KINGS OF ADIABENE. Abdissares, circa 160s BC. Tetrachalkon (Bronze, 18 mm, 4.88 g, 12 h). Draped bust of Abdissares to right, wearing bashlyk with fanion and lappets folded up and tied with a diadem. Rev. BAΣIΛEΩΣ - ABΔIΣΣAP[OY] Eagle standing right with closed wings. Kovacs 11. Of the highest rarity and great historical interest. Patina stripped, otherwise, very fine.



Abdissares' coinage is strikingly similar to that of Xerxes (Kovacs 17–20) and the 'Unknown King I', whose name Kovacs tentatively suggested as [Art]abanos (Kovacs 21). The clear stylistic and iconographic connections group these three kings together, but historiographical evidence remains scarce. Polybios refers to Xerxes as a 'King of Arsamosata' (Pol. 8.23), who was subjected to the Seleukid King Antiochos III 'the Great' in 212 BC. However, in the cases of Artabanos (?) and Abdissares, no literary or epigraphic evidence has survived. Fortunately, the extremely rare coinage of Abdissares provides some clues. Three of his issues include the geographical reference AΔIABHNOY in his titulature - an unprecedented and unparalleled phenomenon in the coinage of the Hellenistic East. If we take Abdissares at his word, he must have been King of Adiabene.

This fits well with the name Abdissares, which appears to be an Aramaic form of the Neo-Babylonian 'Ab-di-Iš-šár,' translating as 'servant of Issarbel,' i.e., 'servant of the Ištar of Arbela.' Arbela was an ancient city in Adiabene with a venerable cult of Ištar going back to the Assyrians, possibly serving as one of the cultural and political centers of Abdissares' kingdom. Grabowski has recently suggested that the unknown king on the Batas-Herir Relief near Arbela could be identified with Abdissares. While this intriguing suggestion has not gone unchallenged, his remarks about the eagle on Abdissares' coins are crucial for dating the king's reign. Grabowski noted that the use of an eagle standing to the right with closed wings as Abdissares' primary reverse type clearly differentiates his coinage from that of Xerxes and Artabanos (?). He also draws an iconographical connection to a similar eagle featured prominently on the coinage of the Seleukid King Antiochos IV, following his campaigns against Ptolemaic Egypt in 170–168 BC. If this connection holds, it places Abdissares in the 160s BC at the earliest - perhaps more specifically after 164 BC, when Antiochos IV died, and many Seleukid provinces in the East were thrown into turmoil. Abdissares may thus have been a descendant of Xerxes and Artabanos (?), adopting their royal imagery after revolting against the Seleukids, while updating traditional early Hellenistic reverse types (Nike and Athena) to more current designs.".