|
Sale 83
|
|
press UP arrow key to increase the zoom ratio.
press DOWN arrow key to decrease the zoom ratio.
press RIGHT arrow key to increase the zoom window size.
press LEFT arrow key to decrease the zoom window size.
|
|
Lot 305
Phraataces and Musa (joint reign, AD 1-4), Billon Tetradrachm, 11.11g, 12h. Phraataces and Musa (joint reign, AD 1-4), Billon Tetradrachm, 11.11g, 12h. Minted at Seleucia on the Tigris. Diademed bust left with long and tapering bead, wart on brow, short hair, ear and earring visible, wearing spiral torque, flying Nike in front, year date BIT (312 SEM) set in diadem ends, all flanked by two-line inscription BACI??OC BACI??ON. Rev. Queen’s bust in tiara with double loop right, flying Nike in front, abbreviated month name ?AN (Xandikos, Apr./May AD 1, reading from outside) set in diadem ends, around, four-line inscription, TEAC OYPANIAC MOYCHC BACI?ICHC (sic.) (S 58.1; Sunrise 403 var, different year and month). Extremely fine, well centred on both sides, uniform dark tone. Very rare. Following the defeat and death of Crassus and his son at the Battle of Carrhae in early May 53 BC, not only the victorious Parthians took the Roman standards, but also captured about 10,000 prisoners. However, around twenty years later and after lengthy negotiations between Phraates IV and Augustus, the Parthian king finally rounded up the surviving Roman prisoners in 20 BC and despatched them to the Roman emperor together with the captured standards. In return, Augustus gifted Phraates with an Italian slave girl, named Musa. Although she initially served as a concubine in the Parthian king’s harem, Musa was soon declared queen after giving birth to a son, called Phraataces (the diminutive form of Phraates). However, sometime in 3/2 BC, Musa conspired with her young son and had the reigning king Phraates IV assassinated. She then married Phraataces, following a Magian custom, and began to rule jointly with him. Classical sources relate that Phraataces and Musa lost their crowns in a "civil war" and were subsequently murdered. Numismatic evidence places the demise of the mother and son around early autumn AD 4 (S58.7 Tetradrachm, dated Hyperberetaios 315 SEM).
Estimated Value $9,500-UP.
Ex Bank Leu, Auction 13, 1975, lot 333; ex Numismatic Fine Art, Auction XXII, June 1989, lot 353 (read the abbreviated month name as ?AN, Xandikos); ex Dr. Busso Peus Nachf, Auction 388, November 2006, lot 541; ex Dr. Robert Gonella Collection, Germany.
|
| |
| Realized $29,250 |
|
