Help on Alex Tetra , Price 3624 ?

[Sam]

I have got this Tetra since ever  

I say this Tetra is Price 3624 , Müller 703.

Am I right ?

Ancient Greek /  Alexander the Great (336 - 323) BC  Tetradrachm

Head of Herakles right, wearing lion skin headdress  
Zeus seated left, holding eagle and scepter sickle and M before, monogram under throne.
Babylon mint, 17.07g  



New added (modified )     :   { Provided by an old seller :  "struck 325-323 BC" }
 

If yes , this issue could not be a lifetime issue.


Thanks for every help  in advance

[Sam]

A better photo for the reverse.

[Jamie R]

I think you're right in every detail. Price dates the issue to 325-323 BC as well.

And technically, that *would* be a lifetime issue, since Alexander the Great died in 323 BC.

[Sam]

Thank you so much Jamie.

I have seen ONLY 2 in auctions

one as this listed as after death issue with Price 3624  ,  which is confusing

and the other with Zeus throne  has no -i  in left top , listed as lifetime issue .

I will give the ref in a second.

Sam

[Sam]

They say in exact for one as my coin  : 336-323 and posthumous issues  , Price 3624; Müller 703.

which is confusing , unless Price 3624  is  early posthumous - possible  lifetime issue (?) ( which is something I doubt )

[n.igma]

Interesting in so far as the reverse left field symbol is described as sickle(?) by Price (note the question mark) and earlier workers.  It is one of three undoubtedly late lifetime emissions (Price 3622-3624) that bear the same problematic symbol, which in my opinion is likely to be a Persian fly whisk, rather than a sickle. The same shaped item is to be found on some stone reliefs depicting an attendant holding it near the Persian King's head, just as one would a fly whisk, which is precisely what it is described as in the descriptions of such royal Persian reliefs.

The depiction of a fly whisk as a control on a coin of the Babylon mint, a former royal seat in the Persian, then Alexander's Empire should be no surprise. After all Alexander adopted many aspects of Persian royal regalia and practice following the years following the death of Darius III in 330 BC, much to the chagrin of his fellow Macedonians.

[Sam]

n.igma , a Very good job , I am greatful for your time ,

Sam

[Nathan P]

Is it possible the sickle is a weapon designed to pull heavy cavalry down from their horse? An actual example of this weapon can be seen here:

https://www.apoloniagallery.com/items/1315947/Rare-Greek-Iron-Grape-Picker-Scythe-Infantryman-Weapon

[n.igma]

I was previously unaware of such a weapon. It is certainly a candidate. But how to distinguish between the options? On some coins of Price 3622-24 it looks more like a fly whisk, on others perhaps a “grape picker” scythe.

Perhaps we are witness to two different symbols, superficially the same?  http://numismatics.org/pella/id/price.3624 http://numismatics.org/pella/id/price.3622  http://numismatics.org/pella/id/price.3623. Complicating this further is the fact that the tetradrachm example referenced and imaged in the article (https://www.apoloniagallery.com/items/1315947/Rare-Greek-Iron-Grape-Picker-Scythe-Infantryman-Weapon) is Price 3768 with a symbol that exhibits a longer shaft, or shank, below the lunate head (third image below). This coin type comes from a later period of the Babylon mint's operation  http://numismatics.org/pella/id/price.3768

I think it would take a die study of the type using a large sample of all the coins types bearing the symbol(s) to better resolve on the matter.

However, without the benefit of more detailed study, I incline toward the view that we are witness to two different but superficially similar symbols on each of Price 3622-24 and Price 3768. Lending some credence to this inference is the fact that the other symbols on the coinage closely associated with Price 3768 include weapons (club and double axe ) and naval ship regalia (aplustre) whereas the same military association of the other symbols on coinage associated with Price 3622-24 is not apparent. Finally, compare image 3 below (Price 3768) to images 4 and 5 below (Price 3622-23) - the same symbol? Far from conclusively so, in my opinion.

This would make a great little study for Nick Molinari's new numismatic publication Koinon if anyone's up to the challenge.

[djmacdo]

Sickles were primarily agricultural tools.  They were used for a variety of tasks, including pruning grape vines.

[Nathan P]

Thanks for the responses! I guess for now it will remain a bit of a mystery, though I think n.igma's thoughts are probably on the right track.

[n.igma]

Sickles were primarily agricultural tools.  They were used for a variety of tasks, including pruning grape vines.

You may be correct that the different representations are those of different types of sickles used for different purposes. Significant from the perspective of numismatic typology, or simply engraver artistic license at play?  Maybe we'll never know, but some detailed analysis might help. Until then it remains sickle(?) per Price.

[Altamura]

… Sickles were primarily agricultural tools.  They were used for a variety of tasks, including pruning grape vines. ...

But they have also been weapons. On the coins of Etenna there is a depiction of a combat between two men, one with a double-axe and the other with some sort of sickle:
https://www.asiaminorcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?album=271&pid=7385#top_display_media
See Johannes Nollé, "Zur Geschichte der Stadt Etenna in Pisidien", in: Elmar Schwertheim (ed.): Forschungen in Pisidien, Bonn 1992, S. 61–141, where he explicitly states that the sickle on the coins of Etenna represents a weapon.

There is also an article by Nicholas Sekunda, "Anatolian War-Sickles and the Coinage of Etenna", in Richard Ashton, "Studies in Ancient Coinage from Turkey", London 1996, pp. 7-17, where he is talking about "war-sickles" as well.

They can be found mentioned also in an article by Catherine M. Draycott: https://www.academia.edu/342606/2010_Convoy_Commanders_and_Other_Military_Identities_in_Tomb_Art_of_Western_Anatolia_around_the_Time_of_the_Persian_Wars._Bollettino_di_archeologia_online_0_G1.2_7-23

Regards

Altamura

[djmacdo]

I am not sure that is a combat,  Both men are facing the same direction and apparently regarding something off to the right.  I think it may represent a scene from some local myth.  Two men in somewhat similar poses, one with a double axe, confront a dead tree on coins of Aphrodisias, a type of disputed interpretation.