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====Appearance of dynastic portraiture (5th century BC) ==== [[File:Tissaphernes head.jpg|thumb|The [[Achaemenid Empire]] [[satrap]]s and dynasts in [[Asia Minor]] developed the usage of portraiture from c. 420 BC. Portrait of the satrap of [[Lydia]], [[Tissaphernes]] (c. 445β395 BC).]] Although many of the first coins illustrated the images of various gods, the first portraiture of actual rulers appears with the coinage of [[Lycia]] in the 5th century BC.<ref>"The earliest attempts at portraiture appear to have taken place in Lycia. The heads of various dynasts appear on coins of the fifth century" {{cite book |last1=Carradice |first1=Ian |title=Ancient Greek Portrait Coins |date=1978 |publisher=British Museum Publications |isbn=9780714108490 |page=2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4FdmAAAAMAAJ |language=en}}</ref><ref name="SW">{{cite book |last1=West |first1=Shearer |last2=Birmingham) |first2=Shearer |title=Portraiture |date=2004 |publisher=OUP Oxford |isbn=9780192842589 |page=68 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q3sRDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA68 |language=en}}</ref> No ruler had dared illustrating his own portrait on coinage until that time.<ref name="SW"/> The Achaemenids had been the first to illustrate the person of their king or a hero in a stereotypical manner, showing a bust or the full body but never an actual portrait, on their [[Sigloi]] and [[Daric]] coinage from c. 500 BC.<ref name="SW"/><ref name="Root">{{cite journal |last1=Root |first1=Margaret Cool |title=The Persian archer at Persepolis : aspects of chronology, style and symbolism |journal=Revue des Γtudes Anciennes |volume=91 |date=1989 |pages=43β50 |language=en|doi=10.3406/rea.1989.4361 }}</ref><ref name="TC20">{{cite journal |page=20|title=Half-figure of the King: unravelling the mysteries of the earliest Sigloi of Darius I|journal=The Celator |volume=26 |issue=2 |date=February 2012|url=https://community.vcoins.com/thecelator/The-Celator-Vol.26-No.02-Feb-2012.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181121161656/https://community.vcoins.com/thecelator/The-Celator-Vol.26-No.02-Feb-2012.pdf |archive-date=2018-11-21 |url-status=live}}</ref> A slightly earlier candidate for the first portrait-coin is [[Themistocles]] the Athenian general, who became a Governor of [[Magnesia on the Meander]], c. 465β459 BC, for the Achaemenid Empire,<ref>"A rare silver fraction recently identified as a coin of Themistocles from Magnesia even has a bearded portrait of the great man, making it by far the earliest datable portrait coin. Other early portraits can be seen on the coins of Lycian dynasts." {{cite book |last1=Carradice |first1=Ian |last2=Price |first2=Martin |title=Coinage in the Greek World |date=1988 |publisher=Seaby |isbn=9780900652820 |page=84 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OVZmAAAAMAAJ |language=en}}</ref> although there is some question as to whether his coins may have represented [[Zeus]] rather than himself.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Rhodes |first1=P. J. |title=A History of the Classical Greek World: 478β323 BC |date=2011 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=9781444358582 |page=58 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5fkjzwJxCA4C&pg=PP58 |language=en}}</ref> Themistocles may have been in a unique position in which he could transfer the notion of individual [[portrait]]ure, already current in the Greek world, and at the same time wield the dynastic power of an Achaemenid dynasty who could issue his own coins and illustrate them as he wished.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Howgego |first1=Christopher |title=Ancient History from Coins |date=2002 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781134877843 |page=64 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DCC3l5kS5O8C&pg=PA64 |language=en}}</ref> From the time of [[Alexander the Great]], portraiture of the issuing ruler would then become a standard, generalized, feature of coinage.<ref name="SW"/> <gallery> File:IONIA, Magnesia ad Maeandrum. Themistokles reverse. Circa 465-459 BC.jpg|alt=Coin of Themistocles as Governor of Magnesia. Obv: Barley grain. Rev: Possible portrait of Themistocles. Circa 465β459 BC.|Coin of [[Themistocles]] as Governor of Magnesia. ''Obv'': Barley grain. ''Rev'': Possible portrait of Themistocles, c. 465β459 BC.<ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=308695| title = CNG: IONIA, Magnesia ad Maeandrum. Themistokles. Circa 465-459 BC. AR Hemiobol (7mm, 0.37 g, 1h)}}</ref> File:DYNASTS of LYCIA. Kherei. Circa 440-30-410 BC.jpg|Portrait of Lycian ruler [[Kherei]] wearing the Persian cap on the reverse of his coins (ruled 410β390 BC). File:DYNASTS of LYCIA. Erbbina. Circa 430-20-400 BC.jpg|Portrait of Lycian ruler [[Erbbina]] wearing the Persian cap on the reverse of his coins (ruled 390β380 BC). File:DYNASTS of LYCIA. Perikles. Circa 380-360 BC.jpg|Portrait of Lycian ruler [[Pericles, Dynast of Lycia|Perikles]] facing (ruled 380β360 BC). </gallery>
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