April's Coin of the Month

Writing about web page http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/classics/research/coinage/

An intriguing Roman provincial coin depicting an Armenian tiara

This month’s coin presents an intriguing type, the classification of which remains undetermined. The obverse depicts jugate busts facing right. The device on the reverse is unquestionably an Armenian tiara with its distinctive pointed spikes on top and neck and ear flaps hanging from the bottom. Parts of a circular legend are visible, but remain mostly illegible (published in RPC Supplement II, no. S2-I-5488, AE 8.76g). Thus far only two other issues are known depicting an Armenian tiara: the denarii of Mark Antony (Sydenham, The Coinage of Caesarea in Cappadocia, 1205) and Augustus (Roman Imperial Coinage, Vol. I, 516). The attribution of this unique coin remains uncertain. The portrait is unquestionably that of a Julio-Claudian, but it is difficult to identify the emperor with certainty without the aid of a legible legend. Despite this, a number of candidates may be proposed.

A likely candidate is Augustus, for it was during his reign that pro-Roman rulers were established on the Armenian throne on several occasions. In 5 BC Augustus dispatched Roman forces under the leadership of Tiberius, who appointed Artavasdes (a grandson of Tigranes the Great) to the throne. Upon the death of Artavasdes, his son Tigranes was successful in petitioning Augustus for the kingship and arrangements were made for him to receive the crown from Gaius Caesar in Syria. The following years saw a number of rulers appointed by Augustus, including members of the ruling dynasty of Media Atropatene and a scion of the house of Herod the Great. In consequence, this type may have been issued to commemorate any of the above events. During Tiberius’s reign, Rome once again was involved in Armenia’s political affairs, when in AD 18 the Emperor dispatched Germanicus to place Zeno, son of King Polemo of Pontus, on the Armenian throne to resolve a political vacuum. Drachms and didrachms were issued in Caesarea in Cappadocia to commemorate this event. It may be the case that these bronzes were issued for the same occasion, although not necessarily at the same time and place. Nero is also a likely candidate, for it is well recorded that in AD 66 Tiridates, the pro-Parthian king of Armenia, received his crown from the Roman emperor during a lavish ceremony in Rome; these coins may have been issued to celebrate this occasion.

As for the second portrait, it is highly unlikely that it is one of the above mentioned Armenian kings, since there is no precedent for the representation of a ‘client king’ jugate with a Roman emperor on the obverse. The second person is most probably a member of the imperial family, though difficult to identify without a legible legend.

This month’s coin was chosen by Jack Nurpetlian, who recently completed his PhD thesis on the Roman period coinages of the Orontes Valley in Syria. Jack’s research focuses on Roman provincial coins of the Syro-Phoenician territories, in addition to his personal interest in ancient Armenian coins.

(Coin image reproduced from The Roman Provincial Coinage Supplement II, www.uv.es/~ripolles/rpc_s2)

Clare Rowan : 08 Apr 2013 16:13 |  Tags: Coin Of The Month |  Comments (0) |  Report a problem