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DOI article:Bodzek, Jarosław: Pharnabazus once again
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.22228#0033
Pharnabazus Once Again
used in the eighties of the fourth century B.C. in Cilician coinage. On coins
struck in the name of Tiribazus and on anonymous ones, the tiara was
presented with its side flaps both tied and hanging loose on the arms.
The presence of the motif of a head in a tiara on coins struck by various
Cilician mints in that period well corresponds with the type of obverse in
Pharnabazus' Samarian emission. The iconographic similarities between
Samarian coins with the name of Pharnabazus and those from Cyzicus as
presented above, as well as the suggested dating of the former, makes it
practically impossible to attribute them to the satrap's grandson who also
had the name Pharnabazus and whose activity took place in the times of
Alexander the Great51. According to the other conception put forward by
Y.Meshorer and Sh. Qedar, it was possible to connect the discussed coins
with hypothetical local personalities bearing the name Pharnabazus52.
Although one may not exclude such a solution, I consider it, same as
the Israeli scholoars, to be of a smali probability.
CONCLUSIONS
Pharnabazus shows himself as one of the most active persons in
the Achaemenid history in the field of coinage. His minting activity may
be dated within a long period of time between the second half of the nine-
ties and the end of the seventies of the fourth century B.C. It was closely
related with executing meaningful tasks given by the Great King to be
carried out in different, far away regions of the state. With the exception
of the function of the satrap of Hellespontine Phrygia, the majority of
those tasks were of precisely military character and the minting activi-
ty of the satrap should be connected exactly with his military activity.
That was the case with the coins struck in Cyzicus, Cilicia and probably
Samaria. Expenditures connected with preparing for the war demanded
big financial outlays and it was easiest to make payments in coinage.
Probably the donations in silver regal coins were not enough and part
of means for military actiyity was given by the Great King in the form of
51 About Pharnabazus junior Cf. RE 19, 2, 1938, colunrn 1848 (Th.Lenschau); OLMSTEAD, Hi-
story. ..p. 464, 471; J. BELOCH, Griechische Geschichte III, 2, p. 149; see also N.G.L. HAMMOND, F.W.
WALBANK, A History of Macedonia, vol. III, 336-167 B. C., Oxford 1988, p. 371ff; BRIANT, Histoire..(see
index).
52MESHORER, QEDAR, Samarian Coinage, p. 29.
29
used in the eighties of the fourth century B.C. in Cilician coinage. On coins
struck in the name of Tiribazus and on anonymous ones, the tiara was
presented with its side flaps both tied and hanging loose on the arms.
The presence of the motif of a head in a tiara on coins struck by various
Cilician mints in that period well corresponds with the type of obverse in
Pharnabazus' Samarian emission. The iconographic similarities between
Samarian coins with the name of Pharnabazus and those from Cyzicus as
presented above, as well as the suggested dating of the former, makes it
practically impossible to attribute them to the satrap's grandson who also
had the name Pharnabazus and whose activity took place in the times of
Alexander the Great51. According to the other conception put forward by
Y.Meshorer and Sh. Qedar, it was possible to connect the discussed coins
with hypothetical local personalities bearing the name Pharnabazus52.
Although one may not exclude such a solution, I consider it, same as
the Israeli scholoars, to be of a smali probability.
CONCLUSIONS
Pharnabazus shows himself as one of the most active persons in
the Achaemenid history in the field of coinage. His minting activity may
be dated within a long period of time between the second half of the nine-
ties and the end of the seventies of the fourth century B.C. It was closely
related with executing meaningful tasks given by the Great King to be
carried out in different, far away regions of the state. With the exception
of the function of the satrap of Hellespontine Phrygia, the majority of
those tasks were of precisely military character and the minting activi-
ty of the satrap should be connected exactly with his military activity.
That was the case with the coins struck in Cyzicus, Cilicia and probably
Samaria. Expenditures connected with preparing for the war demanded
big financial outlays and it was easiest to make payments in coinage.
Probably the donations in silver regal coins were not enough and part
of means for military actiyity was given by the Great King in the form of
51 About Pharnabazus junior Cf. RE 19, 2, 1938, colunrn 1848 (Th.Lenschau); OLMSTEAD, Hi-
story. ..p. 464, 471; J. BELOCH, Griechische Geschichte III, 2, p. 149; see also N.G.L. HAMMOND, F.W.
WALBANK, A History of Macedonia, vol. III, 336-167 B. C., Oxford 1988, p. 371ff; BRIANT, Histoire..(see
index).
52MESHORER, QEDAR, Samarian Coinage, p. 29.
29