civil war but it must not have been good because the quasi-independence of Cilicia was ended and a Persian satrap was placed at Tarsus after 400 BC. Therefore, the walls shown on the coins may have been evidence of a relatively recent Persian sponsored building program to bring the defenses of the city up the level needed for the seat of Persian power in the region.

 

Nice Siglos @Mr.MonkeySwag96 .

Yes, the city wall artistic motif is one I’ve always found very interesting both on coins and other forms of art. I remember seeing the Assyrian exhibit at the Ghetty Villa and being drawn to this relief.

Great coin AA! Yes you have definitely influenced me in my appreciation of architecture types. I always enjoy seeing examples from your excellent collection.

 

My only Mazaios stater has just a lion attacking stag and it isn't in good condition; it is what it is...

Cilicia, Tarsos ca. 335 BC.
22x23 mm, 10.915 g
Casabonne Series I, group B; SNG Levante 111; Hill, Cilicia, p. 489, Pl. XXX, 5;
Head, 1911, pp. 722, 731, 796

Ob.: Baaltars wearing himation, seated left on diphros (throne), holding grain-ear and bunch of grapes in r. hand and lotus-tipped scepter in l.; linear border; under throne; B’LTRZ Baaltars in Aramaic at right; or at left of grapes.
Rev.: Lion to left attacking stag and biting into its neck, his right hindleg on stag, who is kicking; stag kneeling left on left foreleg; all within square incuse with dotted border (mzdy Mazaios in Aramaic) above, Aramaic letter (m) lower right