Classical Numismatic Group, LLC
Triton XVII Sessions 1 & 2 7 January 2014
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ARABIA, Eastern. Hagar. Abyatha. Circa 220-204 BC. AR Drachm (18mm, 4.17 g, 9h). Imitating Alexander III of Macedon. Dumat al-Jandal mint(?). Head of Herakles right, wearing lion skin / Seated figure of beardless ruler left, holding reed (?) in his right from which he seems to smoke; a (in South Arabian) in left field, abyt' (in South Arabian) to right. Huth 116; Potts 8–16 and Suppl. 1; Arnold-Biucchi, Arabian 9; HGC 10, 694. VF, toned, scratch on reverse. Extremely rare.
The coinage in the name of Abyatha in imitation of Alexander's types consists of tetradrachms, drachms, and obols. Callot ("A new chronology for the Arabian Alexanders" in CCK) dated this ruler to circa 220-204 BC and proposed Dumat al-Jandal on the road from the Gulf to Nabataea as the minting place. Abyatha's last years thus coincided with the famous (Arabian) Anabasis of Antiochus III of 205 BC and the Seleucid king's visit to Gerrha, the only account of which is preserved by Polybius (13.9.2-5). Huth and Potts (in ANJ 14, pp. 73-80) explained the surprising findspots of some of the tetradrachms (Mektepini and Gordion) with the route taken by the Seleukid army following the visit to Gerrha and the extortion of a 'gift' of 500 talents of silver from the Gerrhaians. In addition to the 10 drachms listed by Potts, only this coin and the specimen from the Huth collection are known to exist.
The coinage in the name of Abyatha in imitation of Alexander's types consists of tetradrachms, drachms, and obols. Callot ("A new chronology for the Arabian Alexanders" in CCK) dated this ruler to circa 220-204 BC and proposed Dumat al-Jandal on the road from the Gulf to Nabataea as the minting place. Abyatha's last years thus coincided with the famous (Arabian) Anabasis of Antiochus III of 205 BC and the Seleucid king's visit to Gerrha, the only account of which is preserved by Polybius (13.9.2-5). Huth and Potts (in ANJ 14, pp. 73-80) explained the surprising findspots of some of the tetradrachms (Mektepini and Gordion) with the route taken by the Seleukid army following the visit to Gerrha and the extortion of a 'gift' of 500 talents of silver from the Gerrhaians. In addition to the 10 drachms listed by Potts, only this coin and the specimen from the Huth collection are known to exist.