The “Seal of Rodogune” from Parthian Nisa

Abstract

The name of Rodogune was not applied only to the well known statuette of Aphrodite Anadyomene from Parthian Nisa, but also to a seal impressed on a sealing from the Nisa Square House. Although the attribution of the seal, unlike that of the statuette, was not discussed in detail, the portrait depicted on it was recognized as that of the Arsacid princess. Actually, the head is not female, but male, and can in all likelihood be that of Apollo with a laurel wreath. The style of execution suggests a relatively late date for the seal, not before the end of the 1st century BC –1st century AD, and allows its impression to be included in the general group of sealings from the Square House of Nisa.