Classical Numismatics Discussion
  Welcome Guest. Please login or register. 10% Off Store-Wide Sale Until 2 April!!! Explore Our Website And Find Joy In The History, Numismatics, Art, Mythology, And Geography Of Coins!!! Expert Authentication - Accurate Descriptions - Reasonable Prices - Coins From Under $10 To Museum Quality Rarities Welcome Guest. Please login or register. 10% Off Store-Wide Sale Until 2 April!!! Explore Our Website And Find Joy In The History, Numismatics, Art, Mythology, And Geography Of Coins!!! Support Our Efforts To Serve The Classical Numismatics Community - Shop At Forum Ancient Coins

New & Reduced


Author Topic: The Probable (It Seems to Me) Origin of the Parthian Seated Archer  (Read 7569 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline Kamnaskires

  • Caesar
  • ****
  • Posts: 673
The Arsacid era began when Arsakes (Arsakes I) was elected leader of a Central Asian Dahae tribe called the Parni, and then proceeded to wrest control of the Seleukid satrapy of Parthia to become the first Parthian king. He came to power around 247 BC and would rule until around 211 BC, perhaps the year of his death. For the duration of the empire, which lasted almost 500 years, coins honored the Parthian founder by depicting a seated archer - Arsakes - on the reverse.

What is not so well know is that the archetype for the seated archer reverses of Parthian coins (as well as, ultimately, the Indo-Parthian and other Eastern coins that imitated the motif) may well have been the reverses of coins from almost a century and a half before Parthia started minting its own. Fred Shore, in Parthian Coins and History: Ten Dragons Against Rome, states that the Parthian "reverse design was derived from the Seleukid drachms which showed Apollo seated on the omphalos..." For years I've taken that as gospel since, well...you know, it's from Fred Shore.* However, I came across what I think is a more plausible theory that was put forth by Vesta Sarkhosh Curtis of the British Museum and Sarah Stewart of the London Middle East Institute at SOAS, in an article entitled The Iranian Revival in the Parthian Period. Curtis and Stewart make their cursory case in just two sentences (within the context of an article more focused on its titular theme), without doing any detailed comparisons. But those two sentences, and my own poking around the Web after reading them, were enough to convince me:

Datames (sometimes referred to as Tarkumuwa) was a satrap of Cappadocia from 385 – 362 BC, under the Achaemenid/Persian Empire. Around 375 BC he struck silver staters at the Tarsos, Cilicia mint that, on their reverses, depict him seated, wearing Persian dress (including the bashlyk and baggy trousers that the Parthians would later adopt), with empty sleeve (another motif borrowed by the Parthians), inspecting (or offering?) an arrow, with a bow to lower right and winged solar disk to upper right. As Curtis and Stewart state in their article: “This could indicate that the coins of the western satraps of the Achaemenid Empire (were) known to the early Arsacids once they took over power in Parthia.” Datames is shown in a 3/4 view whereas the Parthian archer is always in profile, and he (Datames) holds an arrow rather than the bow. But the similarities are clear enough. Compare, for example, the legs of the throne of Datames in the rightmost image of the top row in the pic below, with the throne legs in the leftmost image of the second row.  That leftmost coin of the second row is the first issue of the Parthians. Pics below courtesy of CNG and Parthia.com.



*I should add I can accept that the transition from throne to omphalos as the seat of choice for the Parthian archer in the coinage of Mithradates I (171 - 138 BC) and some rulers afterwards, may well have been inspired by the omphalos of Apollo in the Seleukid issues.



Top row in the pic below shows reverses of coins of Datames; the lower row illustrates reverses of two drachms of Arsakes I from the beginning of the Parthian Empire, and an Artabanos IV (216 - 224 AD) reverse from the final years of the Empire, showing the degenerated image of the archer:

Offline museumguy

  • Caesar
  • ****
  • Posts: 446
  • I know nothing except the fact of my ignorance.
Re: The Probable (It Seems to Me) Origin of the Parthian Seated Archer
« Reply #1 on: May 16, 2017, 07:20:04 am »
Great little piece Bob!  A lot of food for thought which does indeed make a lot of sense.  Thanks for sharing!

