A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF NUMISMATIC EVIDENCES ASSOCIATED TO MINING ACTIVITIES IN PARTHIAN AND SELEUCID DYNASTIES
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14795/j.v7i2.439Keywords:
Parthian Numismatics, Seleucid Numismatics, Mineralogy, XRFAbstract
Knowledge of the number and location of mines of the ancient periods has been the subject of common research between archaeologists and archaeo-mineralogists. The scientific significance of the subject becomes apparent when the direct relation between the power of the ancient rulers and number of the mines they owned is perceived. The gold and silver mines, like today, were accounted as the main economic credit and backing of the ancient states. Although mixing silver with other metals was used to produce diverse metal artefacts, silver on its own was most popular for minting coins. Since coin was a symbol of the sovereignty of rulers and an indicator of the economic power of ancient civilizations, silver mining was probably one of the main activities of the ancient craftsmen.
The main aim of this research is to investigate the conditions surrounding, and the techniques used for, extraction of silver from different mines during the reign of Alexander of Macedon, Seleucid rulers (336-129 BC), and Parthian kings (247 BC-224 AD). The kings, whose coins are studied in this research, ruled in Iran from 4th -1st BC. This research is focused on the laboratory results obtained from XRF tests on 24 coins belonging to the mentioned kings.
The analysis of the results revealed that despite the advanced technology used for recovering silver from zinc and lead mines in the Seleucid era, the Parthian craftsmen were not highly skilled in this field. In other words, the silver recovery technology was more advanced in the Seleucid era than the Parthian period.
Downloads
References
KHADEMI NADOOSHAN/AZIZIPOUR/TAGHI SAFAR 2009
Khademi Nadooshan, F./Azizipour, T./Taghi Safar, M., Seleucid mintage, a pattern for Parthian coinage, International Journal of Humanities 16, 51-58.
MANI/IRAJ/DANESHI/ 2008
Mani, A./Iraj, G./Daneshi, Q., Extraction of gold and silver in ancient Persia, The first Conference on Iran Indigenous Technologies, Iranian Association of Technology, (Tehran)
MOMENZADEH 2005
Momenzadeh, M., An overview of ancient Iranian mines and mining, Cheshmeh Journal 5, 7-12.
NEZAFATI/PERNICKA 2005
Nezafati, N./Pernicka, E., Metalworkers of Sialk: results of the first phase of metallurgical studies on the ancient site of Sialk, Sialk Project Overview 4, 145-156.
SELWOOD 1980
Selwood, D., An introduction to the Coinage of Parthia (London: Spink and Son Limited).
TOHIDI/GANJI/GANJI/ 2009
Tohidi, N./Ganji, A./Ganji, O., Sgalshy Kansnk technique in mining and production of metals: gold, silver, copper, lead, tin, mercury, zinc, and copper-based alloys in ancient Persia, Journal of Metallurgy Engineering 30, 22-27.
Downloads
Additional Files
Published
Issue
Section
License
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal, we use CC BY-NC-ND license (Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs) wich only allowing others to download your works and share them with others as long as they credit you, but they can’t change them in any way or use them commercially.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
