175, Lot: 98. Estimate $150. Sold for $385. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

KINGS of CAPPADOCIA. Ariarathes VI Epiphanes Philopator. Circa 130-112/0 BC. AR Drachm (18mm, 4.18 g, 12h). Mint C (Komana?). Diademed head right, wearing short beard / Athena standing left, holding wreath and palm; monograms to inner left and outer right, I in exergue. Mørkholm, Coinages I, issue 3 var. (inner left monogram); Simonetta 22b var. (not bearded); SNG Copenhagen Supp. -; SNG von Aulock -. VF, lightly toned, a few light marks on obverse. Unpublished with bearded portrait.

This particular issue exhibits a bearded portrait, heretofore unpublished. It also has an unusual rendition of Athena on the reverse. The standard depiction is of Athena Nikephoros, but here she holds a wreath and palm rather than Nike and spear. The Cappadocian warrior-goddess Enyo-Ma was their local version of Athena, and Mørkholm thought this rendition of Athena may have been more closely based on the standard depiction of this local goddess. This unusual depiction only occurred on Mørkholm's issues 3 and 4 at mint C, and he was uncertain of the underlying reason for its appearance. Mint C was apparently established during the reign of Ariarathes VI, most likely due to uncertain military necessities. Although the location of the mint at Komana is not certain, issues of this mint have a metrological affinity with those of mint A (Eusebia-Mazaka [Caesarea]), suggesting a location proximate to the latter. The unusual Athena also indicated to Mørkholm that the mint had a special affinity to the local goddess Enyo-Ma, and thus may have been in the same city as her temple, Komana.

Ariarathes VI was a child when his father, Ariarathes V, was killed in battle, so his mother, Nysa, ruled, ostensibly as regent (though Justin relates a story of intrigue, with Nysa murdering her other sons in order to preserve her power). Nevertheless, Nysa was eventually deposed and killed by the Cappadician nobility who then placed Ariarathes on the throne. At the time, the Pontic kingdom was ascendant, and its current king, Mithradates V gave his daughter, Laodice, as a wife to the young Cappadocian king in order to exert his influence in Cappadocia. The two had two sons, Ariarathes VII and VIII. Little else is known of Ariarathes' reign, but that he was assassinated by a Cappdocian nobleman, Gordios, who was in the service of the new king of Pontos, Mithradates VI Eupator. Ariarathes VI probably was too independent for Eupator's liking, and he preferred to have Ariarathes VII on the throne (to whom the Pontic king then gave his daughter's hand in marriage).