DOI Artikel:
Shannahan, John: Samarian depictions of the figure in the winged disc
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.31074#0031
SAMARIAN DEPICTIONS...
same pose.^ These types also evoked earlier uses of the motif- with Baal/Zeus
- but created a closer link to the Achaemenids with the headdresses added to the
hguresA The use of the running archer similarly adhered to the obverse type of
Persian darics and sigloi.
The Achaemenid prototypes for the images tound in Samarian coinage were
ideologically signihcant. In an Achaemenid context, the depiction of a royal in-
dividual in a heroic position glorihed the position of the king and asserted his
authorityA The same messages were propagated by Samarian adaptations of the
iconography. The use of the running archer, while taking advantage of the associa-
tion with a reliable currency, also carried the connotations of the original type by
dispersing an imperial messageA
Samarian die-engravers, however, were not restricted to pastiches of Ach-
aemenid art. Their mimicry was centred on images already popular in coinage
circulating in the local economy. Thus, we can also detect the inhuences of types
fforn Athenian, Cilician, Phoenician, Sidonian, and satrapal coins A The easy iden-
tihcation of prototypes has led to the characterisation of Samaria's numismatic
artistry as "prolifically derivativeT^
There remains, however, one motif which is famously complex in its Ach-
aemenid context, and which was displayed by the Samarians in an equally intri-
cate manner: the figurę in the winged disc. Neither numismatists nor art historians
have discussed its Samarian presentation in depth. Yet the composition of this fig-
urę on Samarian coins is fascinating. The depiction of the hgure with four wings
(as opposed to two), and representation of his torso extending directly into feathers
(instead of terminating in a disc), was rare in Achaemenid contexts. The composi-
tion suggests that the die-engravers were inspired by small-scale depictions. No
known numismatic representations of the hgure in the winged disc are comparable
to the Samarian examples under discussion here, and in this way the Samarian
types are different to most Achaemenid-inhuenced coinage.
" E.g. BR1ANT 2002: Figs. 20-22.
Baal/Zeus: see Tiribazus' Cilician staters: CASABONNE 2004: 188-193; e.g. BM 1985,1114.3; 57VG
Levante-Cilicia 177. The hgure on the obverse of Tiribazus' series is generally thought to be Baal, but one
cannot preclude the possibility that it is Zeus: KRAAY 1976: 281; LE RIDER 1997: 152. Cf. MESHORER and
QEDAR 1999: no. 40, where the obverse type (showing the Persian king) is accompanied by the legend IEYE.
For the headdress, see for example UDEM: nos. 6, 40, 47, 100, 123.
'6 GARRISON and ROOT 2001: 53-60. See generally JACOBS 1987.
"DUSINBERRE2003: 165-168; BODZEK2015: 61.
MESHORER and QEDAR 1999: 32. For Sidonian coinage, see for example UDEM: nos. 55-56, 74.
On the influence of satrapal coins, see UDEM: 46f. The precise chronology of Samarian coinage has not been
established, so it is inference that the Samarian types follow Cilician, Sidonian, and satrapal coins. Samarian coins
certainly post-date the Athenian and Phoenician types.
'9TUPLIN 2014: 155.
same pose.^ These types also evoked earlier uses of the motif- with Baal/Zeus
- but created a closer link to the Achaemenids with the headdresses added to the
hguresA The use of the running archer similarly adhered to the obverse type of
Persian darics and sigloi.
The Achaemenid prototypes for the images tound in Samarian coinage were
ideologically signihcant. In an Achaemenid context, the depiction of a royal in-
dividual in a heroic position glorihed the position of the king and asserted his
authorityA The same messages were propagated by Samarian adaptations of the
iconography. The use of the running archer, while taking advantage of the associa-
tion with a reliable currency, also carried the connotations of the original type by
dispersing an imperial messageA
Samarian die-engravers, however, were not restricted to pastiches of Ach-
aemenid art. Their mimicry was centred on images already popular in coinage
circulating in the local economy. Thus, we can also detect the inhuences of types
fforn Athenian, Cilician, Phoenician, Sidonian, and satrapal coins A The easy iden-
tihcation of prototypes has led to the characterisation of Samaria's numismatic
artistry as "prolifically derivativeT^
There remains, however, one motif which is famously complex in its Ach-
aemenid context, and which was displayed by the Samarians in an equally intri-
cate manner: the figurę in the winged disc. Neither numismatists nor art historians
have discussed its Samarian presentation in depth. Yet the composition of this fig-
urę on Samarian coins is fascinating. The depiction of the hgure with four wings
(as opposed to two), and representation of his torso extending directly into feathers
(instead of terminating in a disc), was rare in Achaemenid contexts. The composi-
tion suggests that the die-engravers were inspired by small-scale depictions. No
known numismatic representations of the hgure in the winged disc are comparable
to the Samarian examples under discussion here, and in this way the Samarian
types are different to most Achaemenid-inhuenced coinage.
" E.g. BR1ANT 2002: Figs. 20-22.
Baal/Zeus: see Tiribazus' Cilician staters: CASABONNE 2004: 188-193; e.g. BM 1985,1114.3; 57VG
Levante-Cilicia 177. The hgure on the obverse of Tiribazus' series is generally thought to be Baal, but one
cannot preclude the possibility that it is Zeus: KRAAY 1976: 281; LE RIDER 1997: 152. Cf. MESHORER and
QEDAR 1999: no. 40, where the obverse type (showing the Persian king) is accompanied by the legend IEYE.
For the headdress, see for example UDEM: nos. 6, 40, 47, 100, 123.
'6 GARRISON and ROOT 2001: 53-60. See generally JACOBS 1987.
"DUSINBERRE2003: 165-168; BODZEK2015: 61.
MESHORER and QEDAR 1999: 32. For Sidonian coinage, see for example UDEM: nos. 55-56, 74.
On the influence of satrapal coins, see UDEM: 46f. The precise chronology of Samarian coinage has not been
established, so it is inference that the Samarian types follow Cilician, Sidonian, and satrapal coins. Samarian coins
certainly post-date the Athenian and Phoenician types.
'9TUPLIN 2014: 155.