Silver Stater Minted Under the Rule of Pharnabazos, 379 BCE - 374 CE
Obverse: A Female Head Slightly Facing to the Left Reverse: Head of a Bearded Warrior Facing to the Righ Tarsos was one of a number of partially Hellenized cities along...
Obverse: A Female Head Slightly Facing to the Left
Reverse: Head of a Bearded Warrior Facing to the Righ
Tarsos was one of a number of partially Hellenized cities along the southern coast of Asia Minor that were subjects of Persia in this period. In the 370's the mint at Tarsos issued coins for the (provincial Persian governors) Pharnabazus and Datames, joint commanders of an expedition to recapture Egypt. For this purpose they issued a large number of coins apparently designed to appeal simultaneously to their own subjects and to the Greek mercenaries in the force. The coins relied heavily upon Greek prototypes. The female head on the obverse of this coin was inspired by the famous facing head of the nymph Arethusa on late fifth-century Syracusan tetradrachms. Many Greek cities had also adapted the famous image for their coins. Whether at Tarsos the head was given a specific local identity or whether it was simply appropriated because of its associations with well-known Greek coins is unknown. On the reverse is the head of a bearded warrior in an elaborate helmet with upturned cheek-piece. Although the figure is male, the image was probably modeled on the helmeted Athena of Attic tetradrachms. Persians and others able to read the Aramaic name to the right of the head would have recognized in it their leader Pharnabazus, although the fact that the same type was used for Datames indicates that the head was not actually a portrait. The Greek mercenaries at the same time could have seen it as their war god, Ares.
How many hands have touched a coin in your pocket or purse? What eras and lands have the coin traversed on its journey into our possession? As we reach into our pockets to pull out some change, we rarely hesitate to think of who might have touched the coin before us, or where the coin will venture to after it leaves our hands. More than money, coins are a symbol of the state that struck them, of a specific time and location, whether contemporary currencies or artifacts of a long forgotten empire. This magnificent coin is a memorial to the ancient glories of Tarsos passed down from the hands of civilization to civilization, from generation to generation.
Reverse: Head of a Bearded Warrior Facing to the Righ
Tarsos was one of a number of partially Hellenized cities along the southern coast of Asia Minor that were subjects of Persia in this period. In the 370's the mint at Tarsos issued coins for the (provincial Persian governors) Pharnabazus and Datames, joint commanders of an expedition to recapture Egypt. For this purpose they issued a large number of coins apparently designed to appeal simultaneously to their own subjects and to the Greek mercenaries in the force. The coins relied heavily upon Greek prototypes. The female head on the obverse of this coin was inspired by the famous facing head of the nymph Arethusa on late fifth-century Syracusan tetradrachms. Many Greek cities had also adapted the famous image for their coins. Whether at Tarsos the head was given a specific local identity or whether it was simply appropriated because of its associations with well-known Greek coins is unknown. On the reverse is the head of a bearded warrior in an elaborate helmet with upturned cheek-piece. Although the figure is male, the image was probably modeled on the helmeted Athena of Attic tetradrachms. Persians and others able to read the Aramaic name to the right of the head would have recognized in it their leader Pharnabazus, although the fact that the same type was used for Datames indicates that the head was not actually a portrait. The Greek mercenaries at the same time could have seen it as their war god, Ares.
How many hands have touched a coin in your pocket or purse? What eras and lands have the coin traversed on its journey into our possession? As we reach into our pockets to pull out some change, we rarely hesitate to think of who might have touched the coin before us, or where the coin will venture to after it leaves our hands. More than money, coins are a symbol of the state that struck them, of a specific time and location, whether contemporary currencies or artifacts of a long forgotten empire. This magnificent coin is a memorial to the ancient glories of Tarsos passed down from the hands of civilization to civilization, from generation to generation.