AE 18 mm, 4.89 g, 1 h
Diademed head of Ziailas to right. Rev. BAΣIΛE[ΩΣ] / ZIAHΛA Tropy of arms. Mørkholm, Early Hellenistic Coinage, 416. SNG von Aulock 243
Ex Obolos October 2020
Ziailas had a stepmother problem. When his father, Nikomedes I, remarried, she was to no ends cruel with him. Only he had to wash the dishes each night, along with the cleaning, horse grooming, and every other chore she could imagine. But when she took his Alexander the Great action figures, he called it enough.
Ziailas fled to the court of Arsames I of Sophene, where he remained until his father’s death. His stepmother Etazeta, however, had thought of this and before his death Nikomedes had prudently left his infant sons to Antigonos II Gonatas.
With the help of some marauding Gauls, Zalaias took back his kingdom despite the support of Gonatas and forced his stepmother and half-brothers to flee to Gonatas. Now settled back in his native Bithynia, Ziailas minted this coin, which is extremely rare and may be the best of the type.
Ziailas played the thrones a bit, attacking Antiochos Hierax before deciding to be friends and giving his daughter to him. In 228 BCE, his old friends the Gauls turned on him and killed him.