Catalog
Tetradrachm - Tiraios II
| Issuer | Characene, Kingdom of |
|---|---|
| Year | 68 BC - 48 BC |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Diameter | 29 mm |
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| Reverse description | Herakles seated left on a square, anvil-shaped rock or throne, his nude muscular body rendered in the Hellenistic tradition. He holds a club upright with his right hand, resting it vertically on his right knee, while his left arm rests at his side. The Greek royal legend appears in two vertical columns flanking the figure, a monogram is placed before his head in the upper left field, and a regnal date appears in the exergue. |
| Reverse script | Greek |
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| Additional information |
Characene was a small but strategically positioned kingdom at the head of the Persian Gulf, wedged between the Parthian Empire and the shifting loyalties of Mesopotamian trade routes. Tiraios II ruled during a period when Characene functioned largely as a client state under Parthian suzerainty, yet continued striking its own silver coinage — a pointed assertion of local dynastic authority that Parthia periodically tolerated and periodically crushed depending on the political moment.
The BMC Greek catalog records only a single reference specimen for this type, suggesting extreme rarity in institutional collections as of the catalogue's compilation.