| Classical Numismatic Group > Triton XXVII | Auction date: 9 January 2024 |
| Lot number: 365 Price realized: 2,500 USD (Approx. 2,290 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: PERSIA, Alexandrine Empire. Mazakes. Satrap of Mesopotamia, circa 331-323/2 BC. AR Tetradrachm (21.5mm, 16.90 g, 12h). Imitating Athens. Head of Athena right, with profile eye, wearing earring, necklace, and crested Attic helmet decorated with three olive leaves over visor and a pi-style palmette on the bowl / Owl standing right, head facing; olive spray and crescent to left, small Θ-like symbol and MZDK (in Aramaic) to right. Le Rider, Alexander, pp. 214-9; Van Alfen, Owls, Group IVb, 91–4 (same obv. die). Iridescent tone, a little off center, two test cuts on obverse, area of minor roughness on reverse. Good VF. Rare. Ex Leu 83 (6 May 2002), lot 257. Mazakes is best known as the Persian satrap who took over Egypt after Sabakes fell in battle against Alexander the Great's army at the Granicus, and later handed over the province peacefully to the Macedonian king. Imitative owls in the name of Mazakes have been known for some time, and all were originally attributed to his satrapy in Egypt. However, it was clear that stylistic elements separated the coinage into two general groups. More recent hoards, especially the 1973 Iraq hoard, have shown that one of the groups of imitative owls was certainly not struck in Egypt, but somewhere in the territory of modern day Iraq. In his analysis of the 1973 hoard, M. Price ("Circulation at Babylon in 323 B.C." in W.E. Metcalf, ed., Mnemata: Papers in Memory of Nancy M. Waggoner [New York, 1991], pp. 63–72) changed the findspot from Iraq to the more specific site of Babylon, based on anecdotal evidence (p. 63), and gave the series of Mazakes' owls to the city. However, such an assignment has forced numismatists to conduct mental gymnastics in order to rationalize the presence of Mazakes' coins at Babylon (cf. Van Alfen, Owls, pp. 27–33, and Le Rider, Alexander, pp. 215–7, for a summary of the previous research). It is clear that the attribution of the owls to Babylon is almost certainly incorrect, and other find evidence suggests an attribution to somewhere further north, perhaps in the satrapy of Mesopotamia (cf. Le Rider, op. cit., p. 217–9). In any event, this coinage clarifies the historical record regarding the disposition of Mazakes following his hand-over of Egypt, upon which subject the literary evidence is silent. As noted by Le Rider (op. cit., p. 215), one can compare Mazakes to other Persians who peacefully welcomed Alexander to their domains: Mazaios, who handed over Cilicia, was later made satrap in Babylon; and Mithrenes, who surrendered Sardes, was made satrap in Armenia. Also, the Persian noble Amminapes, who met Alexander in Egypt with Mazakes, was later made satrap of Parthia and Hyrkania. Thus, one would expect Mazakes to receive similarly favorable treatment, appointment to some position of authority. Interestingly, Mesopotamia is the only satrapy that is not addressed in the literary evidence when Alexander is organizing his eastern territories. As these tetradrachms of Mazakes are found in that region, and date to the period after Alexander's conquest, it is reasonable to suggest that Mazakes may have been appointed as satrap of Mesopotamia. It was also in the adjacent satrapy of Babylonia that Mazaios was allowed to strike a coinage in his name and types (influenced by his prior issues at Tarsos) for local use, and similar issues of local type and weight are known to have been issued at mints throughout the basin of the Tigris and Euphrates, from the time of Alexander to Seleukos I. Thus, these Athenian type tetradrachms likely constitute a local coinage of Mazakes, struck in the satrapy of Mesopotamia while he reigned there. Estimate: 2000 USD |  |
Match 1:
| Classical Numismatic Group > Auction 126 | Auction date: 28 May 2024 |
| Lot number: 355 Price realized: This lot is for sale in an upcoming auction - Bid on this lot  | |
| Lot description: PERSIA, Alexandrine Empire. Mazakes. Satrap of Mesopotamia, circa 331-323/2 BC. AR Tetradrachm (20mm, 16.99 g, 7h). Imitating Athens. Helmeted head of Athena right, with profile eye / Owl standing right, head facing; olive spray and crescent to left, small Θ-like symbol and MZDK (in Aramaic) to right. Le Rider, Alexander, pp. 214-9; Van Alfen, Owls, Group IVd, 97–8. Toned. VF. Excellent example for the type, without the usual test cut(s). From the Wild Rose Collection, purchased from Mike Vosper, 15 October 2014. Estimate: 1000 USD |  |
Match 2:
| Classical Numismatic Group > Electronic Auction 558 | Auction date: 20 March 2024 |
| Lot number: 194 Price realized: 1,600 USD (Approx. 1,473 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: UNCERTAIN EAST. Mid-Late 4th century BC. AR Tetradrachm (20mm, 13.08 g, 10h). Imitating Athens. Helmeted head of Athena right, with profile eye and pi-style palmette / Owl standing right, head facing; olive spray and crescent to left; all within incuse square. Unpublished. Find patina, earthen deposits, a few marks and scratches. Near VF. From the Mars Collection. An intriguing imitation of Athens's pi-style coinage, this issue has been struck on a thick flan, reminiscent of early Mesopotamian imitation. The weight is quite low, but the coin is not a fourrée, which suggests it is intentionally at this weight, which may equate to a local standard, close to that of a Phoenician shekel. Estimate: 250 USD |  |
