Gemini, LLC
Auction X 13 January 2013
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The Persian Empire. Pharnabazus. 400-390 BC. Tetradrachm (Phoenician standard), 14.59g. (11h). , c. 395 BC. Obv: Head of a Persian right, wearing a tiara knotted beneath chin. Rx: Persian great king running right, holding bow and spear. On left, warship downwards. Above, [ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ]. Cf. the famous Berlin specimen from the same issue: K. Regling, Die antike Munze als Kunstwerk (Berlin 1924), pl. 19, 425; C.M. Kraay and M. Hirmer, Greek Coins (London 1966), pl. 184, 623; K. Fittschen, Griechische Portrats (Darmstadt 1988), pl. 28, 3; L. Mildenberg, On the so-called Satrapal Coinage, in O. Casabonne (ed.), Mecanismes et innovations monetaires dans l'Anatolie grec achemenide (Paris 2000), pp. 12 f., pl. 3, 2; J. Bodzek, ΤΑ ΣΑΤΡΑΠΙΚΑ ΝΟΜΙΣΜΑΤΑ (Krakow 2011), pp. 187 f., pl. IX, 5. For the dating, see E.S.G. Robinson, NC (1948), pp. 48-56. VG.
The symbol on the reverse, a Greek trireme, points to preparations for a naval campaign. The Phoenician standard does not make much sense in the central Aegean Sea. Thus Robinson might have been right in attributing this issue to Konon's military preparations before the sea battle off Knidos in 394 BC. Konon, an Athenian politician, was then backed by the Persian Empire, namely by the satrap Pharnabazus. After supporting the Spartans during the final period of the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BC), the Persians had soon started to feel uneasy with Spartan arrogance, and eventually switched to the side of their former enemy, Athens. As their general, Konon conquered Rhodes in 396 and defeated the Spartan navy off Knidos in 394. These campaigns that led to the decline of Spartan predominance in the Aegean are the background of this exceptional issue.
The symbol on the reverse, a Greek trireme, points to preparations for a naval campaign. The Phoenician standard does not make much sense in the central Aegean Sea. Thus Robinson might have been right in attributing this issue to Konon's military preparations before the sea battle off Knidos in 394 BC. Konon, an Athenian politician, was then backed by the Persian Empire, namely by the satrap Pharnabazus. After supporting the Spartans during the final period of the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BC), the Persians had soon started to feel uneasy with Spartan arrogance, and eventually switched to the side of their former enemy, Athens. As their general, Konon conquered Rhodes in 396 and defeated the Spartan navy off Knidos in 394. These campaigns that led to the decline of Spartan predominance in the Aegean are the background of this exceptional issue.