Lot 287
Mithradates I (164-132 BC), Silver Tetradrachm, 16.12g, 12h. Mithradates I (164-132 BC), Silver Tetradrachm, 16.12g, 12h. Minted at Seleucia on the Tigris. Diademed and bearded bust right, reel-and-pellet border. Rev. Naked Heracles standing left, wine-cup and club in right and left hands respectively, lion skin over left arm, monogram in field left, four-line inscription ??S???OS ??G???Y ??S???Y F????????S, date G?? (173 SEM = 140/139 BC) in exergue (S 13.3; Sunrise 261). About very fine, porous surfaces. Rare. Supported by the extant classical literary sources, contemporary Babylonian cuneiform documents attest that Parthian forces annexed Mesopotamia in the summer of 141 BC. Soon afterwards and in order to celebrate the occasion, the royal mint at Seleucia on the Tigris reverted to issuing coins for the victorious Arsacid monarch, Mithradates I, who might have visited the newly conquered territories and tarried in Babylon during autumn - winter of that same year. The first Arsacid issue from Seleucia, the S 13.1-2 Tetradrachms and S 13.6 Drachms, are undated while the subsequent outputs, the S 13.3-5 Tetradrachms and S 13.8-10 Drachms, carry Seleucid Era dates 173 and 174 SEM, corresponding respectively to 140/139 BC and 139/138 BC. Moreover, the Tetradrachms carry the additional epithet F????????S "Philhellene, Lover of Greeks". This was, as Sellwood related, "a somewhat transparent attempt to placate the Greek commercial element in the newly conquered lands". See also the commentary under lot 339.
Estimated Value $1,500-UP.
Ex Dr. Busso Peus Nachf., Auction 378, 28 April 2004, lot 306.
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