Remarks on the Iconography of Samarian Coinage. Hunting in Paradeisos?

Abstract

This study examines a hunting scene on the reverse of a Samarian coin (Meshorer and
Qedar 1999:106, No. 123). Depicted is a mounted hunter, wearing Iranian cavalryman’s
costume and galloping over the body of a fallen animal (probably a lion or a boar). The
general prototype of the scene should be sought in the repertoire of Greco-Persian art, and
probably refers to a hunt in the garden precinct called paradeisos.