Abdissares c.3rd-2nd cent. BC (Kov 11-16)

The inclusion of Abdissares as a king of Sophene is tentative, based on the similarity of his portrait and bashlyk to Xerxes of Sophene. His ancestry is unknown; his name is an Aramaic form of the Assyrian Arad-lssar, "servant of Ishtar.” He is identified as "Adiabenian" on some of his coins and wears a distinctive bashlyk in the same manner as a king on a rock relief of Arbil province, in ancient Adiabene. Thus, Abdissares might have ruled Adiabene as well as part of Sophene (de Callatay 1996, 140; Grabowski 2011, 133). The only coin with a stated provenience was purchased in Mosul (de Callatay 1996, 138).

De Callatay reviews in detail the coinage of Abdissares with his publication of the first example of “Adiabenian.” ( de Callatay 1996 ). There are only two reverse types so far known for his coinage, three denominations with an eagle standing r., and one with a horse head r. As noted by Grabowski (Grabowski 211, 132) Abdissares's reverse types are unlike those of Xerxes and Artabanus, but closely resemble the eagle types of the Seleucid king Antiochus IV from Antioch on the Orontes (SC 1412-1415) dated to 169/8 BC, leading him to suggest a possible date after 170 BC for Abdissares's reign. There is still no hard evidence to attribute Abdissares's coinage to an exact time or place.

Kovacs, Frank L. “Armenian Coinage in the Classical Period” CNS 10, Classical Numismatic Group, Lancaster, 2016, pp. 2.