SAMARIA. Series with place names and related types. Mazaios, satrap of Cilicia, 361/0-333 BCE. Mʿh = Obol (Silver, 10 mm, 0.54 g, 6 h), circa 353-333. Biga galloping right, driven by a male figure wearing a Persian headdress, holding goad in his right hand and reins in his left; behind him, a similar, but bearded figure standing right, raising his right hand. Rev. Persian Great King or hero standing right, confronting a lion and grasping it by the mane; between them, 𐡌𐡆 (MZ in Aramaic); all within incuse square. CSC 22. Hendin -. Jeselsohn 124. Meshorer & Qedar 74 = Wyssmann p. 268, MQ 74.d (this coin). NH -. Shoshana -. Sofaer -. Very rare. Beautifully toned and exceptionally well preserved for this interesting issue. Minor roughness on the obverse, otherwise, extremely fine.



Mazaios was a high-ranking Achaemenid official of the fourth century BCE and is best known as satrap of Cilicia, where he issued an extensive coinage at Tarsos. His Cilician coinage is usually dated to around 361/0-333 BCE. In the course of his career, his authority appears to have extended beyond Cilicia to Syria and Eber-Nari, the territory 'Beyond the River.' In the final years of the Achaemenid Empire, under Dareios III, he was one of the most important Persian commanders in the war against Alexander 'the Great' and the Macedonians. At the Battle of Gaugamela in 331 BCE, he fought on the Persian side against Alexander. After the Persian defeat, he surrendered Babylon to Alexander without resistance, and Alexander subsequently confirmed him as satrap of Babylonia. Mazaios probably died in 328 BCE while still holding this office.

The present coin was classified in CSC under place names rather than personal names in order to group it with the other two obols of Mazaios, both of which bear the Samarian ethnic. We follow this arrangement here, although it is somewhat misleading. The Samarian coinage associated with Mazaios is iconographically closely related to his Sidonian issues, whose dated series fall within the years 353-333 BCE. The Samarian coins should therefore probably be placed in the same period.