An Elymais AE drachm with clear Aramaic legend

Elymais. AE drachm (3.71 g, 17 mm). Orodes II (c. early-mid 2nd century CE). Obverse: Facing bust of king, with long beard and tiara, no tufts of hair to sides or above, crescent and star to right, anchor with one crossbar. Reverse: Facing bust of the god Bel (Belos, Belus), legend in Aramaic around WRWD MLKA BRY WRWD (Orodes King, son of Orodes), pellet border. van't Haaff 13.2.1-2B. This coin: Pars Coins Bargain eSale 34, lot 87 (May 8, 2025).

Elymais was a Parthian vassal state, located between the east bank of the Tigris and the Zagros Mountains, roughly where the province of Khuzestan is in modern Iran. While the region was inhabited from very early times, the state of Elymais we are considering dates only to the later part of the Seleukid Empire, in the 2nd century BCE. After a period of shifting Seleukid, Parthian, and local control, the region was for a time ruled by the Kamnaskirid Dynasty as vassals of the Parthian Kingdom. In the mid-1st century BCE, the situation seems to shift, and the ruling dynasty is now a branch of the Parthian Arsakid dynasty, bearing typical Parthian names such as Orodes and Phraates. Unfortunately few details are known of Elymais history, and many of the later rulers are known only from their coins. The region finally lost its last autonomy about 228 CE, when the nascent Sasanian Persian kingdom conquered the area.

The coinage of Elymais starts out Hellenistic in style, with silver tetradrachms, drachms and fractional silvers bearing fairly realistic portraits and legible Greek inscriptions. However, around the transition from the Kamnaskirid to Arsakid dynasties, the coinage rapidly shifts to copper/bronze and the artistic style loses its Hellenistic aspect. Although the royal portraits are no longer Hellenistic, they still bear a certain flair, even in the later examples. The most common reverse type on later coinage is a series of dashes, in various patterns, though various other reverses are also found, including the local god Bel as well as Artemis and Athena, eagle, wreath, and inscriptions in Aramaic and (sometimes) Greek. I bought this coin because of its unusually clear and complete reverse legend. Overall, a nice purchase at just US$30 final bid. Please post your Elymais coins, coins with Aramaic inscriptions, or whatever else is related.

 

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Elymais... This was a very, very ancient country called "Elam". Its capital, Susa, was a city that had existed since c. 4000 BC ! It has been a powerful kingdom in the 2nd and 1st Millenium BC. The Great Kings of the Achemenid Empire (6th-4th c. BC), though being Persians, chose to locate their imperial capital in Susa. After the fall of this empire, Elam, now called by the Greeks "Elymais", became a kingdom sometimes independent or autonomous but more frequently a vassal of the Parthian Empire.
The first coins of Elymais are silver hellenistic tetradrachms but in the late 1st c. AD silver vanished and tetradrachms and drachms were made of bronze. The same phenomenon occured in the Arabian peninsula (the Lihyanite switched from silver to bronze in the late 4th c. BC, the East Arabian polities too switched to bronze at an unknown period).
In the 2nd and early 3rd c. AD, Elymais minted enormous quantites of AE drachms which circulated as small change in the Gulf area.

Here are 17 drachms from the early 2nd to the early 3rd c. AD. And 1 AE tetradrachm, probably dating back to the late 1st - early 2nd c. AD. I am not certain at all of their attributions... The earlier ones have reverse legends in Greek, the later ones have reverse legends in Aramaic. Some have hellenistic style reverses with busts of Artemis-Nanaia, of radiate Belos facing, or a double-diadem, but others, of the same kings, just have dashes...

 

Those are very nice examples and the complete Aramaic legend is exceptional for this type!

I am slowly working through two lots of AE drachms, 40 in all, eight of which are below. Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Basically in "as found" condition, some with thick, hard green deposits.