Roma Numismatics Ltd
Auction XXV 22-23 Sep 2022
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Kings of Pontos, Mithradates IV AR Tetradrachm. Circa 169-150 BC. Diademed head to right / Perseus standing facing, holding harpa and severed head of Medusa; above, crescent above star; BAΣIΛEΩΣ MIΘPAΔATOY to right, ΦΙΛOΠATOPOΣ KAI ΦΙΛΑΔΕΛΦΟY to left, monogram to inner left. Callataÿ, First, [O4 (corr., "O5"), see below/R- ("R7a", see below)]; SNG von Aulock 6674; Jameson 2153 var. (monogram); Gulbenkian 933-4 var. (same); Mattingly, Studies Price, pl. 56, 11 (same obv. die); HGC 7, 326; NAC 106, 246 (hammer: 220,000 CHF). 16.47g, 33mm, 12h.
Extremely Fine; a fine late Hellenistic portrait struck in high relief. Extremely Rare, one of only four tetradrachms of Mithradates IV to be offered at auction in the past two decades, struck from an obverse die from which only one other specimen is known (The Royal Collection, Copenhagen), and from a seemingly previously unknown reverse die with a retrograde monogram.
Callataÿ incorrectly describes both the Hunt and Copenhagen as being specimens struck from the same obverse die (O4/R6 and O4/R7 respectively). This is not the case, and therefore the Copenhagen specimen which shares its obverse die with the present example should properly be described as "O5", with a new reverse die that may here be referred to as R7a. The Boston coin which Callataÿ assigns to die O5/R8 should necessarily be corrected to O6/R8.
Perseus, the famous hero of Greek myth, is instantly recognisable on the reverse of this coin by virtue of the severed head of Medusa he carries. According to the legend, King Akrisios of Argos imprisoned Perseus' mother Danae to prevent her having children after an oracle foretold he would be killed by her son. When however she bore a son of Zeus, Perseus, he banished them to sea in a wooden box, only for the mother and son to survive, having been washed ashore and taken-in by the fisherman Dictys. As a man, Perseus was instructed by King Polydektes of Seriphos to bring him the head of Medusa, a woman whom Ovid relates was cursed by Athena after being violated by Poseidon in the goddess's temple, causing her hair to transform into writhing snakes and for her to turn all those upon whom she looked to stone.
Perseus, with the help of myriad divine attributes, namely Hades' helmet of invisibility, a sword from Hephaestus, Hermes' winged sandals and a mirrored shield from Athena, was able to behead the monster by looking at her through the shield's reflection, thus avoiding being turned to stone. Upon his return to Seriphos, he turned the head on Polydektes, who was attempting to force Perseus' mother Danae into marriage.
The inclusion of an archetypal Greek hero on this tetradrachm of Mithridates IV should be viewed within the context of the long-standing etymological association, whereby Perseus was considered the mythical ancestor of the Persians. This iconography was employed by King Xerxes I during his invasion of Greece in 480 BC in an attempt to persuade the Argives, whom Perseus ruled over as king after accidentally fulfilling the oracle's prophecy and killing Akrisios, to surrender to him since they shared a common forefather. Mithridates therefore exploited the shared affiliation to associate the Mithridatic dynasty of Pontus, Persian in heritage, with the wealthy and great Achaemenid empire.
This Persian heritage is thus juxtaposed with a reverse design that is thoroughly Greek in character, and further emphasised by the conspicuously Hellenistic portrait style, with the diadem of a contemporary Hellenistic king, and the use of Greek titles Philopator ('Father-loving') and Philadelphos ('Brother-loving'), intended to recall the successes of Mithradates III and Pharnakes I, Mithridates' father and brother. These Hellenistic influences could be viewed as being in conflict with the long-standing Pontic desire to emulate the Persian empire, yet also serve as a link to the visual tradition of the Argead dynasty of Macedon from which Mithradates was himself also descended, who themselves claimed descendancy from the Argives whom Perseus ruled over as King. The most famous scion of the Argean dynasty, Alexander III 'the Great', had achieved a neat historical-mythological circularity when he succeeded in conquering the entirety of the former Achaemenid Persian empire in the late fourth century BC, thus assuming the title King of Persia and uniting the two strands of mythological ancestry from Perseus which Mithridates IV claims here.
Extremely Fine; a fine late Hellenistic portrait struck in high relief. Extremely Rare, one of only four tetradrachms of Mithradates IV to be offered at auction in the past two decades, struck from an obverse die from which only one other specimen is known (The Royal Collection, Copenhagen), and from a seemingly previously unknown reverse die with a retrograde monogram.
Callataÿ incorrectly describes both the Hunt and Copenhagen as being specimens struck from the same obverse die (O4/R6 and O4/R7 respectively). This is not the case, and therefore the Copenhagen specimen which shares its obverse die with the present example should properly be described as "O5", with a new reverse die that may here be referred to as R7a. The Boston coin which Callataÿ assigns to die O5/R8 should necessarily be corrected to O6/R8.
Perseus, the famous hero of Greek myth, is instantly recognisable on the reverse of this coin by virtue of the severed head of Medusa he carries. According to the legend, King Akrisios of Argos imprisoned Perseus' mother Danae to prevent her having children after an oracle foretold he would be killed by her son. When however she bore a son of Zeus, Perseus, he banished them to sea in a wooden box, only for the mother and son to survive, having been washed ashore and taken-in by the fisherman Dictys. As a man, Perseus was instructed by King Polydektes of Seriphos to bring him the head of Medusa, a woman whom Ovid relates was cursed by Athena after being violated by Poseidon in the goddess's temple, causing her hair to transform into writhing snakes and for her to turn all those upon whom she looked to stone.
Perseus, with the help of myriad divine attributes, namely Hades' helmet of invisibility, a sword from Hephaestus, Hermes' winged sandals and a mirrored shield from Athena, was able to behead the monster by looking at her through the shield's reflection, thus avoiding being turned to stone. Upon his return to Seriphos, he turned the head on Polydektes, who was attempting to force Perseus' mother Danae into marriage.
The inclusion of an archetypal Greek hero on this tetradrachm of Mithridates IV should be viewed within the context of the long-standing etymological association, whereby Perseus was considered the mythical ancestor of the Persians. This iconography was employed by King Xerxes I during his invasion of Greece in 480 BC in an attempt to persuade the Argives, whom Perseus ruled over as king after accidentally fulfilling the oracle's prophecy and killing Akrisios, to surrender to him since they shared a common forefather. Mithridates therefore exploited the shared affiliation to associate the Mithridatic dynasty of Pontus, Persian in heritage, with the wealthy and great Achaemenid empire.
This Persian heritage is thus juxtaposed with a reverse design that is thoroughly Greek in character, and further emphasised by the conspicuously Hellenistic portrait style, with the diadem of a contemporary Hellenistic king, and the use of Greek titles Philopator ('Father-loving') and Philadelphos ('Brother-loving'), intended to recall the successes of Mithradates III and Pharnakes I, Mithridates' father and brother. These Hellenistic influences could be viewed as being in conflict with the long-standing Pontic desire to emulate the Persian empire, yet also serve as a link to the visual tradition of the Argead dynasty of Macedon from which Mithradates was himself also descended, who themselves claimed descendancy from the Argives whom Perseus ruled over as King. The most famous scion of the Argean dynasty, Alexander III 'the Great', had achieved a neat historical-mythological circularity when he succeeded in conquering the entirety of the former Achaemenid Persian empire in the late fourth century BC, thus assuming the title King of Persia and uniting the two strands of mythological ancestry from Perseus which Mithridates IV claims here.