Kazakhstan 100 Tenge Silver Coin 2010 Queen Tomiris
"Great military leaders" series - Queen Tomiris
Three thousand years ago on the open steppe spaces of present Kazakhstan lived the mighty Saka and Massagetae. Great Steppe has preserved for us the memory of its heroes. The queen of the Massagetae Tumar, known in ancient chronicles as Tomiris, vanquished the invincible army of Cyrus, the founder of the Persian Empire.
Obverse: gilded image of State Emblem of the Republic of Kazakhstan, number «100» and inscription «TENGE» indicate face value of the coin, trade mark of Kazakhstan Mint, an image of horsemen, number «2010» indicates the year of coinage, name of issuing bank in Kazakh «ҚАЗАҚСТАН ҰЛТТЫҚ БАНКІ» and in English «NATIONAL BANK OF KAZAKHSTAN.
Reverse: Represented on the reverse, there is the embossed image of Queen Tomyris surrounded by her warriors (fragment of Duselkhanov’s picture). It is said that she cut off her breast and rode into battle when her husband's head was brought back to her. Tomiris slayed Cyrus the Great (the Persian King circa 5th century BC) with her own hands. She kept his head near her at all times and drank fine wine from it until the day of her death.The upper part of the coin comprises the inscription indicating the designation of metal, its fineness «Ag 925» and the coin’s pure weight «31,1g.» as well as the Queen’s name in English, «VI B.C.» means century when Tomiris lived.
Date of issue: 26 February 2011.
Face value: 100 Tenge.
Imprints and legends on the face and reverse sides of the coin are relief.
Lateral surface is grooved.
Metal: Ag 925.
Weight: 31.1 g. Weight is indicated without coverage.
Diameter: 38.61 mm.
Quality: proof
Maximum mintage: 13000 (3000 for internal market of Kazakhstan).
Queen Tomiris
Tomyris, also called Thomyris, Tomris, Tomiride, or Queen Tomiri, was an ancient Eastern Iranian empress who reigned over the Massagetae, a Scythian pastoral-nomadic confederation of Central Asia east of the Caspian Sea, in parts of modern-day Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, western Uzbekistan, and southern Kazakhstan. Tomyris led her armies to defend against an attack by Cyrus the Great of the Achaemenid Empire, and defeated and killed him in 530 BC (although this is debatable since Herodotus mentions that this was one of the many stories of Cyrus the Great's death).
Tomyris is mentioned by several ancient writers, among whom the first is Herodotus. She is also mentioned by Strabo, Polyaenus, Cassiodorus, and Jordanes.
The names of Tomyris, and her son Spargapises, who was the head of her army, are of Iranian origins. Since the historians who first wrote of her were Greek, the Hellenic form of her name is used most frequently.
Many Greek historians recorded that she "defeated and killed" the Persian ruler Cyrus the Great, the founder of the Achaemenid Empire, during his invasion and attempted conquest of her country. Herodotus, who lived from approximately 484 to 425 BC, is the earliest of the classical writers to give an account of her career, writing almost one hundred years later. Her history was well known and became legendary. Strabo, Polyaenus, Cassiodorus, and Jordanes (in De origine actibusque Getarum, The Origin and Deeds of the Goths - also known as Getae or Dacians) also wrote of her.
According to the accounts of Greek historians, Cyrus was victorious in his initial assault on the Massagetae. His advisers suggested laying a trap for the pursuing Scythians: the Persians left behind them an apparently abandoned camp, containing a rich supply of wine. The pastoral Scythians were not used to drinking wine — "their favored intoxicants were hashish and fermented mare's milk" — and they drank themselves into a stupor. The Persians attacked while their opponents were incapacitated, defeating the Massagetae forces, and capturing Tomyris' son, Spargapises, the general of her army. Of the one third of the Massagetae forces that fought, there were more captured than killed. According to Herodotus, Spargagises coaxed Cyrus into removing his bonds, thus allowing him to commit suicide while in Persian captivity.
Tomyris sent a message to Cyrus denouncing his treachery, and with all her forces, challenged him to a second battle. In the fight that ensued, the Massagetae got the upper hand, and the Persians were defeated with high casualties. Cyrus was killed and Tomyris had his corpse beheaded and then crucified, and shoved his head into a wineskin filled with human blood. She was reportedly quoted as saying, "I warned you that I would quench your thirst for blood, and so I shall" (Hdt 1.214)
Legacy
Eustache Deschamps added Tomyris to his poetry as one of the nine Female Worthies in the late 14th century.
The history of Tomyris has been incorporated into the tradition of Western art; Rubens, Allegrini, Luca Ferrari, Mattia Preti, Gustave Moreau and the sculptor Severo Calzetta da Ravenna are among the many artists who have portrayed events in the life of Tahm-Rayiš and her defeat of Cyrus and his armies. She is one of the subjects grouped under the Power of Women topos by art historians.
The name "Tomyris" also has been adopted into zoological taxonomy, for the tomyris species-group of Central Asian Lepidoptera.
590 Tomyris is the name given to one of the minor planets.
The given name Tomris or Toʻmaris has also become very popular in Central Asia and Turkey in the 20th and 21st centuries. Toʻmarisning Koʻzlari (The Eyes of Tomyris) is a 1984 book of poems and stories by Uzbek author Xurshid Davron. Toʻmarisning Aytgani (The Sayings of Tomyris) is a 1996 book of poetry by Uzbek poet Halima Xudoyberdiyeva.