Tiribazos held the satrapy of Lydia twice — an unusual distinction reflecting both his usefulness to the Achaemenid crown and his capacity for political trouble. His first tenure ended when Artaxerxes II recalled and arrested him on charges of misconduct, including unauthorized negotiations with Sparta. He was acquitted, reinstalled, then implicated in a conspiracy to place Darius on the throne. This coin falls within his second satrapy, a window of roughly two years before that final crisis overtook him.
Satrap coinage from this period operated under tacit Persian permission, not formal royal grant — a distinction that mattered enormously when satraps began acting too independently.
Tiribazos held the satrapy of Lydia twice — an unusual distinction reflecting both his usefulness to the Achaemenid crown and his capacity for political trouble. His first tenure ended when Artaxerxes II recalled and arrested him on charges of misconduct, including unauthorized negotiations with Sparta. He was acquitted, reinstalled, then implicated in a conspiracy to place Darius on the throne. This coin falls within his second satrapy, a window of roughly two years before that final crisis overtook him.
Satrap coinage from this period operated under tacit Persian permission, not formal royal grant — a distinction that mattered enormously when satraps began acting too independently.