Stater - Pharnabazos Tarsos

Pharnabazos governed as satrap under Persian authority but struck coinage at Tarsos with a degree of autonomy that blurred the line between provincial and royal issue. His tenure in Cilicia was partly defined by a major military campaign: he and the Athenian general Iphikrates led a Persian force against Egypt around 374 BC, a costly failure that ended Pharnabazos's active command in the region. These staters were almost certainly struck to fund that expedition — mercenary pay in the Achaemenid west ran on silver coinage, and Tarsos was ideally positioned as a mint for mobilizing forces moving south toward Egypt.