Steve S.

Offline Schatz

  • Consul
  • ***
  • Posts: 323
Re: The Probable (It Seems to Me) Origin of the Parthian Seated Archer
« Reply #2 on: May 16, 2017, 09:50:32 am »
Hi Bob,

I am sure you are on the right track. The satraps in the Achaemenid Empire wore the bashlyk, and I am sure the throne and the Ahura Mazda sign were the symbols of legitimate rule. We know that ancient coins traveled far, so it is not surprising that the early Parthians would have been familiar with Kappadokian coins. Is the throne of Dareios to be their symbol of legitimacy? Strange that it is shown without a back on the early Parthians. Later, especially on the tetradrachms, we get the complete throne.
 
Good piece of cultural history. I had never seen these coins of Datames.

Below a picture of Dareios' throne from Persepolis.

Schatz


Offline Kamnaskires

  • Caesar
  • ****
  • Posts: 673
Re: The Probable (It Seems to Me) Origin of the Parthian Seated Archer
« Reply #3 on: May 16, 2017, 12:03:28 pm »
Thanks for the comments!  It's not exactly on par with the discovery of the Rosetta Stone, but I do think this is the basis for the Parthian archer.

Quote from: Schatz on May 16, 2017, 09:50:32 am
Strange that it is shown without a back on the early Parthians.

Actually, Schatz, this only reinforces - for me, at least - that these issues of Datames served as the direct antecedent for the archer of the early Parthian reverses.

Note the seat of Datames on the coins of the top row.  There is no back (of the throne) to be seen.  Now, whether this is because there actually was no back, or whether it is because he is depicted in 3/4 view and thus blocks our view of the back, is irrelevant.  The important point is that if these Datames coins were handed to the first die engravers of the newly formed Parthian Empire, along with instructions like "Give us a rendition of Arsakes that looks like this, but have him hold a bow instead of an arrow" - well, these engravers might very well not show a back to the throne simply because the Datames archetypes here have no visible throne back either.

Offline Schatz

  • Consul
  • ***
  • Posts: 323
Re: The Probable (It Seems to Me) Origin of the Parthian Seated Archer
« Reply #4 on: May 16, 2017, 02:28:45 pm »
Bob,
quite possible, although I was not certain if there was a covered back or not. The torso of the Datames coin reverse is so broad that it is difficult to be sure one way or the other. Perhaps it would have been presumptuous for a satrap to be portrayed to be sitting on a throne identical to that of the Achaemenid kings, therefore no back, or at least no visible back.
The hidden language of the coins is fascinating. The early Parthians as non-Iranians were eager to document legitimacy with the throne, but perhaps not with the entire throne, later continuity with the Seleukan omphalos, and then from S.26.1 with the confidence of Mithradates II. the whole Achaemenid throne. Much later, especially with Osroes, it degenerates to something like an Adirondack chair.

Schatz

Offline ThatParthianGuy

  • Praetorian
  • **
  • Posts: 81
Re: The Probable (It Seems to Me) Origin of the Parthian Seated Archer
« Reply #5 on: May 16, 2017, 08:37:17 pm »
An interesting thesis. Another influence on the depiction of Arsakes I could be Seleukid issues from Ekbatana, Iran, issued by Antiochos I Soter. Apollo was depicted on the reverse, testing an arrow and seated on an omphalos. I've attached an example. Later Parthian issues from Ekbatana sometimes depicted Arsakes I on an omphalos rather than a throne, an example of which I've also attached. I see a lot of other artistic influence between Seleukid and Parthian coinage in general, like the orientation of the legend and the position of the legs of Apollo and Arsakes.
-TPG

Offline n.igma

  • Caesar
  • ****
  • Posts: 890
  • Life is bigger than a Tweet.
Re: The Probable (It Seems to Me) Origin of the Parthian Seated Archer
« Reply #6 on: May 16, 2017, 11:17:49 pm »
Quote from: Schatz on May 16, 2017, 09:50:32 am
..... Strange that it is shown without a back on the early Parthians. Later, especially on the tetradrachms, we get the complete throne.

