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Æ - Sariakes
| Issuer | Kings of Skythia |
|---|---|
| Year | 180 BC - 167 BC |
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| Reference(s) | Coinage#940-957 3.2#2034 1#G0410 |
| Obverse description | Laureate head of Zeus facing right, rendered in a robust Hellenistic style with thick, flowing hair and a full beard. The portrait occupies the majority of the flan, with the laurel wreath clearly delineated around the head. The modeling is bold and slightly crude in execution, consistent with provincial Skythian die-cutting of the second century BC. The coin is struck on an irregular flan showing typical edge cracks characteristic of hammered bronze issues of this period. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Eagle standing to right atop a winged thunderbolt, its head turned to face right and wings folded at rest. The thunderbolt, a traditional Macedonian dynastic symbol, is depicted with radiating volutes and outspread wings beneath the eagle's talons. The Greek royal legend ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΣAPIA is arranged in the right field, reading downward. The overall composition follows Hellenistic royal coinage conventions adapted for Skythian dynastic usage. The strike is somewhat uneven, with portions of the legend weakly impressed due to flan irregularity. |
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| Additional information |
Sariakes ruled as a Skythian king in the Pontic steppe region during the second century BC, a period when Skythian political power was fragmenting under pressure from the Sarmatians pushing westward from across the Don. His bronze coinage is among the scant direct evidence that any administrative or economic structure persisted under his rule — the issues are rare, poorly attested in ancient sources, and his reign dates themselves are reconstructed almost entirely from numismatic evidence rather than historical record.