Catalog
Tetrachalkon
| Issuer | City of Samosata (Kingdom of Commagene) |
|---|---|
| Year | 50 BC - 25 BC |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
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| Obverse description | Tyche seated facing left on a rocky outcrop, turreted crown upon her head, holding a palm branch in her right hand. The figure is rendered in a schematic Hellenistic style characteristic of eastern civic bronze coinage of the late first century BC. The Greek legend ΣΑΜΟΣΑΤΩ ΠΟΛΕΩΣ is disposed in two vertical lines flanking the seated figure, reading downward on left and right. |
|---|---|
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| Obverse lettering | ΣΑΜΟΣΑΤΩ ΠΟΛΕΩΣ (Translation: of the city of Samosatans) |
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| Additional information |
Samosata served as the royal capital of Commagene during this period, a small but strategically vital buffer kingdom perched between Rome and Parthia. Its rulers — most notably Antiochus I Theos — cultivated a deliberate policy of cultural fusion, blending Greek, Iranian, and Anatolian traditions into a political identity that allowed the dynasty to survive by playing both empires against each other. Civic bronze issues like this tetrachalkon represent the city's own monetary activity within that framework, distinct from the royal dynastic coinage.
RPC I 3850 is a relatively scarce type in the corpus of Commagenian bronzes.