Classical Numismatic Group, LLC - Triton XXVIII – Sessions 1-4 . 411
KINGS of PERSIS. Vahbarz (Oborzos). 3rd century BC. AR Tetradrachm (27mm, 17.07 g, 4h). Istakhr (Persepolis) mint. Diademed head right, wearing kyrbasia / Figure in Achaemenid royal attire, with bow and quiver over shoulder, standing right, holding in his left hand the hair of a Greek hoplite kneeling right, wearing military attire and with shield on left arm, who he is preparing to slay with a dagger held in his right hand; whwbrz to left; krny in Aramaic to right; wntwy in Aramaic in exergue. Cf. van't Haaff, Persis, Type 532Aab (for drachm); otherwise unpublished. Lightly toned, with iridescence, traces of deposits, light circulation marks. Near EF. Bold reverse. Excessively rare.
Vahbarz as Commander-in-Chief
Among the issues of Vahbarz (Oborzos) are the extremely rare drachms – and now, tetradrachm – showing an Achaemenid-style ruler slaying a captive Greek hoplite. So far, only three examples of the drachms are known, all struck from the same pair of dies. The tetradrachm of the same type, the reverse design of which shares stylistic affinities with the drachms, indicates a particularly special issue and that a single engraver – a master craftsman – was responsible for the reverse dies of both denominations. The obverse of our tetradrachm is die linked with those of Ardaxšir (Artaxerxes) I (see, for example, CNG 123, lot 334), placing the two rulers in close chronology.
The legend here calls Vahbarz (Oborzos) ynrk (krny), rather than the more usual àKR†RP (prtrk’), a title that appears on his later coinage. Vahbarz (Oborzos) is the only ruler of Persis to have coins with this title on them. Other examples of his coins with krny include two tetradrachms (van't Haaff, Persis, Type 562A, examples a and b), and a unique drachm in a private collection (Müseler, Dating Fig. 13), all with the fire-altar reverse. None of these coins have the royal standard that normally appears in the design. A probable explanation is that Vahbarz's status as commander-in-chief, and not ruler in his own right, would account for the absence of the standard. In addition, one of these tetradrachms, as well as the drachm, includes a ¡ in the exergue (cf. SC 241-243[for monogram]). This monogram is similar to Seleukid issues of the coregency of Seleukos I and Antiochos I, attributed in SC to an uncertain mint in Drangiana or Western Arachosia, and dated to 294-281 BC. All together, the krny coinage of Vahbarz forms a compact group.
The reverse design has been the subject of interest since the first drachm showing an Achaemenid style ruler slaying a captive Greek hoplite came onto the market almost four decades ago. That coin, discovered by the late Wilhelm Müseler in 1986, was sold in Peus 316 (lot 259). Michael Alram, in his publication of the coin the following year (“Eine neue Drachme des Vahbarz [Oborzos] aus der Persis?,” in Litteratae Numismaticae Vindobonenses 3 [1987], p. 149) was quick to note the unusual subject, arguing that the coinage of Persis was conservative in design, with ideologically predetermined elements, and lacking the influence of foreign ideas. While true in most respects, the coronation-type coinage of Baydād (Bagadat) provides a visible counterpoint: an innovative design that is of indigenous, rather than foreign ideas (see the reliefs of the enthroned Achaemenid king Dareios I from the Apadana at Persepolis which served as the model for Baydād [Bagadat]). For Vahbarz (Oborzos), the trope has a long history, both in the ancient Near East, as well as in Persian art. Two seals of the Achaemenid period showing potential prototypes of the victor slaying the captive (J. Boardman, Persia and the West, p. 160, figs. 5.6 and 5.7). One of these shows Artaxerxes III Ochos slaying the rebellious pharaoh Nektanebo I, while the other depicts one Greek hoplite spearing another. Among the tombs in Necropolis II at Limyra in Lykia is a tomb relief of one hoplite about to slay another. All three examples demonstrate that this scene was a well-known eastern motif.
Other than the coins themselves, very little is known about the career of Vahbarz, or the events commemorated on this particular issue. An anecdote in the Strategmata, or Stratagems in War, by Polyainos, a Macedonian author and rhetorician, has since been recognized to be referring to Vahbarz. Written in AD 163, during the Roman-Parthian War of AD 161-166, and dedicated to Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus, it is a collection of narratives describing various stratagems, in particular, those involving various military leaders. In Book VII, which describes the actions of a number of non-Greeks, Polyainos relates the murder and secret burial of 3000 Greek military settlers by Oborzos, whom he considered to be plotting against him (Chapter 40). This tale, however, contains an underlying sense of deception that would seem hardly appropriate for such a prestige issue. Given the Achaemenid association, the design rather recalls the Greco-Persian Wars of the early 5th century BC and the subsequent events that resulted in the disintegration of the Persian Empire and the rise of the Macedonian kingdoms. The kingdom of Persis, which until the third century BC had been a quasi-vassal state of the Seleukid Empire, may have taken the defeat of Antiochos III at Thermopylai in 191 BC to exploit its autonomy. This change was short-lived, however, as the Seleukids seemed to recover as Antiochos is recorded as being present in the area. Vahbarz appears to have submitted his independence and been installed as a frataraka, as his subsequent coinage is of the fire-altar type. It is quite possible that the anecdote about his treachery may have been spread to undercut any future rebellion and assuage Seleukid sensibilites. All that remains is the extremely rare numismatic evidence of Persian glory.