Watch List notes:

KINGS OF CHARACENE. Hyspaosines, circa 127-124 BC. Tetradrachm (Silver, 31 mm, 15.18 g, 12 h), Seleukeia on the Tigris (?), 27/8 June 128-28/9 May 127. Diademed head of Hyspaosines to right. Rev. ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ - ΥΣΠΑΟΣΙΝΟΥ Herakles seated left, holding club set on his knee with his right hand and leaning left on rock draped with lion skin; in exergue, two monograms (?). Alram 491. P. Pasmans: De Zilveren Muntslag op Naam van Hyspaosines (132/1-121/0 v.Chr.) en Zijn Opvolger Apodakos (112/1-103/2 v.Chr.), Koningen van Characene: in Diestse Studiekring voor Numismatiek, Jubileumboek 2006-2021 (Numismatische Studies 3), no. 15. Sunrise -. Very rare and with an impressive portrait. Harshly cleaned, otherwise, good very fine.


Hyspaosines was the Seleukid eparch of the Erythrean Sea in modern-day southern Iraq, with its capital at Antioch in Susiana, which was later renamed Charax Spasinou ('The Palisade of Hyspaosines'). After Antiochos IV's death in 164 BC, Hyspaosines apparently continued to support the Seleukids and at some point he established the autonomous kingdom of Characene, probably in opposition to the encroaching Parthians. In 127 BC, he temporarily conquered Babylon and Seleukeia on the Tigris, where a series of tetradrachms was struck with portraits of particularly fine style, such as the present piece. The region was quickly retaken by the Parthians, however, and it is possible they and Hyspaosines reached some sort of accord during the final years of his reign.