New Issue for Tiribazos

Triton XVIII, Lot: 601. Estimate $1000. Sold for $750. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

IONIA, Achaemenid Period. Tiribazos. Satrap of Lydia, 388-380 BC. Æ (11.5mm, 1.73 g, 12h). Klazomenai mint. Head right, wearing kyrbasia / Tripod; KΛA to right. Unpublished. VF, dark brown patina. Apparently unique.

Ex Classical Numismatic Group Electronic Auction 278 (25 April 2012), lot 102 (professionally conserved since).

While the satrapal portrait on this coin cannot be identified as an exact representation of Tiribazos, the extreme stylistic similarity between satrapal issues of Cilicia struck during the time of Tiribazos’ rule there (cf. Casabonne pl. 4, 4–6), a contemporary bronze issue from Sardis (cf. Klein 254), and the portrait here suggests that this coin was an issue struck under Tiribazos.

Initially the satrap of Western Armenia, which was one of the main Persian satrapies, the Persian general, Tiribazos, was a highly regarded ally of Artaxerxes II, who granted him a number of additional satrapies during the course of his career. During the civil war with Cyrus the Younger, as related in The Anabasis of Xenophon, Tiribazos sided with Artaxerxes II, a move for which he was richly rewarded. When the vassal-king of Cilicia sided with Cyrus the Younger and was thereby dethroned because of it, the territory became an ordinary satrapy under the sphere of influence of the satrap of Western Armenia. Shortly thereafter, Tiribazos was appointed satrap of Western Asia (with its capital at Sardis), which was another of the main satrapies of the Persian Empire. It too counted a number of smaller regional districts under its sphere of influence. Among these smaller districts were the cities of Ionia, including Klazomenai. The influence of this satrapy and of Tiribazos in particular was such that he personally brokered negotiations between the the belligerent Greek states during the Corinthian War (395-387 BC). Although Tiribazos was briefly replaced by the satrap Struthas in punishment for his actions, Artaxerxes soon returned the ex-satrap to his post in 387/6 BC. This time, he was granted command of the Persian fleet against Evagoras of Salamis. Again, Tiribazos was punished for his actions, and again restored to favor. The subsequent reneging by Artaxerxes of favors on Tiribazos turned the satrap against his king. In the end, Artaxerxes caught wind of a plot by Tirbazos and had his once-esteemed courtier slain.