A Newly Identified Mint Control Link in the Coinage of Andragoras and Sophytes
Abstract
An extensive array of the of the once rare silver coinage of Andragoras and Sophytes has appeared recently in numismatic trade. This has more than tripled the corpus of known specimens compared to that documented in the typology of the coinage struck by these two rulers in Parthia in the period c. 250s-238 BC. For the most part, new types identified among the coins in commerce served to extend previously identified suites of mint controls to different denominations in each series, or more rarely and significantly to other series in the coinage. A notable example of the latter is a newly identified anepigraphic Andragoras Series 4 (laureate head of Zeus r./eagle standing l., head reverted) diobol on the reverse of which is found the kerykeion symbol above a grape vine branch . Previously, the latter was the only known symbol on Series 4. The addition of the kerykeion symbol to the repertoire of Series 4 mint controls characterizes this new type as an example of the previously unknown Series 4.3.
References
Bellinger, A. R. 1962. The Coins from the Treasure of the Oxus. American Numismatic Society Museum Notes 10: 51-67.
Ellis-Evans, A. 2019. The Kingdom of Priam: Lesbos and the Troad Between Anatolia and the Aegean. United Kingdom: Oxford University Press.
Glenn, S. 2020. Money and Power in Hellenistic Bactria. New York: The American Numismatic Society.
Holt, F. L. 1981. The Euthydemid Coinage of Bactria: Further Hoard Evidence from Ai Khanoum. Revue Numismatique 23:7-44.
Holt, F. L. 1999. Thundering Zeus: The Making of Hellenistic Bactria. Berkley: University of California Press.
Hoover, O. D. 2013. The Handbook of Greek Coinage Series, Volume 12. Handbook of Coins of Bactria and Ancient India. Lancaster/London: Classical Numismatic Group Inc.
Lerner, J. D. 1996. A Graeco-Sogdian mint of Euthydemus. Revue Numismatique 151: 77- 94.
Lerner, J. D. 1999. The Impact of Seleucid Decline on the Eastern Iranian Plateau. The Foundations of Arsacid Parthia and Graeco-Bactria. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag.
Newell, E. T. 1938. The Coinage of the Eastern Seleucid Mints, from Seleucus I to Antiochus III. Numismatic Studies No. 1. New York: American Numismatic Society, 1978 reprint of the 1938 original.
Olbrycht, M. J. 2017. Greeks in the Arsacid Empire, in J. Wiesehöfer and S. Müller (eds.) Parthika. Greek and Roman Authors’ Views of the Arsacid Empire / Griechisch- römische Bilder des Arsakidenreiches: 3-27. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag.
Roma Numismatics. 2017. Roma Numismatics Auction XIV (21 September 2017) Catalogue.
Taylor, L. W. H. 2019. Birds of a Feather, Brothers in Arms: The Coinage of Andragoras and Sophytes. American Journal of Numismatics 31: 21-79.
Taylor, L. W. H. 2020. The Kerykeion Mint Control Linked Coinage of Andragoras and Sophytes. KOINON The International Journal of Classical Numismatics III: 54-58.
Taylor, L. W. H. 2021a. Sophytes Helmet: Origin, Symbolism, and Apotheosis. KOINON The International Journal of Classical Numismatics IV: 3-29.
Taylor, L. W. H. 2021b. Respect for Seleukid Suzerainty: The Imitative Victory Coinage of the Sistan Ariaspi. KOINON The International Journal of Classical Numismatics IV: 30-60.
Taylor, L. W. H. 2021c. Contribution to ‘A Catalogue of New Varieties.’ KOINON The International Journal of Classical Numismatics IV: 223-224
Taylor, L. W. H. 2022. Sophytes and the Mirage of an ‘Indian’ Weight Standard. KOINON The International Journal of Classical Numismatics V: 54-75.
Thonemann, P. 2015. The Hellenistic World: Using Coins as Sources. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.