Roma Numismatics Ltd
Auction XIV 21 Sep 2017
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Baktria, Sophytes AR Tetradrachm. Uncertain mint in the Oxus region, circa 246/5-235 BC. Attic standard. Head of Athena right, wearing earring, necklace, and crested Attic helmet decorated with three olive leaves over visor and a spiral palmette on the bowl / Cockerel standing right; kerykeion behind, ΣΟΦYΤΟΥ to right. Bopearachchi, Sophytes -; Mitchiner -; Whitehead, NC 1943, pp. 60ff (drachm); O. Bopearachchi, Royaumes grecs en Afghanistan. Nouvelles données", in L'art d'Afghanistan de la préhistoire à nos jours, CERDAF, Actes d'une Journée d'étude, UNESCO, 11th March 2005, Paris, 2005, p. 60-2 = NAC 59, 655. 16.97g, 25mm, 6h.
Good Extremely Fine. Of the greatest rarity, the second and by far the finest known example.
The question of who Sophytes was and when he lived is one that has confounded numismatists for a hundred and fifty one years. It should be quite clear to anyone reading this that the Sophytes of this coinage was not the Sopeithes described in classical sources as the ruler in the Punjab region between the Hydraotes and the Hyphasis who so impressed Alexander. We can say with certainty only that he was evidently Indo-Iranian by ethnicity, for Sophytes is the Hellenisation of a non-Greek name, and that he must have commanded an important region or city, most likely within Baktria, in the vicinity of the Oxus river.
Though little (if any) attention has been paid to the choice of the cockerel as the reverse type, it is when considered properly, thoroughly Baktrian in character. The cockerel was a most sacred animal in Zoroastrian religion; besides its common name 'Halka' and its onomatopoeic name 'Kahrkatas', it was also referred to by a religious name, 'Parodarsh' - literally, 'foreseer' (of the dawn). It was the bird of light and hence of righteousness, scattering the darkness and the evil that dwells within.
This remarkable tetradrachm provides direct evidence for a transitional phase coinage struck by Sophytes, on the obverse of which we can observe the continuation of the 'Athenian Series' using the helmeted head of Athena type, while the reverse replaces the Athenian owl for the cockerel that will remain the principal type of Sophytes on his helmeted portrait issues. The cockerel is joined by a kerykeion adjunct symbol already familiar to us from the preceding series, and the legend ΣΟΦYΤΟΥ.
We have already established that the coinage of Andragoras and Sophytes should be considered roughly contemporary, with the former's probably preceding that of the latter, judging by the patterns of wear that we have encountered. It seems fair to propose therefore, that emboldened by Andragoras' placement of his own name upon the reverse of his coins, Sophytes decided to follow suit. Certainly, the hold of the Seleukid central government over its farthest eastern satrapies had been weakening since the death of Antiochos I; Houghton and Lorber (SC, p. 167) observe that "mint operations in the rich province of Baktria gradually escaped Seleukid control" throughout Antiochos II's reign, and while it was previously accepted that there was only one Baktrian mint, recent scholarship and archaeology has shown this not to be the case. "
Good Extremely Fine. Of the greatest rarity, the second and by far the finest known example.
The question of who Sophytes was and when he lived is one that has confounded numismatists for a hundred and fifty one years. It should be quite clear to anyone reading this that the Sophytes of this coinage was not the Sopeithes described in classical sources as the ruler in the Punjab region between the Hydraotes and the Hyphasis who so impressed Alexander. We can say with certainty only that he was evidently Indo-Iranian by ethnicity, for Sophytes is the Hellenisation of a non-Greek name, and that he must have commanded an important region or city, most likely within Baktria, in the vicinity of the Oxus river.
Though little (if any) attention has been paid to the choice of the cockerel as the reverse type, it is when considered properly, thoroughly Baktrian in character. The cockerel was a most sacred animal in Zoroastrian religion; besides its common name 'Halka' and its onomatopoeic name 'Kahrkatas', it was also referred to by a religious name, 'Parodarsh' - literally, 'foreseer' (of the dawn). It was the bird of light and hence of righteousness, scattering the darkness and the evil that dwells within.
This remarkable tetradrachm provides direct evidence for a transitional phase coinage struck by Sophytes, on the obverse of which we can observe the continuation of the 'Athenian Series' using the helmeted head of Athena type, while the reverse replaces the Athenian owl for the cockerel that will remain the principal type of Sophytes on his helmeted portrait issues. The cockerel is joined by a kerykeion adjunct symbol already familiar to us from the preceding series, and the legend ΣΟΦYΤΟΥ.
We have already established that the coinage of Andragoras and Sophytes should be considered roughly contemporary, with the former's probably preceding that of the latter, judging by the patterns of wear that we have encountered. It seems fair to propose therefore, that emboldened by Andragoras' placement of his own name upon the reverse of his coins, Sophytes decided to follow suit. Certainly, the hold of the Seleukid central government over its farthest eastern satrapies had been weakening since the death of Antiochos I; Houghton and Lorber (SC, p. 167) observe that "mint operations in the rich province of Baktria gradually escaped Seleukid control" throughout Antiochos II's reign, and while it was previously accepted that there was only one Baktrian mint, recent scholarship and archaeology has shown this not to be the case. "