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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;John Anthony, post: 2030574, member: 42773&quot;]As a prequel to posting my collection of the minute bronzes of Aretas IV, some of which are new acquisitions, I&#039;d like to offer two coins which I&#039;ve posted before. The first is a bronze of Obodas II with bust in archaic style The letter shin on these coins indicates Syllaeus, Obodas&#039; powerful vizier, but the portrait is identical to the portraits found on the silver coins of Obodas. It is obviously stylized, and probably does not represent a realistic likeness of the king...</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]369428[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>This coin dates to 9 BC or slightly before, as does the following coin, with a very different bust...</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]369431[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>The second bust is probably an early rendition of Aretas IV. While Sylleaus was busy in Rome, courting Caesar&#039;s approval of him as king of the Nabataeans, Aretas, back at home, simply proclaimed himself as such. It is unlikely that Sylleaus would have minted coins with his own bust on them - this was the prerogative of approved Roman client kings, and Sylleaus had no desire to anger Caesar Augustus.</p><p><br /></p><p>Aretas, on the other hand, obviously didn&#039;t give a damn what the Romans thought. Although he was not the direct successor of Obodas II, he did come from the royal line, being possible a nephew of Malichus I. And he had consolidated his power enough to be accepted by the Nabataeans as their ruler.</p><p><br /></p><p>The theory that the second bust represents Aretas (despite the fact that Sylleaus&#039; mark is found on the coin) is corroborated by that fact that the earliest bronze coinage of Aretas bears very similar portraits. After that, the busts of Aretas become less lifelike, more Grecian in their style. This sets the stage for posting the rest of the coins I wanted to present in this thread.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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