Persia, Achaemenid Empire

time of Artaxerxes III to Darios III. Tetradrachm, Halicarnassus circa 350-333, AR 25 mm, 15.13 g. Persian king, wearing kidaris and kandys, in kneeling-running stance r., holding spear in r. hand and bow in l. Rev. Prow of galley r., with hornlike akrostolion, fighting platform decorated with labrys, proembolon (upper battering ram) decorated with dolphin and an embolom (principal three pronged battering ram); below, wave pattern; in r. field, small dolphin downward. For the same types on a contemporary gold daric, cf. Konuk, Coin M53 = Konuk, Influences, pl. XXX, 24 = de Luynes 2819 = Babelon, Perses 124 = Traite II 36, pl. LXXXVII, 24 = J. P. Six, Monnaies grecques, inédites et incertaines in NC 1890, p. 241, 1, pl. 17, 13.
Apparently unique and unrecorded. An issue of tremendous fascination and historical
importance. Perfectly centred on a large flan and with a lovely iridescent tone.
Good extremely fine / extremely fine

Ex Triton sale XX, 2017, 376. From the Peter Bowe collection.
This apparently unique and unpublished silver tetradrachm employs the same types known from a Persian gold daric struck at Halicarnassus between the mid-fourth century BC and the coming of Alexander the Great in 333 BC. In this period, Halicarnassus was the capital of the Persian satrapy of Caria, governed on behalf of the Great King first by Idriaeus and Pixodarus, the sons of the famous Mausolus who erected his monumental tomb—the Mausoleum—at Halicarnassus. After the death of Pixodarus in 335 BC, his Persian son-in-law Orontobates was granted the satrapy and Halicarnassus by Darius III. Orontobates was included among the western Persian satraps who were defeated by Alexander the Great at the Granicus River in 334 BC. Together with the Greek mercenary commander Memnon of Rhodes, Orontobates escaped to Halicarnassus. Once behind the strong walls of the city, they hoped to harass Alexander and the Macedonian army with their continued access to the Persian fleet. They were very nearly successful. When Alexander the Great reached Halicarnassus in 333 BC, he had great difficulty in besieging the city thanks to numerous catapults mounted on the ramparts. In a small battle that erupted, Memnon’s troops gained the upper hand against the Macedonians and seemed on the verge of inflicting defeat on Alexander when his sappers suddenly broke through the city wall and allowed him to surprise the Persian forces inside. Realising that all was lost, Orontobates and Memnon set fire to Halicarnassus and withdrew, leaving Alexander to celebrate his victory in a smoking ruin. The obverse type, featuring a standard representation of the Persian Great King, combined with the reverse type carrying a detailed rendering of the prow of a war galley may suggest that this tetradrachms and the associated gold daric emission were struck at Halicarnassus to support the Persian fleet.