Typology and Analysis of Characene Coins in the Ancient Iranian Museum

Numismatic studies have an important role in reconstructing the history and culture of governments, which can be an accurate source of information about the past, and with their help illuminate a dark and forgotten part of history. Alexander the Macedonian established Characene in 324 BC, for commercial purposes at the bank of Arvand River. The Seleucid kings ruled this city until 127 BC. Until Hyspaosines founded a local government in this region in 125 BC. Historical sources give researchers a little information about the local kings of Characene. Therefore, identifying and studying Characene coins in museums can significantly contribute to elucidating historical events during this period and fill the existing research gaps to some extent. This study aims to introduce the Characene coins of the National Museum of Iran and to examine historical events through the coin. In this research, field and documentary methods with a historical approach have been used. The results show that the Characene coins in the National Museum of Iran belong to the kings Hyspaosines, Mithradates II, and Attambelos Kings. Historical and numismatic studies show that these kings had trade relations with the Arab regions of the Persian Gulf from the period of Hyspaosines to Attambelos VI, which politically, these local rulers played the role of negative balance in the region. However, from the period of Pacorus II (AD 131), the administration of this region was entrusted to the Parthian princes and in this way limited the power of local rulers.