DOI issue:
Artykuły
DOI article:Bodzek, Jarosław: Pharnabazus once again
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.22228#0034
Jarosław Bodzek
uncoined metal53. That fact, same as the necessity to adjust to local habits
(vide the Rhodian standard in Cyzicus) led to the decision to strike own
coins. Without intention to embark on a broad discussion about the role of
local mints in the emission of the described coins, I would like to point out
here, that both the inscriptions containing the name of Pharnabazus and
the iconography of the coins must have been, at least to a certain extent,
agreed on by the satrap (vide Cyzicus, Samaria; possibly to a lesser degree
Cilicia). Both elements had propagandist significance. They bound the sol-
diers with the commander-in-chief, who at the same time had control over
the funds. Loyalty to the commander must have had great significance
in the period when different Achaemenid notables were competing with
one another and the command was often posted to a few persons jointly.
However the mentioned coins undoubtedly served as local currency,
calling those emissions „a local coinage" is far from precision54. Similarly
the term „satrapal coinage" is not precise either, but it allows to distingu-
ish the coins coimected with activity of representatives of the Great King
from the regal coinage and from the actual local currency55.
Translated by Marzena Krzanowska
33 The donation of 500 talents given by Darius II to Cyrus The Younger could be an example (Xen.
Heli. 5,3-4) or two silver talents received by Tiribazus from the Great King (Diod. XV, 4.2), Cf. remarks
by W. WEISER on the first of the mentioned examples (WEISER, "Die Eulen... ", p. 273ff;).
54 See MILDENBERG, "Uber das Miinzwesen ....".p. 55ff; IDEM, "On the So-called..." p. 9ff.
55 See also remarks of DEBORD, L'AsieMineure...p. 50ff; H. GITLER, "The Levant", in: C. ALFARO,
A. BURNETT (eds.), A Suroey ofNumismatic Research 1996-2001, Madrid 2003, p. 154.
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uncoined metal53. That fact, same as the necessity to adjust to local habits
(vide the Rhodian standard in Cyzicus) led to the decision to strike own
coins. Without intention to embark on a broad discussion about the role of
local mints in the emission of the described coins, I would like to point out
here, that both the inscriptions containing the name of Pharnabazus and
the iconography of the coins must have been, at least to a certain extent,
agreed on by the satrap (vide Cyzicus, Samaria; possibly to a lesser degree
Cilicia). Both elements had propagandist significance. They bound the sol-
diers with the commander-in-chief, who at the same time had control over
the funds. Loyalty to the commander must have had great significance
in the period when different Achaemenid notables were competing with
one another and the command was often posted to a few persons jointly.
However the mentioned coins undoubtedly served as local currency,
calling those emissions „a local coinage" is far from precision54. Similarly
the term „satrapal coinage" is not precise either, but it allows to distingu-
ish the coins coimected with activity of representatives of the Great King
from the regal coinage and from the actual local currency55.
Translated by Marzena Krzanowska
33 The donation of 500 talents given by Darius II to Cyrus The Younger could be an example (Xen.
Heli. 5,3-4) or two silver talents received by Tiribazus from the Great King (Diod. XV, 4.2), Cf. remarks
by W. WEISER on the first of the mentioned examples (WEISER, "Die Eulen... ", p. 273ff;).
54 See MILDENBERG, "Uber das Miinzwesen ....".p. 55ff; IDEM, "On the So-called..." p. 9ff.
55 See also remarks of DEBORD, L'AsieMineure...p. 50ff; H. GITLER, "The Levant", in: C. ALFARO,
A. BURNETT (eds.), A Suroey ofNumismatic Research 1996-2001, Madrid 2003, p. 154.
30