Coinage of Tanlis Mardates (ΤΑΝΛΙC ΜΑΙΔΑTΗC) with Rangodeme (ΡΑΓΓΟΔΗΜΗ ΚΥΡΙΑ).[1][2][3]
Reign
circa 80-40 BC
Tanlis Mardates, or Tanlis Maidates (ΤΑΝΛΙC ΜΑΙΔΑTΗC, ruled circa 80-40 BC), was the governor of the
Arsacid provinces of
Sakastan and
Arachosia.[4] He might have been of
Parthian, or perhaps of
Saka origin.[4] The
Parthian Empire had been ruling the region of
Sakastan since the victory of
Mithridates II (124–88 BCE) over the Sakas, and these "Satraps" (another one was probably
Cheiroukes) governed in the area until the establishment of the dynasty of
Gondophares (19-46 CE).[4]
Tanlis Mardates minted coins with portraits of him and a certain Rangodeme, probably his wife.[4] He was probably the last Arsacid governor of the area before the rise of the dynasty of the
Indo-Parthian ruler
Gondophares (
r. 19–46).[5]
The portrait from his coinage is thought to illustrate the armour and headgear of Parthian
cataphracts: his coins show a low, oval helmet, with a neckguard and a plume.[6]
^Rezakhani 2017, p. 32, From the numismatic point of view, the early Indo-Parthians before the rise of Gondophares were little-known authorities who produced coins initially in the style of the Parthians (i.e. Arsacids) and then the Indo-Scythian kings such as Maues.16 They might have been Parthian, or possibly ‘Saka’, satraps of Sakistan/Sistan appointed by the Arsacid ruler. This can be observed from the coins of Cheiroukes, who calls himself a ‘satrap’ of the Marsakes region, matching the eastern provinces of the Arsacid Empire, and later Sistan proper. The coinage of a series of authorities whose names are given as Tanlis, Tanlis Mardates, and probably a queen named Rangodeme are quite likely to be the last series issued by these ‘satraps’ before the establishment of the dynasty of Gondophares in Sistan and Arachosia. The early rulers of Sakistan/Sistan can thus be characterised as Arsacid governors, possibly of Saka origin, who are appointed following the defeat of the Sakas in the region by Mithridates II.