Here's a recent win from a John Anthony auction: Parthian Kingdom. AR drachm (3.9 g, 20 mm). Mithradates III (c.57-54 BC). Mithradatkart mint. Obverse: Diademed bust of Mithradates left. Reverse: Seated archer (Arsakes I), Mithradatkart mintmark, slightly crude Greek inscription in 8 lines around "Basileos basileon Arsakou megalou dikaiou epiphanous theou eupatoros kai philellenos" (Of the Great King of Kings, Arsakes, the just, beneficent, well born of the God, and lover of the Greeks). Sellwood 41.5, Shore 200, Sunrise 356v. This coin: Ex John Anthony auction, ex Sallent collection. (Obligatory Parthian king naming and attribution note: Mithradates III has been promoted to Mithradates IV in recent scholarly work. Also, the timing and sequence of his coin issues is complicated and uncertain, as I will point out below. If you want simple, unchanging attributions, go collect Lincoln cents.) Mithradates III and Orodes II were two sons of the Parthian king Phraates III. In 57 BC, they teamed up to assassinate their father and take over the throne. The assassination part worked, but unsurprisingly the two brothers soon quarreled, and Mithradates was forced to flee to Roman Syria. (Mithradates was said to have been "cruel", but that hardly distinguished him from most rulers of the time.) In Syria he sought the help of the Roman governor, Aulus Gabinius. Gabinius and his troops marched with him to the border at the Euphrates, but at that point received a more tempting offer to help restore Ptolemy XII to the Egyptian throne, and abandoned Mithradates. Despite the loss of Roman assistance, Mithradates was able to capture territory in Mesopotamia, including Babylon and the capitol city of Seleukia on the Tigris. The troops of Orodes, led by a great general known to history only by his family name of Surena, eventually reconquered all of Mithradates' territory and captured him alive. Mithradates was executed in either very late 55 or early 54 BC. Despite his short reign, he did leave a lasting legacy in setting a precedent of sons assassinating their father to take the Parthian throne; this pattern would continue for a long time in Parthian history. Given the relatively short amount of time that Mithradates III held the throne, his drachms from mints on the Iranian plateau (including this example from Mithradatkart, and also Ekbatana, Nisa, Rhagae, and others) seem to be a lot more common than expected. Fred Shore suggests (in a lengthy footnote to Type 189 in his book) that Mithradates may have been granted a co-regency in the latter part of his father's life, and issued the bulk of his coinage before assassinating his father. This is an interesting idea, but there is no literary evidence for it, and G.R.F. Assar doesn't accept this idea in his essay in the Sunrise catalogue. I feel unqualified to make a final judgment; I merely note the anomaly. This specimen is in reasonably high grade, and the obverse centering is higher than normal- the bottom end of the diadem is normally off the flan. On the reverse, you can see details of the archer's face, which I also find appealing. Overall, it's a nice coin of a not-so-nice guy. Post your relevant coins here.
There was a time I felt better about my identifications on Parthians but I have not seen what Parthicus calls 'recent scholarly work' so I have no idea who is now credited with the issue of these three coins but I am reasonably sure Lincoln was not involved.
Neither is an imperial issue of Parthia-proper, but both have Parthian connections. The first is an issue of "Prince A" from Elymais, a van't Haaff type 19.1.1-1A. The second appears to be a drachm of the Indo-Parthian ruler Gondophares.
Actually, Chris, by Sellwood's reckoning that an Orodes I (not II); Assar has it attributed as Mithradates III (in his "recent scholarly work").
I think you even told me that before, but I didn't put in on my flip...so it didn't get filed in my brain! I have it corrected now! Thanks! I'll try and take a new pic of this coin also. Thanks Bob!!
Great write up! Thanks @Parthicus . I enjoy your posts as I am weak in this History, and you help me fill in the gaps (while I can be lazy and not read the whole book!) I have an OII and MIII - both obsconded from @John Anthony who seems to fill my Historical Placemarkers of curiosities: This guy went on to defeat the Triumvar Cassius and allegedly pour molten gold down his gullet due to Cassius' insatiable lust for Gold! PARTHIA Orodes II 57-37 BC AR Drachm 18mm 3.3g - killed Crassus pour gold - Ekbatana l stars cresnt Arsakes bow anchor Sell48.9 Brother Mithy: Parthia Mithradates III 58-55 BCE AR Drachm 3.9g 20mm Rhagae mint star archer bashlyk throne bow Selwood 41-12
Beautiful coin Parthicus! Here is my contribution, as it is directly relevant to your thread. So as Parthicus mentioned, the kings of Parthia had this terrible penchant for killing one another for the throne. This coin is of Phraates IV, who around 38 B.C. ascended to the throne, by, you guessed it, murdering his father Orodes II. In fact, Phraates was so affraid of the same thing happening to him he murdered all his brothers. However, this was to no avail, as Phraates would eventually be murdered by his own wife (a former slave named Musa) and her son, Phraates V (or Phraataces). Oddly enough, Phraataces would then go on and marry his own mother (oh, the intrigues of those Parthians. This coin was a win from a recent CNG auction, and was once part of the Nisa Collection. Phraates IV AR drachm ca 38-2 B.C. 3.87 gm. Laodikia mint Sellwood 52.16 Sunrise 393 ex Nisa collection.
