Lot 291
Arsaces X (122-121 BC), Silver Tetradrachm, 15.97g, 12h. Arsaces X (122-121 BC), Silver Tetradrachm, 15.97g, 12h. Minted at Seleucia on the Tigris. Diademed and lightly bearded bust right, wearing spiral torque, reel-and-pellet border. Rev. Demeter enthroned left, holding Nike in outstretched right hand, cornucopia in left hand, composite monogram and TY in exergue, four-line inscription ??S???OS ??S???Y ???F???YS F????????S (S 23.2 (Mithradates II); Sunrise 280). Good fine, areas of soft striking on both sides. Very rare. Like his father Artabanus II before him, Artabanus III lost his life in fighting the Scythian marauders (the Guti of the late Babylonian cuneiform sources). He was, according to a reference in the historical section of an astronomical diary from 119 BC, the brother of Mithradates II. The same cuneiform source confirms that Artabanus III died in battle against the Guti and that Mithradates II successfully liquidated the nomad threat in the winter of 119 BC with a great slaughter. Given that Mithradates II appears fully bearded on his earliest coinage, the S 23.3 silver Drachms (see lot 354) and S 23.4 bronzes dated 191 SEM = autumn 122 BC – autumn 121 BC, it is possible that the S 23.1-2 Tetradrachms, showing on their obverse the portrait of a juvenile prince, were minted by a son of Artabanus III. He succeeded his father in late 122 BC and disappeared soon afterwards in unknown circumstances about spring 121 BC. On the attribution to Arsaces X of this output see: Assar G.R.F., "A Revised Parthian Chronology of the Period 165-91 B.C.", Electrum 11 (2006), 87-158 (at 129-140).
Estimated Value $2,800-UP.
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| Realized $4,680 |
