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DOI article:Bodzek, Jarosław: Pharnabazus once again
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.22228#0031
Pharnabazus Once Again
Pharnabazus?), dating and historical context. Those issues are closely
related to one another and finding answers to them also has signifi-
cance for the interpretation of other emissions struck in the name of
the satrap.
As it has been mentioned above, Y. Meshorer and Sh.Qedar con-
nect the discussed coins with the person of the famous satrap of Hel-
lespontine Phrygia and generally datę them at the time of his career
(approx. 412-372 B.C.) with a tendency for the late years of Pharna-
bazus' activity (i.e. approx. 375-372 B.C.)40. That dating could be still
morę precise if based on two circumstances. First of all, one should
take under consideration the above mentioned lack of iconographic
relations between Samarian and Cilician emissions of the satrap.
Especially significant are those coins struck on the territory of Cilicia
which bear the inscription PRNBZFV=Pharnabazus (dated at the years
378-373 B.C.) sińce they belong to emissions which were very large,
popular and what is most important, imitated on the territory of Sama-
ria41. In such a context, it seems not very probable that Samarian coins
of Pharnabazus of entirely different types had been struck after ap-
prox. 378 B.C42. One would rather expect Cilician types of the satrap's
coins to be copied here or at least some relations to their iconography
to be madę. Probably their recipients i.e. soldiers were accustomed to
the latter43. Another argument against late dating of Samarian coins of
Pharnabazus is the absence of those coins in Samaria and Nablus ho-
ards. The first of the mentioned hoards was hidden around 346 B.C. or
355 B.C.44, the second about 333 B.C45. Both contained a relatively wide
40 MESHORER, QEDAR, Samarian Coinage, p. 29, 39, 71.
41 Coins circulation on the territory of Cilicia in the Achaemenid period is discussed by A. DA-
VESNE, "La circulation monetaire en Cilicie a l'epoque achemenide », in: L'or perse....p. 157-168, par-
ticularly p. 162ff, as for imitation of Pharnabazus' types on the territory of Samaria Cf. MESHORER,
QEDAR, Samarian Coinage, p. 38, 41, nos 73, 80 and 81.
42 Cf. MESHORER, QEDAR, Samarian Coinage, p. 29.
43 The continuation of coining Pharnabazus' types by a TRKMW may be a proof of that.
44 MESHORER and QEDAR proclaim themselves in favor of the first datę, The Coinage of Sa-
maria p. 65f; Samarian Coinage, p. 71; while the earlier dating is supported by J. ELAYI and A.G.
ELAYI, Tresors de monnaies pheniciennes et circulation monetaire (ve-IVe s. av. J.-C.), (Supplement no. 1 a
Transeuphratene), Paris 1993, p. 230.
45IGCH no. 1504; MESHORER, QEDAR, Samarian Coinage, p. 71; ELAYI, ELAYI, Tresors...p. 239.
27
Pharnabazus?), dating and historical context. Those issues are closely
related to one another and finding answers to them also has signifi-
cance for the interpretation of other emissions struck in the name of
the satrap.
As it has been mentioned above, Y. Meshorer and Sh.Qedar con-
nect the discussed coins with the person of the famous satrap of Hel-
lespontine Phrygia and generally datę them at the time of his career
(approx. 412-372 B.C.) with a tendency for the late years of Pharna-
bazus' activity (i.e. approx. 375-372 B.C.)40. That dating could be still
morę precise if based on two circumstances. First of all, one should
take under consideration the above mentioned lack of iconographic
relations between Samarian and Cilician emissions of the satrap.
Especially significant are those coins struck on the territory of Cilicia
which bear the inscription PRNBZFV=Pharnabazus (dated at the years
378-373 B.C.) sińce they belong to emissions which were very large,
popular and what is most important, imitated on the territory of Sama-
ria41. In such a context, it seems not very probable that Samarian coins
of Pharnabazus of entirely different types had been struck after ap-
prox. 378 B.C42. One would rather expect Cilician types of the satrap's
coins to be copied here or at least some relations to their iconography
to be madę. Probably their recipients i.e. soldiers were accustomed to
the latter43. Another argument against late dating of Samarian coins of
Pharnabazus is the absence of those coins in Samaria and Nablus ho-
ards. The first of the mentioned hoards was hidden around 346 B.C. or
355 B.C.44, the second about 333 B.C45. Both contained a relatively wide
40 MESHORER, QEDAR, Samarian Coinage, p. 29, 39, 71.
41 Coins circulation on the territory of Cilicia in the Achaemenid period is discussed by A. DA-
VESNE, "La circulation monetaire en Cilicie a l'epoque achemenide », in: L'or perse....p. 157-168, par-
ticularly p. 162ff, as for imitation of Pharnabazus' types on the territory of Samaria Cf. MESHORER,
QEDAR, Samarian Coinage, p. 38, 41, nos 73, 80 and 81.
42 Cf. MESHORER, QEDAR, Samarian Coinage, p. 29.
43 The continuation of coining Pharnabazus' types by a TRKMW may be a proof of that.
44 MESHORER and QEDAR proclaim themselves in favor of the first datę, The Coinage of Sa-
maria p. 65f; Samarian Coinage, p. 71; while the earlier dating is supported by J. ELAYI and A.G.
ELAYI, Tresors de monnaies pheniciennes et circulation monetaire (ve-IVe s. av. J.-C.), (Supplement no. 1 a
Transeuphratene), Paris 1993, p. 230.
45IGCH no. 1504; MESHORER, QEDAR, Samarian Coinage, p. 71; ELAYI, ELAYI, Tresors...p. 239.
27