I've finally gotten around to posting these two Parthian drachms that I got at the Baltimore coin show in November 2019: Coin 1: Parthian Kingdom. Nisa. AR drachm. Orodes II (57-38 BC). Obverse: Diademed bust left, crescent behind, star before. Reverse: Seated archer right, Nisa mintmark below bow, anchor behind throne, somewhat blundered Greek legend around. Sellwood 47.10. This coin: Bought at Whitman Baltimore coin show, November 2019. Coin 2: Parthian Kingdom. Margiana. AR drachm. Phraates IV (38-2 BC). Obverse: Diademed bust left, eagle holding wreath behind. Reverse: Seated archer right, Margiana mintmark below bow, blundered Greek legend around. Sellwood 52.19, Shore 284. This coin: Bought at the Whitman Baltimore coin show, November 2019. (Note: Some text below is recycled from an earlier post. Why rephrase when I said it correctly the first time?) Orodes II was a son of the Parthian king Phraates III. Around 57 BC, he teamed up with his brother Mithradates III (or IV, by modern reckoning) to murder their father and seize power. The brothers soon quarreled, and after a couple of years Orodes II was able to defeat and kill his brother and claim the throne uncontested. He fought several times against Rome, most importantly the Battle of Carrhae in 53 BC where the Roman Triumvir Crassus was killed. In 38 BC his favorite son and heir apparent was killed fighting in Roman Syria, leaving a distraught Orodes to name one of his other sons, Phraates IV, his designated successor. This was a terrible choice. Phraates promptly killed his father, then killed all thirty of so of his brothers (and their families) to avoid potential rivals. Phraates also fought against Rome, but eventually concluded a peace treaty with Augustus that was commemorated on an extensive series of Roman coins. As part of the deal, Phraates received a beautiful Roman courtesan, Musa, who quickly insinuated her way into his heart. Musa became queen, and bore him a son Phraataces ("little Phraates"). However, in 2 BC Musa and Phraataces murdered Phraates and took over the throne. Mother and son then married each other... but that's another story, for another time. I already had multiple coins of each of these rulers; what attracted me to these coins was the scarcer mintmarks. Both Orodes II and Phraates IV issued drachms from many mints, probably due to their long reigns during which they controlled the Iranian plateau, where most of the mints were located. In my experience, Ecbatana is the most common, followed (in rough order) by Rhagae and Mithradatkart, then Laodicea and Nisa, then Kangavar, Susa, Traxiane, Margiane and Aria. Margiana is not a city, rather it is a district located in the eastern region of the Parthian realm, roughly what is now eastern Turkmenistan. Most of the coins with this mintmark are the "Sanabares" series of bronze drachms, issued by a rebel (and probably his successors) starting in the mid-1st century AD. Silver drachms with this mintmark, and in the name of the main Parthian kings, are rather rare. Nisa was a major city for the Parthians, also located in what is now Turkmenistan. Interestingly, Mithradatkart, the fortified citadel located just a few kilometers from the city, was a major Parthian mint at the same time that Nisa produced its relative trickle of coinage. It seems odd that two mints were operated so close to each other simultaneously, but the evidence that this happened is very strong. Perhaps Nisa was used as an "overflow" facility that only operated when Mithradatkart had trouble meeting its quota? I found both of these scarce coins by searching through a dealer's "pick-your-own" box of around 100 or so Parthian drachms (I think it was $50 per coin, loose and unidentified). There are definitely interesting and scarce coins out there, available cheaply, to those who are willing to learn how to recognize them. Please post your own scarce varieties that you "cherry-picked".
It is a great pleasure to see new Parthian coins, thanks for sharing. Coin 1: S.47.32 (anchor - wart?) Another: S.47.32 (NI - anchor - wart) Nisa, 3.95 g
Excellent post! What are the primary sources we have for Parthian history. From what I have heard, most we 'know' came from their enemies. There seems little doubt that the 'rules' of acceptable behavior were quite different that for what we consider a civilized society.
