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Auction 54 11 Jan 2022
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Kingdom of Persis. Bagadat (Bayadad). Silver Tetradrachm (16.68 g), Early-mid 3rd century BC. Head of Bagadat right, sporting short beard and mustache, wearing kyrbasia with tied flaps. Reverse: King seated left, wearing long cloak and kyrbasia, holding scepter and cup, standard to inner left. Klose & Müseler 2/1; Alram 511; Sunrise 557. Fantastic overstrike on a tetradrachm of Alexander the Great! Extremely Fine. Estimated Value $8,000 - UP
Bagadat was one of several Iranian dynasts known to have ruled in Persis in the late third and early second century BC with the title of frataraka - an old Achaemenid Persian term for a governor. The character of frataraka has been disputed, with older scholarship tending to understand them as priestly rulers opposed to the kings of the surrounding Seleukid Empire and more recent work seeing them as local semi-independent Seleukid functionaries. However, their production of coins frequently overstruck on Seleukid Alexander-type tetradrachms, as on the present coin, seems to imply at least some desire to secede from Seleukid authority. This feeling is heightened by the typology of Bagadat's tetradrachm coinage. Whereas other frataraka issues tend to feature the dynast wearing a closed kyrbasia on the obverse and his standing figure before a Persian fire altar on the reverse, on Bagadat's coins, he is shown with an open kyrbasia with raised crest on the obverse and represented enthroned on the reverse with a scepter and a standard. All of these features are derived from representations of the Achaemenid Great King, particularly on the reliefs at Persepolis, suggesting that Bagadat was intentionally casting himself in the role of a (presumably autonomous) Iranian king and therefore in opposition to Seleukid rule in Persis. The enthroned image on the reverse may even imply greater pretensions, for here the seated image of Bagadat usurps the position of Zeus on the reverse of the Alexander type.
Bagadat was one of several Iranian dynasts known to have ruled in Persis in the late third and early second century BC with the title of frataraka - an old Achaemenid Persian term for a governor. The character of frataraka has been disputed, with older scholarship tending to understand them as priestly rulers opposed to the kings of the surrounding Seleukid Empire and more recent work seeing them as local semi-independent Seleukid functionaries. However, their production of coins frequently overstruck on Seleukid Alexander-type tetradrachms, as on the present coin, seems to imply at least some desire to secede from Seleukid authority. This feeling is heightened by the typology of Bagadat's tetradrachm coinage. Whereas other frataraka issues tend to feature the dynast wearing a closed kyrbasia on the obverse and his standing figure before a Persian fire altar on the reverse, on Bagadat's coins, he is shown with an open kyrbasia with raised crest on the obverse and represented enthroned on the reverse with a scepter and a standard. All of these features are derived from representations of the Achaemenid Great King, particularly on the reliefs at Persepolis, suggesting that Bagadat was intentionally casting himself in the role of a (presumably autonomous) Iranian king and therefore in opposition to Seleukid rule in Persis. The enthroned image on the reverse may even imply greater pretensions, for here the seated image of Bagadat usurps the position of Zeus on the reverse of the Alexander type.