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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;John Anthony, post: 1779107, member: 42773&quot;]<font face="Times New Roman">Here’s an AE17 I grabbed today for my Nabataean type set. It’s a crude rendition of a bust on the obverse, with an equally crude depiction of Nike on the reverse. As with all early Nabataeans, this coin is shrouded in mystery.</font></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><font face="Times New Roman"><a href="http://postimage.org/" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://postimage.org/" rel="nofollow"><img src="http://s24.postimg.org/9e1zi2vk5/aretas_ii.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></a></font></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><font face="Times New Roman">At some point during the reigns of Aretas II, Obodas I, Rabbel I, and Aretas III, (120/110 – 60/59 BC), engravers moved away from portraits of Athena, replacing them with distinctly Arabic looking busts. It stands to reason that with the expansion of the Nabataean empire, the kings would want their likenesses on the coins, in the tradition of the Seleucids that had preceded them. But which king is it?</font></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><font face="Times New Roman">Notice the difference in the bust of an early issue of Aretas II…</font></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><font face="Times New Roman"><a href="http://postimage.org/" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://postimage.org/" rel="nofollow"><img src="http://s15.postimg.org/6jpqu7pvv/aretas_iia.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></a></font></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><font face="Times New Roman">The earliest coins, even the Proto-Nabataean restrikes, exhibited faithful renditions of Athena in the Greek style. I have yet to come across an exception. All the Nabataean authorities, Meshorer, Schmitt-Korte, and Hoover, agree that these unknown bust types were minted after the Athena/Nike series. I believe it’s a fair assessment. After Aretas III, Greek deities disappear altogether from Nabataean coinage, and busts of kings and queens become <i>de rigeur</i>.</font></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><font face="Times New Roman">As scrappy as my example appears, it’s the best coin of this type I’ve seen: well-struck, well-preserved, and almost complete. Meshorer himself laments the poor preservation of these pieces, and none of the examples cited in the literature come close to the quality of my coin. Needless to say, I’m very pleased with the acquisition. The typical example of the type looks more like this, and often they’re far more decrepit (not my coin)…</font></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><font face="Times New Roman"><a href="http://postimage.org/" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://postimage.org/" rel="nofollow"><img src="http://s17.postimg.org/uwoqwkta7/image.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></a></font></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><font face="Times New Roman">I have various conjectures on the possible history of this type, but I’ll save them for another post.</font>[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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