From what I read, those Parthians were some rough dudes. Gave the Romans a really hard time too. I only have a couple of their coins, and of course intend to have a lot more in the near future. Phraates IV AR drachm, 38-2 BC.
Thanks for the post, @Parthicus, I have been wandering (not physically) in Anatolia, and haven't shared a Parthian coin for a while. Here are two mints on coins of Orodes II: Orodes II, 57-38 BC, AR Drachm, Kangavar mint Obv: short bearded bust left wearing torque with pellet end, no symbol in field Rev: ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΝ ΑΡΣΑΚΟΥ ΕΥΕΡΓΕΤΟΥ ΔΙΚΑΙΟΥ ΕΠΙΦΑΝΟΥΣ ΦΙΛΕΛΛΗΝΟΣ, archer (Arsakes I) enthroned right, holding bow; K (mint) below bow Ref: Sellwood 45.21 Orodes II, 57-38 BC, AR Drachm, Susa mint Obv: short bearded bust left, behind a crescent, in front a star wearing torque with pellet end, no symbol in field Rev: ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΝ ΑΡΣΑΚΟΥ ΕΥΕΡΓΕΤΟΥ ΔΙΚΑΙΟΥ ΕΠΙΦΑΝΟΥΣ ΦΙΛΕΛΛΗΝΟΣ, archer enthroned right, holding bow; above bow monogram, below bow monogram Ref: Sellwood 47.22 Here's a website that you might enjoy from Jake Nabel @ Penn State, "Parthian Sources Online". I enjoyed being able to read (in English) the text of the Shapur I inscription which I hadn't seen before. Other interesting bits there as well.
And from the point of view of Parthian, Romans were certainly "some rough dudes" too. If the Romans had not spend their time to try to invade the Parthian territories, they probably would have had no problem with the Parthians, who did not were trying to attack their western neighbor. As Doug recalls, history was written only by their enemies.
@Alwin : You are correct, my first coin is indeed Sellwood 47.32, not 47.10. Those of you keeping score at home, please adjust your cards accordingly. Thanks to @Sulla80 for the link which gives translations of surviving sources by the Parthians themselves. As you can see if you go there, those are not very extensive reading. Not exactly page-turners. There are also some Bablylonian astronomical tablets that parenthetically include historical information (usually in a format roughly similar to "In the year xxx when King Artabanos defeated his brother, there was an occultation of Venus in..."). Dr. Assar has made a lot of use of these tablets in his work, but again, they're not detailed histories. If the Parthian ever wrote detailed, lengthy narrative histories of themselves, they have not survived. The main surviving narrative sources are from the Roman world. (The Sasanians mostly ignored their Parthian predecessors.) Tacitus (Annals), Josephus (Jewish Antiquities and The Jewish War), Plutarch (especially the Lives of Sulla and Crassus), and Herodian (Histories) among others include material on Parthian history, usually when it impacts their main narratives. Pompeius Trogus wrote a Phillipic History, now lost, only parts of which have survived as an Epitome by a later writer named Justin, and this has been an important source. However, the Epitome is a badly blundered document (one historian once said "I wouldn't trust Justin to get his own name right"), so it has to be used with caution. The best, most readable narrative that stitches together all the classical sources is probably George Rawlinson's "The Sixth Oriental Monarchy", written in 1861. (It's available as a free online text through Project Gutenberg, or there are inexpensive modern reprints on Amazon and elsewhere.) I have a slightly later edition that combines it with his "Seventh Oriental Monarchy" (on the Sasanians), and it's good reading, though of course it is out of date in certain places as you would expect for a book that is nearly 120 years old.
As I find the yellowed pages of a scanned book with searchable text to be fairly satisfying to read and a small miracle of modern technology, here's the Sixth Great Oriental Monarchy (Parthia) for anyone interested, other editions and the Seventh Great Oriental Monarchy (Sassanian) also available.
