Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
Dichalkon - Tigranes II Herakles
| Issuer | Armenia, Kingdom of |
|---|---|
| Year | 80 BC - 68 BC |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Round (irregular) |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Herakles standing facing left, the Nemean lion skin draped over his extended left arm, his right hand resting atop his grounded club. The Greek royal legend is divided across the field by the figure, with control mark A and monogram TP visible in the left and right fields respectively. The composition follows standard Hellenistic iconographic conventions for royal bronze coinage of the Armenian kingdom. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | BAΣIΛEΩΣ BAΣIΛEΩN TIΓPANOY (Translation: Tigranes, king of the kings) |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
Tigranes II ruled the largest empire in Armenian history at its peak — stretching from the Caspian to the Mediterranean following his conquests in Syria and Mesopotamia — and his bronze coinage reflects the ambitions of a king who held the title "King of Kings." The Kovacs 82 dichalkon belongs to a municipal bronze tradition that continued even as Tigranes was simultaneously issuing silver tetradrachms from major urban mints like Tigranocerta, the capital he founded around 83 BC.
The series ends with Rome. Lucullus sacked Tigranocerta in 69 BC, effectively collapsing the western half of the empire and terminating civic bronze production at the mints under direct royal control.