Roads of Arabia

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ROADS OF ARABIA
The Renaissance of North-East Arabia in the Hellenistic Period
Outside of eastern Arabia, small numbers of his coins have been found on Failaka (Kuwait)
and, most intriguingly, in Syria and at Gordion and Mektepini in Turkey. Whereas some
scholars have suggested in a very general way that the distribution of these coins highlights
the overland trade routes in operation from eastern Arabia to the Mediterranean, another,
far more precise explanation may be suggested. Recalling Polybius’s account of the silver
paid to Antiochus III in 205 BC, it is interesting to note that after leaving Gerrha, the
Seleucid king went to Tylos (Bahrain) 7 and northern Syria before reconquering Asia Minor
in the aftermath of his Arabian sojourn. It seems highly plausible that, rather than reflecting
trade routes in general, the distribution of Abyatha’s coinage follows the path of Antiochus III’s
army from Arabia into Asia Minor. 8
Scholars have long wondered whether the seated deity on the reverse of the east Arabian
coinage is in fact Zeus. The reasons for doubt is clear. Some coins of this type have the
name of the Arabian solar deity, Shams, written in South Arabian letters in front of Zeus’s
knees, or in other cases simply the first letter of his name, shin. This has led some authorities
to suggest that, while modelled on the scene of Zeus, the deity was meant to be understood,
in the Arabian context, not as the Greek god but as the local sun god Shams.
Tomb of Thaj, photograph by Humberto da Silveira
Coin from Abyatha
Polybius also says that the Gerrhaeans honoured Antiochus with a “gift” – or more
probably tribute – consisting of 500 talents of silver, 1,000 talents of frankincense and 200
talents of a superior kind of myrrh known as stacte. The references to aromatics clearly show,
as other ancient authors confirm, that north-eastern Arabia at this time profited from its
position astride the caravan route leading from the producers of aromatics in Southern Arabia
to the markets in Babylonia. Yet equally important is the reference to silver. At Thaj and
other sites, such as the Salt Mine Site, Jabal Kenzan and ash-Sha‘ba near Hofuf, thousands
of coins have been picked up on the surface by amateur collectors. While only a portion of
these are silver, they nonetheless make it reasonable to suggest that the silver paid by the
Gerrhaeans to Antiochus was in coin, not bullion.
The indigenous coinage of north-eastern Arabia (cat. no. 228) provides yet further evidence
of the simultaneous influence of both South Arabia and the Greek world on north-eastern
Arabia. Like many Hellenistic issues elsewhere in the Near East, the earliest coinage from
the Eastern Province was modelled on that of Alexander the Great, perhaps because his
coinage had a reputation for being pure and true to weight and hence completely trustworthy
wherever it circulated. Coinage inspired by Alexander’s own issues typically has the head of
Heracles, or a modified portrait of Alexander himself, on the obverse, usually wearing the pelt
of the Nemean lion. The reverse shows us a figure that resembles the seated Zeus. In some
cases, the name ALEXANDROU written in Greek letters runs vertically down the side of reverse,
behind the seated figure of Zeus. In other cases Alexander’s name has been replaced by that of
the local king who minted the coinage written in South Arabian or Aramaic letters.
Because very few coins have been found in stratigraphic excavations at Thaj and the vast
majority are surface finds, we have only a very approximate understanding of their chronology.
It is clear, however, that they probably span several centuries. Many hundreds are so
stylized that their connection with the earliest, much more Greek-looking issues, can only
barely be recognized. In such cases, the obverse has become blank, while the reverse appears
like a maze of vertical and horizontal lines with dots filling in some of the blank spaces. In
fact, these lines are the stylized representation of the seated figure of Zeus/Shams with his
throne and staff behind him, and some vestige of the legend, either the name of the king or
that of Shams. Coins such as these come in many denominations ranging from large
tetradrachms to small obols and demi-obols. Their very existence, however, is a mystery.
Coins of this sort circulated very little. A few have been found elsewhere in Saudi Arabia at
Qaryat al-Faw, for example, on Bahrain and Failaka, and in Yemen and the UAE (e.g. at ed-
Dur). For the most part, however, they seem to have been used locally. Whether they functioned
in the marketplace – the majority of them are not silver, or even silver billon but
copper – or were used to pay members of the military, as in other parts of the ancient world,
we do not know.
The end of the Hellenistic period is difficult to define with any degree of precision. As
in Mesopotamia and south-western Iran, where the material culture of the region changed
only slightly from the Seleucid to the Parthian period, so too in eastern Arabia can we see
continuity into the 1st century BC and perhaps even slightly later. 9 Some of the tombs, such
as the one at Ayn Jawan 10 (cat. nos 238 to 242) and others in the cemetery at Dhahran, have
glass and jewellery that is either Roman or Roman-inspired, while much of the glazed pottery
was probably manufactured in southern Mesopotamia and Khuzestan and shows a similar
range of types.
7. On the Greek inscriptions found in Bahrain,
see Gatier, Lombard and Al-Sindi 2002.
8. Huth and Potts 2002.
9. On a general perspective on the history of
human habitation in the region, see Mouton 2009.
10. See, in general, Potts 1993 b.
This is the case on the issues of Abyatha (’byt‘), whose name is written in South Arabian
letters. On numismatic grounds, Abyatha is thought to have reigned around 230–20 BC.
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