Le syennésis cilicien et Cyrus : l'apport des sources numismatiques

Abstract

From the literary documentation, relating to the passage of Cyrus the Younger in Cilicia (Xénophon, Diodorus, Ctesias), and the tarsian monetary types (Vth - beginning IVth cent. B.C.), this study re-examines différents arguments relating to : a) the datation of the rider/hoplite coinage often considered as a satrapan issue (Kraay's thesis) or a Cyrus1 one (Weiser's thesis) ; b) the identification of the well- known tarsian rider ; c) the tarsian monetary iconography ; d) the «satrapisation» of Cilicia in the IVth cent. B.C., and the disappearance of the local dynasty. The principal conclusions are : a) there is no true reason to think about the end of the local dynasty after 401 B.C. ; b) the numismatic evidence doesn't exist : the rider/hoplite coinage have nothing to do with the passage of Cyrus in Cilicia or a «satrapisation» of this region. The tarsian monetary iconography is an integral part of the «graeco-persian» repertory and, concerning the rider, the reflection of a vassal privileged relation to the Great King ; c) the existence of a dynastic coinage is not sure. It must be considered in the larger problem of the monetary phenomenon in Cilicia : a short analysis points out that we must distinguish military issues from local/civic coinages, both most probably coexisting (what means a re-examination of the Kraay's chronology).