Coin Gallery
1 specimensHistorical Context
During the reign of the Achaemenid King of Kings Artaxerxes II Mnemon, the Persian imperial administration mounted an extensive campaign to restore central authority over Egypt, which had broken away under the native rulers of the Twenty-Ninth and Thirtieth Dynasties. To spearhead the reconquest, Artaxerxes appointed Pharnabazos II, the seasoned satrap of Hellespontine Phrygia who had played a central diplomatic and military role throughout the latter stages of the Peloponnesian War. Pharnabazos was invested with supreme command over combined imperial land armies and a massive fleet.
Tarsos, the administrative capital and primary maritime outlet of Cilicia (Kilikia), functioned as the imperial gathering ground and logistical depot for the expedition. Mobilizing tens of thousands of personnel—including substantial contingents of Greek hoplite mercenaries led by the Athenian general Iphicrates—demanded enormous liquid capital. To meet military payroll obligations in an international currency acceptable to Mediterranean mercenaries, Pharnabazos oversaw the production of abundant silver staters at Tarsos on the Persic weight standard. Although the Egyptian campaign ultimately miscarried around 374/3 BCE amid seasonal Nile floods and strategic disagreements between commanders, the coinage issued during the mobilization represents a pivotal synthesis of Greek late classical art, Semitic civic religion, and Achaemenid administrative control.
Obverse Iconographic Composition
The obverse showcases Baaltars (Ba'al of Tarsos), the principal civic divinity of Tarsos and guardian of the fertile Cilician plain, whom Greek contemporaries assimilated to Zeus. Baaltars is depicted seated facing left upon a backless diphros or stool, his torso turned three-quarters toward the viewer. A himation or mantle is draped around his lower body, leaving his muscular chest bare, with cloth folded over his left shoulder or arm. In his extended right hand, the deity holds a vertical lotus-tipped scepter that extends downward to the baseline. His left hand rests near his waist or hip, steadying the drapery.
The entire composition is enclosed within an outer circular border of distinct dots. On the Cleveland Museum of Art specimen, a pronounced edge cut penetrates the flan edge across the lower right field and seat support, often interpreted as a test cut. The image alone does not prove who made it, its date or the tested metal composition.
Obverse Epigraphy and Inscriptions
The institutional obverse transcription identifies Baaltars, Baal of Tarsos, using Imperial Aramaic. The normalized transliteration B'L TRZ is a deity name, not the name of the satrap. Damaged or off-flan letters must be distinguished from restored text; a complete comparison formula is not proof that every character survives on this specimen.
The position beside the seated figure ties the inscription to the local divine image. The inscription is not a measured mint-workshop signature or evidence that the god himself issued the coin.
Reverse Iconographic Composition
The reverse features a left-facing profile bust of a mature, bearded warrior wearing a crested Attic helmet. The helmet includes an upturned cheekpiece revealing the warrior's cheek and ear, a wide neck guard, and ornamental scroll volutes engraved upon the bowl. A light mantle or chlamys is fastened about the base of the neck. The portrait is framed within an incuse circle, with some dies displaying an internal dotted border.
While early modern catalogs and traditional institutional labels identified the profile as an individualized portrait of Pharnabazos himself, numismatic analysis indicates an idealized martial image. Rather than portraying an oriental satrap in Persian regal garb, the die engravers rendered a Classical Greek conception of the god Ares or an archetypal hoplite hero, visual language calculated to resonate directly with the mercenary soldiers who received these staters as military payment.
Reverse Epigraphy and Inscriptions
The reverse carries Aramaic inscriptions conventionally read PRNBZW, Pharnabazos, and KLK, Kilikia or Cilicia. The name identifies the satrapal issuing context, while the regional designation is a separate field inscription. Their Greek transliterations should not be confused with the alphabet actually engraved.
No complete Unicode character sequence is certified as a diplomatic transcription here. The helmeted portrait is identified as Pharnabazos in the museum title but has also been interpreted as an idealized martial or divine head. Portrait interpretation and the written issuing name are different kinds of evidence.
Typology and Documented Variants
The displayed silver stater, CMA 1917.995, is dated 379-374 BCE and reported at 10.692 g and 25 mm. It pairs seated Baaltars with a helmeted male head and Aramaic field inscriptions. The edge cut is visible on both photographs of this same object.
Satrapal series differ in divine portraits, headgear and field controls. Comparison types may help organize them, but no exact Moysey issue, Levente number or die pair is certified for the Cleveland specimen. Facing-female-head issues and Datames-name coins are distinct comparisons, not extra attributes of this stater.
Scholarly Debates and Attribution Limitations
Portrait and Inscribed Authority
The helmeted head has received both satrapal and idealized warrior interpretations. The Aramaic name is the stronger basis for the named issuing context. A Greek-style helmet does not itself prove a unique divine identity or rule out every historical portrait.
Campaign Context
Pharnabazos' command and Persian preparations against Egypt are historical context, not proof that this exact coin paid a particular soldier or was struck in one campaign year. The museum's 379-374 BCE date remains separate from tighter comparison chronologies.
Physical Limits
An edge cut can be discussed as a probable test feature without certifying an assay result or ancient actor. No fineness, die axis or exact workshop is assigned.
Catalog Data
- Denomination
- Stater
- Material
- Silver
- Series date range
- 379-374 BCE
Authority and vocabulary links: Wikidata and Nomisma.org.