Roma Numismatics Ltd
Auction XVI 26 Sep 2018
View prices realized
► Sale information
Find similar lots
Kyrenaika, Barke AR Tetradrachm. Circa 440-420 BC. Silphium plant with leaves and flowers / Bearded head of Zeus Ammon to right, BAP before; elaborate border around, all within incuse circle. BMC 93, 7 (same dies); Münzen & Medaillen 38, 118 (same dies); Traité III, 1949 and pl. CCLXIX, 8. 17.27g, 27mm, 10h.
Near Extremely Fine. Extremely Rare.
From the Mordecai Medvin Collection;
Privately purchased from Numismatic Fine Arts (Beverly Hills, CA), 1993.
Herodotos (4.160.1) informs us that the city of Barke was founded in the mid-sixth century BC by brothers of Arkesilaos II of Kyrene, who were in conflict with him, and that therefore from the very start it frequently followed an independent and occasionally opposing political line, though its coinage developed in parallel with that of its parent city.
In 525 BC, the Achaemenid King Cambyses II effected a swift and bloody conquest of the Pharaonic Kingdom of Egypt, following which both "Kyrene and Barke, being struck with terror" (Herodotos 3.13) delivered themselves up without resistance, and send tribute and gifts to Cambyses. Though both nominally independent still at this time, subsequent civil strife would result in Kyrenaika falling under the hegemony of the Persians.
In c. 518, King Arkesilaos III of Kyrene demanded the return of the monarchical powers his ancestors had possessed before his father's reform of the city's constitution. An internal struggle ensued, in which Arkesilaos was defeated and exiled, being forced to leave Kyrenaika with his mother Pheretima. He himself went to Samos, while his mother went to the court of King Evelthon in Salamis. Arkesilaos succeeded in recruiting an army on Samos, with which he retook Kyrenaika, murdering or exiling his opponents, contrary to advice he had received from an oracle. Wary of reprisals and apparently fearing for his life Arkesilaos fled Kyrene and made for Barke which was then under the government of his father-in-law, while Pheretima took over the reins of power at Kyrene. Recognised in the Barkaean marketplace by exiled Kyrenaeans however, both Arkesilaos and his father-in-law were set upon and murdered.
When news reached Pheretima, she went directly to the Persian satrap of Egypt, Arysandes, and pitifully implored his assistance to avenge her son's murder. Thus in 515 BC a Persian army duly set out against Barke, and laid siege to the city for nine months, before finally luring the people out under a false offer of armistice. The women were mutilated at Pheretima's order and all were enslaved, being then resettled in far away Baktria. Those exiles who survived the journey named their settlement Barke, after their lost home. Pheretima herself died later in the same year; her grandson Battos IV succeeded her, supported by Persian troops, and thus as a vassal of the Achaemenid empire. Kyrenaika thereupon became an extension of the satrapy of Egypt.
Battos IV reigned peacefully, and passed the throne to his son Arkesilaos IV in 465, whose victory in the chariot race at the Pythian Games of Delphi was celebrated by the Greek poet Pindar in the Fourth and Fifth Pythian Odes. Pindar stressed the legitimacy of his rule - his family, the Battiatid dynasty having ruled for eight generations - and urged him to reconcile with his enemies. However his reign grew progressively more tyrannical as time went on, and Arkesilaos exiled many Kyrenaean nobles, bringing in mercenaries to support his rule. Despite, or perhaps because of this in 440 the populace rebelled and killed Arkesilaos along with his son Battos V, proclaiming Kyrenaika a republic under Persian suzerainty.
The present coin most probably dates to the late rule of Arkesilaos IV, or the period after the overthrow of the monarchy and re-establishment of autonomous internal governance by the cities of Kyrenaika. Considering the fine classical style and prominent use of the city ethnik, the latter seems more likely.
Near Extremely Fine. Extremely Rare.
From the Mordecai Medvin Collection;
Privately purchased from Numismatic Fine Arts (Beverly Hills, CA), 1993.
Herodotos (4.160.1) informs us that the city of Barke was founded in the mid-sixth century BC by brothers of Arkesilaos II of Kyrene, who were in conflict with him, and that therefore from the very start it frequently followed an independent and occasionally opposing political line, though its coinage developed in parallel with that of its parent city.
In 525 BC, the Achaemenid King Cambyses II effected a swift and bloody conquest of the Pharaonic Kingdom of Egypt, following which both "Kyrene and Barke, being struck with terror" (Herodotos 3.13) delivered themselves up without resistance, and send tribute and gifts to Cambyses. Though both nominally independent still at this time, subsequent civil strife would result in Kyrenaika falling under the hegemony of the Persians.
In c. 518, King Arkesilaos III of Kyrene demanded the return of the monarchical powers his ancestors had possessed before his father's reform of the city's constitution. An internal struggle ensued, in which Arkesilaos was defeated and exiled, being forced to leave Kyrenaika with his mother Pheretima. He himself went to Samos, while his mother went to the court of King Evelthon in Salamis. Arkesilaos succeeded in recruiting an army on Samos, with which he retook Kyrenaika, murdering or exiling his opponents, contrary to advice he had received from an oracle. Wary of reprisals and apparently fearing for his life Arkesilaos fled Kyrene and made for Barke which was then under the government of his father-in-law, while Pheretima took over the reins of power at Kyrene. Recognised in the Barkaean marketplace by exiled Kyrenaeans however, both Arkesilaos and his father-in-law were set upon and murdered.
When news reached Pheretima, she went directly to the Persian satrap of Egypt, Arysandes, and pitifully implored his assistance to avenge her son's murder. Thus in 515 BC a Persian army duly set out against Barke, and laid siege to the city for nine months, before finally luring the people out under a false offer of armistice. The women were mutilated at Pheretima's order and all were enslaved, being then resettled in far away Baktria. Those exiles who survived the journey named their settlement Barke, after their lost home. Pheretima herself died later in the same year; her grandson Battos IV succeeded her, supported by Persian troops, and thus as a vassal of the Achaemenid empire. Kyrenaika thereupon became an extension of the satrapy of Egypt.
Battos IV reigned peacefully, and passed the throne to his son Arkesilaos IV in 465, whose victory in the chariot race at the Pythian Games of Delphi was celebrated by the Greek poet Pindar in the Fourth and Fifth Pythian Odes. Pindar stressed the legitimacy of his rule - his family, the Battiatid dynasty having ruled for eight generations - and urged him to reconcile with his enemies. However his reign grew progressively more tyrannical as time went on, and Arkesilaos exiled many Kyrenaean nobles, bringing in mercenaries to support his rule. Despite, or perhaps because of this in 440 the populace rebelled and killed Arkesilaos along with his son Battos V, proclaiming Kyrenaika a republic under Persian suzerainty.
The present coin most probably dates to the late rule of Arkesilaos IV, or the period after the overthrow of the monarchy and re-establishment of autonomous internal governance by the cities of Kyrenaika. Considering the fine classical style and prominent use of the city ethnik, the latter seems more likely.