Lot 92
Lot 30092 > ARMENIAN KINGDOM. Kings of Armenia Minor. Aristobulus, with Salome. AD 54-92. AE (20mm, 6.78 gm, 12h). NGC VF 4/5 - 3/5, glue residue. Dated Regnal Year 13 (AD 66/7). BACIΛEΩC APICTOBOYΛOY ET IΓ•, diademed, draped bust of Aristobulus left / BACIΛIC-CHC CAΛOMHC, diademed, draped bust of Salome left. Meshorer 365 var. (date). Hendin 1257a. RPC I 3840 var. (date). cf. CNG Triton XIX (5 January 2016), lot 277 (realized $160,000). D. Flusser, "A New Portrait" in Jerusalem Perspective 55 (1999), pp. 18–23 corr. (date). A desireable example with perfectly legible legends. Aristobulus' wife, Salome, was the widow of Philip the Tetrarch and the daughter of Herodias by her first husband, Herod II. Although she is unnamed in the Gospels, it has been traditionally assumed that it was Salome who asked Herod Antipas for the head of John the Baptist in return for her risqué dance for the king. The regnal date on this issue by a client king of Rome, which is known for years 13 and 17, would have a pro-Roman propaganda and political value, as those years correspond to the beginning of the Jewish War (AD 66) and the destruction of the Temple (AD 70).
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