The Finials of Parthian Torques

[Schatz]

Does anyone know why the more elaborate end ornament (also known as: finial) of a particular Parthian necklace (also known as: torque) is often described as a sea horse? I have always found it highly unlikely that through generations these warrior kings would honor such an insignificant little creature by wearing it on their neck and by being depicted with it on their coinage. A griffin or some such real or imaginary animal would be much more appropriate, but perhaps there is a reason, and an article in a historical journal or the like has laid out the the whole story. Surely this must have been a dissertation topic at some institute of learning. Who can help shedding some light on the Parthian finial??

Incidentally, I have begun to put up my coins in my member's gallery. So far I have completed Orodes I. and the S.30 tetradrachms. So why don't you have a look.

Best to all,
Schatz

[Kamnaskires]

Hey, Schatz,

Interesting point you make about the finials.  I'll be curious to see if anyone chimes in with more info/opinions.  I have occasionally seen these listed as horses rather than seahorses and, of course, given the importance of horses for the Parthians, this would make sense.  The finial on the drachm on the right, below, looks very similar to the bronze Parthian horse from page 61 of Shore (also pictured)...I could easily believe that torque end is indeed meant to depict a horse.  The other Orodes II drachm, however, seems to have a raised fish tail...at least it could be read that way, I guess.  Hmmm.

Your gallery is amazing.  The Sellwood 30s you recently uploaded are incredible.

Bob

[Howard Cole]

I think seahorse does not refer to the fish that we call a seahorse but the seahorses of Poseidon.  The cause of white caps on waves.

[Schatz]

Thanks,  Bob and Howard,

for your valid suggestions.  True, the horses of Poseidon would make a lot more sense than the other 'seahorse', but the Parthians were not exactly known as a seafaring nation.  Yet they may have copied the image from another culture.  Does it exist in Scythian artifacts?  And real horses also seem good candidates, especially if you look at the S.27 drachms of Mithradates II. and the drachms and tetradrachms of Orodes II. whose finials appear to have the two raised front legs of a galloping horse. I was just wondering if there is any literature about this topic.

Thanks, Bob, for your compliments about my gallery. I should have stared much earlier and kept a better archive. Now I keep finding mistakes, misattributions, etc. often enough which are so time consuming to correct.  Also, I have to suppress the impulse of taking all the pictures again, now that I have learned a foolproof method of focusing the lens and creating better lighting conditions.  But then ... Let me advise all beginning collectors of ancient coins to start their gallery as soon as possible.

Schatz

[Kamnaskires]

Malcolm A. R. Colledge, in “Parthian Art,” ties the Parthians’ torque stylistic preferences to the earlier Persian dynasties. He writes, “Jewelry clearly developed in exceedingly complex ways.  By setting finds and representations in art together, some traits can be discerned.  Achaemenian Persians had liked heavy bracelets, solid armlets and, round the neck, torques with animal-head finials (Pope: I, 1938).  And Parthian-period representations…from Iran and Afghanistan reveal that bracelets, and single or multiple torques, remained popular amongst kings and nobility, while a late-Parthian-period gold belt buckle or harness from Nihavand likewise recalls Persian tradition.”  He goes on to outline how the “times had changed” with Hellenistic influences coming into play.  He doesn’t come out and explicitly state that the specific “seahorse” ended torque was inherited from the Persians, though.

[Howard Cole]

I wonder if it could have been adopted from the Seleucids?  They used the anchor symbol a lot, which is also found on some Parthian coins and Elymais coins.

[Schatz]

I spent some time at our local public library, but there is next to nothing about ancient Persian or Iranian art. Some years ago the National Gallery in Washington, DC, had a wonderful exhibit about Bactrian gold. Perhaps there is still a catalog available in the gift shop, it is practically next door to where I live. It will probably be by chance that one discovers a likeness to the Parthian 'seahorse' in a museum or an exhibition catalog. Reason enough to keep my eyes open the next time I get to the Met in New York.

Thanks again for your ideas, Bob and Howard,
Schatz

[Kamnaskires]

Although I might have simply missed it, I am not spotting any such torques in any of the Parthian artworks (sculptures mostly) illustrated in books in my personal library, which include:

The Art and Architecture of Mesopotamia (Giovanni Curatola, ed….a beautiful, well-illustrated book I highly recommend, includes a chapter on the Parthian and Sasanian periods)
The Age of the Parthians (Vesta Sarkhosh Curtis and Sarah Stewart, ed.)
Mesopotamia and Iran in the Parthian and Sasanian Periods (John Curtis, ed.)
Sculpture in the Parthian Empire I & II (Mathiesen)
Parthian Art (Colledge)

Granted, I only did a cursory skimming, so there may be something I’m missing.  But, as with the well-known statue of the Parthian prince at the National Museum of Iran, all figures seem to have simple torques.  The “seahorses” seem to have been primarily represented on the coins…

There are a couple of (possibly) Parthian earrings illustrated on the Metropolitan Museum's site that have what I interpret to be horse finials.  I've posted one below.

Direct links:
http://www.metmuseum.org/collection/the-collection-online/search/326016
http://www.metmuseum.org/collection/the-collection-online/search/326015

- Bob

[Schatz]

Spot on, Bob! 

This earring ornament really looks like a sea horse. Wonder why the museum does not identify the creature more specifically. I have a feeling that museums may hold the key to the mystery. Meanwhile I have gotten the Bactrian Gold catalog , it is called 'Afghanistan. Hidden treasures from the National Museum in Kabul', but I have not had the time yet to check. Your Parthian Art library is quite impressive.

Schatz

[Constantine IV]

Wondering if the "tail" of the Horse, on the Torque of Robert's Orodes II drachm, is stylised Wings?

[Schatz]

Yes, Masis, the finial looks like a little Pegasus, doesn't it?

I checked some museum catalogs on Scythian and Bactrian artifacts, and did not come across anything that looked like a sea horse. Jewelry finials were usually identified as 'zoomorphic terminals', some looked like birds, others like griffins. I am still wondering what made David Sellwood describe the ones on Parthian coins as sea horses. There must be a reason for this.

Schatz

[Kamnaskires]

Not sure if Sellwood’s “seahorse” is based on a precedent in Parthian numismatic literature, or on his own direct observation and interpretation.  Fyi, in his 1903 “Catalogue of the Coins of Parthia,” Warwick William Wroth refers to this type of torque as “spiral necklace with half-horse ornament.”  I like his terminology for the pellet torques: “spiral necklace with globular termination.”  Globular termination.  Got to love it.  Sounds like something that should be listed on a death certificate.

[Alwin]

1- Griffin or mythological hippocampus, both are possible
 

[Alwin]

2- Mythological hippocampus, no doubt

[Schatz]

Yes, of course! Alvin has solved the mystery:  Sellwood did not mean the seahorse (the little fish) but the sea-horse (the mythological sea monster or the hippocampus) when he described finials. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, a big difference in size and meaning lies in the hyphen.
I somehow thought that the finial was some kind of steppe creature and looked north and east for its origins, but it is, again according to the EB, part of Phoenician and Greek mythology.
Alwin has some very nice close-ups of finials on his website Parthika.fr, the one in his post of a Mithradates II. drachm is especially illuminating for its rare clarity. Most of my coins have little more than a smudge where the finial should be.

Schatz

[Schatz]

Correction! The URL of Alwin's website is www.parthika.fr, not, as I wrote www.parthia.fr.
Apologies.

Schatz

[Kamnaskires]

Great detective work, Alwin!

[Alwin]

Thank you Robert and Schatz for your replies.

Schatz, I look forward to admire the rest of your incredible collection!