DOI issue:
Artykuły/Articles
DOI article:Bodzek, Jarosław: The Satraps of Caria and the Lycians in the Achaemenid Period: Where is the Numismatic Evidence?
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.57341#0025
THE SATRAPS OF CARIA AND THE LYCIANS...
variety of types used by the Lycians in 5th and 4th centuries BC, as well as a habit
of copying of foreign coin types by die engravers working in Lycia. In my view,
however, the Tissaphernes stater is not such a case, or at least not definitively.
Although the type itself is undoubtedly copied from Tarsos coins,55 its choice was
far from random. The Iranian horseman was a universal and popular motif recalling
the ethos of the Achaemenid aristocracy and well understood in different regions
of the Persian Empire,56 as evidenced by its frequent appearances in minor and
monumental art. The horseman motif is also well attested in monumental art in
Lycia itself.57 Therefore, one can assume that its meaning was also well known
and understood by the Lycians. The motif is also well established in the case of
satrapal coinages and was to be found in different mints in the western part of
the Achaemenid empire from Mysia and Troas to Palestine and perhaps even
Egypt.58 It is known in two basic variations:
A/ horseman holding a flower or reins or whip or vertical sword on walking
or depicted on a short, galloping horse (known mainly from Tarsos coinages dated
around 400 BC),59
and
B/ a horseman brandishing a spear or javelin on a galloping horse.60
The meaning of the two types is generally similar, although perhaps they
have slightly different detailed messages. In some cases, the type could be directly
connected with particular Achaemenid officials,61 while at others such an attribution is
less certain but still possible62 and in some other cases the coins remain anonymous.63
It should be stressed that Tissaphernes himself used the Iranian horseman type
twice in his coinages. Once was in the case of the discussed silver, a Lycian stater
(variation A), and again on small bronze coins, issued somewhere in north-western
55 Cf. It was already pointed out by Sylvia Hurter (1979: 107). However, see also: HARRISON 1982b: 391ff;
CASABONNE 2000b: 43, note 18; IDEM 2004: 171, note 714; MÜSELER2016: 23, note 24.
56 Cf. FARKAS 1969; TUPLIN 2010: 104ff; BODZEK 2011: 24Iff.
57 Cf. ZAHLE 1983: 57f; IDEM 1989: 172, note 9.
58 Cf. BODZEK 2011: 24Iff, Pls II, 2, 4, III, 15, IX, 9-14, XIII, 1-22; IDEM 2014a: Pl. 1, 1; IDEM 2015:
Pl. 1, 1; 2, 5a-5c.
59 On type A BODZEK 2011: 243ff, Pl. II, 4; XII, 1-2, 4, 6, 8, 12-14; IDEM 2015: Pl. 2, 5a-5c (horseman
holding flower); IDEM 2011: Pl. XII, 15-16 (horseman holding whip), 10-11 (spear). See also: NIESWANDT
2012: 84ff; MÜSELER 2015. On general classification of Tarsos issues, see CASABONNE 2004.
60 On type B, cf. BODZEK 2011: 248f, Pl. II, 2-2b, 15-15b; IX, 9-12, 14-14b; XII, 17-21; IDEM 2014a:
Pl. 1, 1; NIESWANDT 2012: 78ff. There is another type which could be called Type C (or III), which represents
some features of two former. The horseman holds a short staff or sword vertically (BODZEK 2011: 253, Pl. XII,
22); cf. also: IDEM 2004: 180; IDEM 2015: 2, note 7; NIESWANDT 2012: 94.
61 Respectively BODZEK 2011, Pl. II, 2, 4; Pl. XII, 19, 22.
62 One can recall here a coin attributed by Bodzek to Mazakes (BODZEK 2014c).
63 Cf. BODZEK 2011: Pl. Ill, 15; IX, 9-14, XII, 1-16.
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variety of types used by the Lycians in 5th and 4th centuries BC, as well as a habit
of copying of foreign coin types by die engravers working in Lycia. In my view,
however, the Tissaphernes stater is not such a case, or at least not definitively.
Although the type itself is undoubtedly copied from Tarsos coins,55 its choice was
far from random. The Iranian horseman was a universal and popular motif recalling
the ethos of the Achaemenid aristocracy and well understood in different regions
of the Persian Empire,56 as evidenced by its frequent appearances in minor and
monumental art. The horseman motif is also well attested in monumental art in
Lycia itself.57 Therefore, one can assume that its meaning was also well known
and understood by the Lycians. The motif is also well established in the case of
satrapal coinages and was to be found in different mints in the western part of
the Achaemenid empire from Mysia and Troas to Palestine and perhaps even
Egypt.58 It is known in two basic variations:
A/ horseman holding a flower or reins or whip or vertical sword on walking
or depicted on a short, galloping horse (known mainly from Tarsos coinages dated
around 400 BC),59
and
B/ a horseman brandishing a spear or javelin on a galloping horse.60
The meaning of the two types is generally similar, although perhaps they
have slightly different detailed messages. In some cases, the type could be directly
connected with particular Achaemenid officials,61 while at others such an attribution is
less certain but still possible62 and in some other cases the coins remain anonymous.63
It should be stressed that Tissaphernes himself used the Iranian horseman type
twice in his coinages. Once was in the case of the discussed silver, a Lycian stater
(variation A), and again on small bronze coins, issued somewhere in north-western
55 Cf. It was already pointed out by Sylvia Hurter (1979: 107). However, see also: HARRISON 1982b: 391ff;
CASABONNE 2000b: 43, note 18; IDEM 2004: 171, note 714; MÜSELER2016: 23, note 24.
56 Cf. FARKAS 1969; TUPLIN 2010: 104ff; BODZEK 2011: 24Iff.
57 Cf. ZAHLE 1983: 57f; IDEM 1989: 172, note 9.
58 Cf. BODZEK 2011: 24Iff, Pls II, 2, 4, III, 15, IX, 9-14, XIII, 1-22; IDEM 2014a: Pl. 1, 1; IDEM 2015:
Pl. 1, 1; 2, 5a-5c.
59 On type A BODZEK 2011: 243ff, Pl. II, 4; XII, 1-2, 4, 6, 8, 12-14; IDEM 2015: Pl. 2, 5a-5c (horseman
holding flower); IDEM 2011: Pl. XII, 15-16 (horseman holding whip), 10-11 (spear). See also: NIESWANDT
2012: 84ff; MÜSELER 2015. On general classification of Tarsos issues, see CASABONNE 2004.
60 On type B, cf. BODZEK 2011: 248f, Pl. II, 2-2b, 15-15b; IX, 9-12, 14-14b; XII, 17-21; IDEM 2014a:
Pl. 1, 1; NIESWANDT 2012: 78ff. There is another type which could be called Type C (or III), which represents
some features of two former. The horseman holds a short staff or sword vertically (BODZEK 2011: 253, Pl. XII,
22); cf. also: IDEM 2004: 180; IDEM 2015: 2, note 7; NIESWANDT 2012: 94.
61 Respectively BODZEK 2011, Pl. II, 2, 4; Pl. XII, 19, 22.
62 One can recall here a coin attributed by Bodzek to Mazakes (BODZEK 2014c).
63 Cf. BODZEK 2011: Pl. Ill, 15; IX, 9-14, XII, 1-16.
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