Nice addition. As you may know, Oliver D. Hoover, in
his review of van't Haaff's book in the
ANS magazine in 2008, argued that van't Haaff blundered in
his listing of
types 15.1, 15.2, and 15.3. Hoover suggested that these are in fact issues of the
Parthian Osroes, not an Elymaean ruler from the Arsacid family.
Sellwood type 80's include various AE
denominations with Osroes/Tyche combos. Although the following is a tetrachalkous (unlike yours), consider the similarities in
style:
http://parthia.com/coins/si_osr1.jpgHoover wrote: "Van’t Haaff divides the coinages of Phraates and Orodes III by three small bronze emissions of Osroes (
types 15.1–15.3). These almost certainly depict the
Parthian king of that name rather than a local Elymaean ruler (compare the
portrait with D.
Sellwood, Introduction to the Coinage of
Parthia [
London, 1980], no. 80), as has sometimes been suggested. Their
style and lack of the usual Elymaean
anchor symbol shows that they are out of place between these two Elymaean monarchs. They are probably regular
Parthian issues of this
king. Despite their appearance in the
French excavations of Susa, it is not impossible that the coins of Osroes were actually struck elsewhere." For the full review see:
http://numismatics.org/magazine/elymaeansummer08/Van't Haaff actually addressed the issue on page 25 of
his book, acknowledging that "the
attribution of
Type 15 coins has been controversial" and that some scholars have posited that they are issues of Osroes of
Parthia. I am inclined to think so too. What's interesting to me is that your coin, Stkp, is - I assume - not from the "
French excavations of Susa" that Hoover refers to above, from which, presumably/implicitly, the heretofore known specimens of
type 15 came - but, rather, from whatever recent dig(s) resulted in this flood of drachms that has hit the market in the past couple of years. (From which both of our
collections have benefitted) Frustratingly, I don't think there's been any documentation about the specifics of that excavation...but I'm not certain about that. Do you know if there have been other
type 15's in the listings from the recent find(s)?
So, assuming the coin is of
Parthia's Osroes, and that the find spots for these have now extended over different parts of what was
Elymais in
antiquity, it does raise interesting questions. What was the relationship between Osroes and
Elymais, beyond the Arsacid tie? Was he the defacto ruler of both
Parthia and
Elymais for a time? Was he forcing
his coinage - perhaps minted in Parthia-proper - upon
Elymais for a period? Was there an incursion/occupation? Was the possible "forcing" of
his coinage upon
Elymais a warning to Elymaean Arsacid supporters of Volo III? I am intrigued by van't Haaff's comment that "
Bell retains the coins (
type 15) in the Elymaean series, but doubts whether there was a separate Elymaean
king Osroes." What's that all about? Again, it begs the question: Why have
Parthian coins of Osroes (if that's what they are) shown up in Elymaean find spots? I have no clue, but it's fun to speculate. Interesting stuff, at least for me.