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Stater - Mazaeus
| Issuer | Cilicia, Satrapy of |
|---|---|
| Year | 361 BC - 334 BC |
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| Orientation | Variable alignment ↺ |
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| Reverse description | The reverse presents a lion attacking a bull in the characteristic Achaemenid predator-prey composition, rendered in a vigorous and naturalistic style. The two animals are shown in profile, the lion seizing the bull from above with claws and jaws. The scene is contained within the irregular flan typical of hammered Cilician coinage of this period, with an Aramaic legend naming the satrap Mazaeus appearing in the field. |
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| Mint | Tarsus |
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| Additional information |
Mazaeus governed Cilicia as satrap under both Artaxerxes III and Darius III, making him one of the longest-serving and most powerful Persian provincial administrators of the fourth century. His coinage is effectively the monetary output of a semi-autonomous regional power — the satrapy controlled the Cilician Gates, the mountain pass through which any army moving between Anatolia and the Levant had to travel. Alexander used exactly that route in 333 BC, and Mazaeus was present at Gaugamela the following year commanding the Persian right wing.
After the defeat, he surrendered Babylon to Alexander and was reappointed its governor — an almost unparalleled act of pragmatic retention by the conqueror.