I just picked up a coin I've been chasing for a while. These are around, but seem to almost never come up for sale in any condition, so I bought this one when it presented itself, as I'm not sure when another will surface. This is a
drachm of the last
king of
Cappadocia before
Rome annexed it as a
Roman province in 17AD.
Archelaus Philopatris Ktistes, lover of
his people and founder, is perhaps the most interesting Cappadocian
king to have lived. He was appointed
king by
Mark Antony in 36BC after Antony
had Ariarathes X executed at the urging of
his mother, Glaphyra.
Despite
his ties to
Mark Antony, Archelaus supported
Octavian at
Actium, who decided to reaffirm Archelaus' rule. I guess he could really
pick a winner. In 25BC,
Augustus supported Archelaus and expanded Cappadiocia to include parts of Kilikia and Lesser
Armenia. Shortly after that, Archelaus moved the royal capital, for the first and last time, from Eusebia (where the coins were nearly all minted) to the Kilikian coastal city of Elaiussa, which re re-named
Sebaste (Greek for
Augustus). Later he also renamed Eusebia to
Caesarea.
In 17BC, Archelaus' daughter married Harrod the Great of Judea's son.
While Archelaus ruled a really long time for a Cappadocian
king (52 years!) he made the mistake of supporting Gaius over
Tiberius near the end of
Augustus' life. When
Tiberius ascended, he summoned Archelaus to
Rome, imprisoned him and charged him with treason against the Empire. He died in captivity in AD17 before
his trial could be completed, and
Rome annexed
Cappadocia immediately afterward.
The example I found is worn, but
still legible. When newly struck it would have been a very nice strike from what I can tell. One day I
hope to find a better example, but this one was surprisingly expensive and these just don't seem to come for sale. Despite
his long reign, Archelaus does not seem to have minted a large volume of drachms - in fact apart from the regnal year, he only
had one
drachm pattern (this one). Most of the drachms minted during this period were
Roman provincial coins of
Augustus or
Tiberius - a clear nod to
Cappadocia's monarch being effectively a client
king of
Rome.
let me know what you think of this
rare gem! (it's an R2, FWIW).
https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=179906PS: I now have examples of every Cappadocian
king that struck drachms (but not tetradrachms) except
Ariarathes I.
Still need to find one of those...
