Found this one while bottom feeding on large lots of low-ish grade material. Nabataea, Obodas II (?) And Hagru AE Unit (Prutah?) 33-32 BC Jugate busts of king and queen right Eagle standing left, Nabatean around I had initially thought it to be a Ptolemaic coin, but then realized the Nabatean script around the eagle. I haven't been able to crack the legend, but Obodas II and Hagru is the only such Nabataean bronze with an eagle paired with jugate portraits, that I could find: http://www.forumancientcoins.com/board/index.php?topic=91378.75 Please feel free to weigh in with any thoughts on this one, and also share your Nabataeans!
Yes, Obodas II, AE Unit. "Prutah" is a strictly Hebrew term, and never used to describe Nabataean coins. These types are quite rare. The inscription reads "Obodas the king, king of the Nabataeans." Here is my example, which you linked to at FORVM (Note that if you are not logged into FORVM, you cannot see the images attached to the posts)... Meshorer originally postulated an Obodas II and III, but subsequent research deemed the original Obodas II spurious, demoting the once-known Obodas III to the current Obodas II. It's a long story, which I won't bore you with. Here is another rare type from this rare emperor, double-cornucopia reverse. It's severely chipped, but it still has decent detail. When it comes to extremely rare coins, sometimes you have to settle for what you can get your hands on... Nabataean Kingdom, Obodas II, 30-9 BC AE 25, 7.78g, 12h; Petra mint, 24/23 BC. Obv.: Jugate busts right of Obodas II, diademed and draped, and the queen. Rev.: Two crossed cornucopias; Nabataean legend, "Obodas the king, king of the Nabataeans." Reference: Meshorer 26
Thanks all, and thanks for the clarification @John Anthony ! I need to get some images of the rest of the coins from that lot; I think together they add up to very nearly a full ruler set in bronze, if not a full type set as well. One of my favorites was an Aretas IV and Shuqailat "wedding" AE:
Being the self-proclaimed Grand Poobah of Nabataean coinage, I'll add a few posts to this thread, trying to be as succinct as I can. I realize it's not the most electrifying of numismatic rabbit holes, but the coinage does speak volumes about Levantine history from the 3rd century BC to the annexation of the empire by Trajan in AD 107 as Provincia Arabia. During the last ebb of the Seleucid Empire, the Nabataeans began minting their own coinage, perhaps covertly. I say "perhaps covertly" because these issues present nothing intrinsically Nabataean. They are small module bronzes modeled after the staters of Alexander III with Athena and Nike, see Coin 1. The earliest examples were struck over Ptolemaic bronzes. Coin 2 is the most dramatic example of these proto-Nabataean overstrikes I've ever found. Both Zeus and Athena share the obverse, and on the reverse, the ghost of the Ptolemaic eagle is clearly seen under a weakly struck Nike - struck with a die obviously much smaller than the host coin. Coin 3 is the only example (known to me) of a proto-Nabataean coin struck over a Seleucid host. Here we have Athena and a smaller bust of some Antiochus - I'm not sure which. How do I know it was an Antiochus? Because the letters TI·X·Y were left intact on the reverse. (If I tried really hard, I could probably pin down the exact type of the host coin.) The Nabataean ruler Aretas II (103-96 BC) officially minted these imitative types during his tenure at Damascus. They were no longer overstruck, but produced on fresh flans in good Hellenistic style. But notice that Athena's hair and Nike's wings were rendered as dots. Coin 4. Coin 5 represents an official modification of the obverse bust style, modeled after the bronzes of Alexander Balas. Athena takes on more masculine features and the helmet is more Boeotian than Corinthian. If any of the previous bronzes can be called official, Coin 6 represents an unofficial, or barbarous emission. These are quite scarce in my experience - I've only collected two. These early Athena/Nike types were probably struck during the reigns of Aretas II, Obodas I, Rabbel I, and Aretas III, spanning a period from about 103 to about 62 BC. Some were definitely struck at Damascus, perhaps coins like #4, others may have been struck at Petra or elsewhere. Beyond saying that the proto-Nabataean overstrikes preceded the freshly-struck coins, we don't have enough information to construct a more detailed chronology. If you read all of that, go have a cookie. You deserve it.
Nabataeans fascinate me but I don't know a lot about them yet. I'm grateful to Mr. Connors for providing an outstanding and affordable resource.