Match 3:
| Classical Numismatic Group > Electronic Auction 553 | Auction date: 3 January 2024 |
| Lot number: 167 Price realized: Unsold | |
| Lot description: PHILISTIA (PALESTINE), Uncertain mint. Circa 353-333 BC. AR Drachm (12mm, 2.78 g, 11h). Imitating Athens. Helmeted head of Athena right, with profile eye / Owl standing right, head facing; [olive spray] and crescent to left. Gitler & Tal X.1D. Toned, light roughness and porosity, struck with worn dies. Fine. Estimate: 100 USD |  |
Match 4:
| Classical Numismatic Group > Electronic Auction 560 | Auction date: 17 April 2024 |
| Lot number: 353 Price realized: 350 USD (Approx. 329 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: BAKTRIA, Indo-Greek Kingdom. Menander I Soter. Circa 155-130 BC. AR Tetradrachm (25.5mm, 9.17 g, 12h). Diademed, draped, and cuirassed bust right, wearing crested helmet covered with pelt of scales and adorned with head of Gorgon and wing / Athena Alkidemos advancing left; Σ and monogram flanking. Bopearachchi 15B; SNG ANS 850-3; HGC 12, 182. Bright surfaces, light encrustation and porosity, marks. EF. Estimate: 200 USD |  |
Match 5:
| Classical Numismatic Group > Triton XXVII | Auction date: 9 January 2024 |
| Lot number: 285 Price realized: 2,250 USD (Approx. 2,061 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: SATRAPS of CARIA. Maussolos. Circa 377/6-353/2 BC. AR Tetradrachm (23.5mm, 14.79 g, 1h). Halikarnassos mint. Struck circa 370-360 BC. Head of Apollo facing slightly right, wearing laurel wreath, drapery around neck / Zeus Labraundos standing right, wearing chiton and himation at his waist and wrapped around his left arm, holding labrys and inverted spear; ME monogram to left, MAYΣΣΩΛΛO to right. Konuk, Identities 21; Babelon, Perses 397 var. (no monogram); HN Online 227; SNG von Aulock 2358; SNG Kayhan 873; SNG Lockett 2907 = Pozzi 2624; BMC 8; Traité II 95. Toned, traces of find patina, minor cleaning marks, minor delamination on edge. Good VF. Ex Grand Haven Collection (Triton XXIV, 19 January 2021), lot 714 (hammer $3750). As part of the Achaemenid Empire, Caria in the fourth century BC was under the rule of a family of semi-independent satraps known as the Hekatomnids after the dynasty's founder, Hekatomnos. Born in Mylasa, Hekatomnos was appointed satrap of Caria by Artaxerxes II after the fall of Tissaphernes in 392/1 BC and was later given control of Miletos in 386 BC. A philhellene who was, in turn, admired by the Greeks, Hekatomnos died in 377/6 BC and was succeeded by his son, Maussolos, who became the most famous Carian Satrap. At the time of Maussolos' accession, Achaemenid power was weakened by the independence of Egypt and a revolt of the subject Kadusioi. As a result, the satraps of Asia Minor were able to exercise considerable independence; an opportunity of which Maussolos took full advantage. Moving the satrapal capital to Halikarnassos, he fortified the city and allowed its population to increase in size. As part of the civic building program, he constructed a massive tomb for himself near the city's center. Known later as the Mausoleum, its size and elaborate decoration made it one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world. In addition, Maussolus moved and refounded the Greek cities of Knidos, Erythrai, and Priene. His relations with the Persians took a downturn when he briefly joined the Great Satrap Revolt, a series of rebellions that continued to spring up in the Persian Empire throughout the 360s, all of which ultimately failed. For the remainder of his rule thereafter, Maussolos continued to act more or less independently, although he had to accept a Persian garrison in Halikarnassos. When Maussolus died in 353/2 BC, his sister-wife, Artemisia, succeeded him. Her rule was short-lived, and in 351/0 BC power passed to Hidrieus, Artemisia's brother and the second son of Hekatomnos. Hidreius played a double-dealing game, nominally supporting his Persian overlords while secretly negotiating with the aggressive Macedonian King, Philip II. In 341/0 BC, Pixodarus, the youngest son of Hekatomnos, overthrew his sister, Ada, to claim the Carian satrapy. Ada, nevertheless, continued to receive support from the countryside, and still held the city of Alinda. As a result, Caria was thrown into turmoil and hesitated to support Persia with troops following the invasion of the Macedonians under Parmenion in 336 BC. Pixodaros, however, had secretly been forging diplomatic alliances with the Macedonian king. In 337 BC, he attempted a marriage between one of his daughters and the future Philip III Arridaios. Believing himself overlooked, Alexander III sent a private embassy to Halikarnassos, asking for the hand of the same princess. When word of this reached Philip II, he cancelled the Macedonian-Carian alliance. When Pixodaros died in 336/5 BC, he was succeeded by Orontobates, an otherwise unknown Persian. After Caria was conquered by Alexander III in 332 BC, the Macedonian made diplomatic overtures to Ada, and reappointed her as satrap. Ada, the last Hekatomnid, died sometime before the Partition of Bablylon in 323 BC and was replaced as satrap of Caria by the Macedonian Asander. Estimate: 2000 USD |  |
