WK Aman HAMPSHIRE Ant eno ra fel oh Am INTER-LIBRAR 7p ) CENTER SE HY NUMISMATIC NOTES, <~ate AND MONOGRAPHS SS (cid:2810)Up eee Ei va) No. 26 A Se aN cor y MITHRADATES OF PARTHIA AND HYSPAOSINES OF CHARACENE: A NUMISMATIC PALIMPSEST By EDWARD T. NEWELL THE AMERICAN NUMISMATIC SOCIETY (cid:2802) BROADWAY AT 156TH STREET NEW YORK 1925 PUBLICATIONS The American Joana of Numismatics, 1866-1920. : Monthly, May, 1866-April, 1870. Quarterly, July, 1870(cid:2802)October, 1912. Annually, 1913-1920. With many plates, illustrations, maps and tables. Less than a dozen complete sets of the Jour- (cid:2802) nal remain on hand. Prices on application. (cid:2802) - The numbers necessary to complete broken sets (cid:2802) may in most cases be obtained. Anindexto the first fifty volumes has been issued as part (cid:2802) of Volume LI. It may be purchased. also(cid:2807) separately for $3.00. . The American Numismatic Society. Catalogue of the International Exhibition of Contempo- rary Medals. March, 1910. New and revised edition. New York. 1911. xxxvi, 412 © : pages, 512illustrations. $10.00, S The American Numismatic Society. Exhibition _ . of United States and Colonial Coins. 1914. Vii, 134 pages, 40 plates. $1.00. ie Hs : 7 NUMISMATIC » NumIsMATIC NOTES AND MONOGRAPHS is devoted to essays and treatises on subjects relating to coins, paper money, medals and decorations, and is uniform with Hispanic Notes and Monographs published by the Hispanic Society of America, and with In- dian Notes and Monographs issued by the Museum of the American Indian(cid:2802)Heye Foundation. PUBLICATION COMMITTEE AGNES BALDWIN BRETT, Chairman HENRY RUSSELL DROWNE JOHN REILLY, Jr. EDITORIAL STAFF SYDNEY Puitie Nor, Editor HOWLAND Woop, Associate Editor V. E. Earee, Assistant No longer the property of QI T A] +L(cid:2806)aIyCew(cid:2807) « MAouWnint LIAT. 1 Oo i RmASOhvo4aica fLoe(e!i AA Poet TES OF PARTHIA AND Peet OoINES OF CHARACENE: MISMATIC PALIMPSEST menu BY EDWARD T. NEWELL WY THE AMERICAN NUMISMATIC SOCIETY BROADWAY AT 156rH STREET NEW YORK 1925 COPYRIGHT I925 BY + THE AMERICAN NUMISMATIC SOCIETY, od MITHRADATES OF PARTHIA AND HYSPAOSINES OF CHARACENE: A NUMISMATIC PALIMPSEST By Epwarp T. NEWELL Some fifteen years ago, in a rather typi- cal parcel of ancient copper coins sent the writer from Baghdad, there were a num- ber of unusual pieces bearing the head of the Parthian king, Mithradates II. These particular specimens, six in number, form- l e G ed a group by themselves, distinguished from the remainder of the lot not only by m. their types but also by a peculiar reddish M patina which they bore.. Apparently, they C. were a (cid:2810)(cid:2806)find(cid:2807)(cid:2807), ora portion of one. Other matters intervening, it was not until re- x cenPtly thaet a perwusal of an article by Col. § io MATIC NOTES T NI b A ai NUMIip A A. de la Fuye! brought a reminder of the forgotten parcel from Baghdad. Now, Col. de la I'uye discusses twenty-seven pieces similar to the ones described below, together with twenty-three of the auto- nomous coins of Seleucia on the Tigris. The specimens in our lot, as mentioned above, numbered six. Five belong to one denomination, and the sixth was evidently the half of the larger pieces. Their de- scription is as follows : MITHRADATES II, 123-87 B.c. UNIT Obv. Bearded and diademed head of Mi- II thradates tor. Rev. BAZIAEQ? onr. AP2ZAKOY on Ornamented cornucopiae, filled 1. with the usual fruits. Beneath, A?P (122-121 B.C.) AP No.1 to r. of cornucopiae. Gr. 75:21: No. 2 -A@?P to 1. of cornucopiae. GryAsoy. No. A? to 1. F tor oi eons 3. ia copiae. Gr. 4.52. NUMISMACPYCah BF Pe MiP 5 Od owen to.1.,-7P torn of cornu- copiae. Gr. 5.06. Mons Suman. Gr. 4.77. HALF Obv. Similar to the preceding. Rev. (BASIAEQ2) onr., APZAKOY on 1. Bow in case, upright. Beneath, on 1., A?P. Oi: y (Tce, O 33 The coins are poorly struck, apparently from loose dies. No two of the reverse dies are the same. Because of the rather weak striking and the interfering traces of an earlier type it is practically impos- sible to establish the identity of any two of the obverse dies. With the exception of the brief descrip- tion and (cid:2806)mention made by Col. Allotte de la Fuye the coins appear not to have been previously known. Dela Fuye would assign them to Mi- thradates I,basing his attribution on the similarity which he finds between the por- trait on these copper coins and the head which appears on certain well-known tetra- ASD MONOGRAPHS NUMISMADT A EC drachms and drachms? of that king. But here a serious difficulty arises. The silver coins in question bear the two dates [OP or AOP which can have been reckoned according to the Seleucid era only. These silver coins, then, were certainly struck in I 3abylonia by Mithradates in 140/39 and 139/38 B.c., the two years which in- tervened between his defeat of Demetrius II and his own death. This assignment] has been followed by the latest authorities on the subject of the Parthian coinage and can hardly be seriously questioned. Our copper coins,'on the other hand, bear the date A?P which, following the Seleu- cid system of reckoning, would be 122-1 B.c. Col. de la Fuye refers A?P to the era of Alexander in Persia (330 B.c.), made known to us by a Chinese treatise3 on the life of Mohammed, itself probably a trans- lation of an earlier Arabic or Persian docu- ment. This era is further known to us only from Albiruni(cid:2807)s Athar ul bakiya. Ac- cording to Col. de la Fuye(cid:2807)s hypothesis, then, our copper coins must also have been ; struck in 140/39 B:C. ONG NUMISMATIC