The backless depiction is that of the Field Chair of the Persian kings as opposed to the high backed depiction of the Throne of the Perisan Kings.

The Field Chair rather than the Throne accompanied the Great King when on military campaign.  It is more likely that the Great King would have inspected his weaponry seated on his Field Chair rather than his Throne  in the throne room, so the that the depiction on the early Parthian coinage is consistent with the historical reality, a point perhaps lost on later generations.

For a discussion of the difference, its origins and the influence on the coinage of Alexander III the Great refer to Zervos, O. H.  1979. Near Eastern elements in the tetradrachms of Alexander III the Great: The Eastern mints. Greek Numismatics and Archaeology Essays in Honor of Margaret Thompson. Morkholm O. and Waggoner N. eds.  pp. 295-305.
All historical inquiry is contingent and provisional, and our own prejudices will in due course come under scrutiny by our successors.

Offline Kamnaskires

  • Caesar
  • ****
  • Posts: 673
Re: The Probable (It Seems to Me) Origin of the Parthian Seated Archer
« Reply #7 on: May 17, 2017, 09:18:53 am »
Great info, n.igma.  Thanks!  I am convinced, then, that Datames, in his Persian field chair, was the primary model for the reverses in the initial output by Parthia – meaning the reverses of Arsakes I and II.  But I agree with you, ThatParthianGuy, as well as with Shore (see the quote in the OP), that the Seleukid Apollo-on-omphalos influenced the subsequent renditions of the motif starting, it seems, with Mithradates I.  Thanks, all, for the comments!

Offline Schatz

  • Consul
  • ***
  • Posts: 323
Re: The Probable (It Seems to Me) Origin of the Parthian Seated Archer
« Reply #8 on: May 17, 2017, 12:13:28 pm »

Yes, upon re-examination in enlargement clearly a chair, especially in the third Datamas coin. And the object in the right upper filed of the rev. is not the Ahura Mazda symbol but something similar looking described as a winged solar disc.
I am intrigued by the shawl like piece of cloth that is slung over the left shoulder.  Some years ago I had wondered what the strange object on the early Parthian dr reverses (mostly Mithr. II.), Shore's symbol #83, (cf pics.) could be, and we had not come to a conclusion in the postings. Perhaps the Datamas coins are the clue to that question and the Parthian object is something like a withered shawl.
This is a very interesting thread. Thanks to all who contributed their knowledge.

Schatz

Offline Constantine IV

  • Caesar
  • ****
  • Posts: 770
  • Constantine IV
Re: The Probable (It Seems to Me) Origin of the Parthian Seated Archer
« Reply #9 on: May 27, 2017, 01:49:41 pm »
(A repost from another forum where Bob posted this, thought members here who are not on that one might find some interest in this)
Really interesting post Bob.

Certainly the Hellenic celators in the main cities of the Iranian world would determine what the Parthians got in terms of the artistry of their coinage.
The gesture of Datames looks to be in the standard depiction of Iranian rulers making vows, including the garb, of that period and earlier, such as the depiction of king Cyaxares of Media at his tomb in qyzqapan in Iraqi Kurdistan.
I made a depiction of him as there are few (for understandable security reasons. Luckily on a visit to Erbil in 2008 the airlines magazine had a "better" photo of this site which I used to draw from) photos of this tomb available that clearly show it.
Cyaxares reigned over 200 years prior to Datames regional rule in Cappadocia.
Note the clothing (Bashlyk) and the holding a bow with his left hand, whilst he gestures/salutes to an altar with is right.
(I did not draw the other king that is shown standing on the other side of the altar. He is in a similar pose, gesturing/saluting the altar with right hand and holding top of bow with left, but slightly different clothing. He is thought to be king Alyattes of Lydia.)

The artistry of the sculptural work on his tomb looks to be Mesopotamian or even Lydian rather than Hellenic.
"He who gives himself airs of importance, exhibits the credentials of impotence". ~ Decimus Laberius, 46 BCE

 

All coins are guaranteed for eternity