Elymais. AE drachm. "Prince B" (3rd century AD). Obverse: Diademed bust of king left, anchor and crescent behind. Reverse: Athena standing, holding shield in right hand and spear in left. van't Haaff 20.1.1-2v. This coin: Purchased from Zurqieh, February 2022. (Note: Historical section is recycled.) 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. Very little is known of the history of Elymais, with many of the later kings known only from their coins. Many of the kings bear Parthian names (Orodes and Phraates), but they are apparently not the same monarchs as the Parthian kings of the same name, although the later Elymaean kings do seem to have been an offshoot of the Parthian Arsakid royal family. The extensive coinage consisted of tetradrachms and drachms, initially of good silver but degrading to bronze for the later issues. Many of the bronze coins have survived in large numbers, and often in decent condition, so they are popular with collectors, though relatively few specialize in the series. A comprehensive catalogue of Elymaean coins was published by the late Pieter Anne van't Haaff in 2007, which has become the standard reference for the series. This coin is of a type attributed by van't Haaff to "Prince B", the last ruler of Elymais to issue coins and the only one to feature Athena on the reverse. (Artemis, by contrast, appears on coins of several different Elymaean kings.) There are several minor varieties listed, and a note that the head of Athena sometimes faces different directions. However, the only subtype where Athena holds the shield in her right hand and spear in her left, 1-2, does not have the anchor or crescent on the obverse, and the illustrated specimen is well-preserved enough to show that those features were truly absent on the dies, not just worn or off-flan on the specimen. So, everyone who owns a copy of van't Haaff, turn to Type 20 and pencil in a note of this new subtype I realize this is hardly an earth-shaking discovery, but it is still pretty neat to be able to discover an unknown variety. Please post your coins of Elymais, or any previously-unknown varieties that you discovered.
@Parthicus ....Nice find... Hopefully @Bob L. Will see this.. Orodes III, 2nd Century A.D., AE Drachm Orodes III, 2nd Century A.D., AE Drachm 3.5 grams Obv: Bearded bust facing left, wearing a diademed tiara ornamented with anchor. Pellet and crescent above an anchor to the right. Rev: Radiate and draped bust of Artemis right. Greek legend around bust retrograde van't Haaff 16.1.1-3A
Congrats on the interesting find, Parthicus. There seem to be a remarkable number of unpublished variants of Elymaeans, with the variant status often earned by some quirkiness of the dots and crescents - their number, location, or - in the case of crescents - their direction. I've got a number of Elymaean variants, but this one below - which I published in KOINON, Volume I (since it was not in van't Haaff) - is my favorite. It might, however, be more properly called a newly discovered type rather than a variant. Phraates BI tetradrachm, early to mid 2nd century AD Van't Haaff 14.8.1-1 variant (unique; two dots below crossbars; long beard) Here are two Prince B's. I believe the first may be a variant of VH 20.1.1-1A, since it doesn't appear that the die included an obverse anchor - although, perhaps, it might simply be off-flan. AE drachm, 3rd century AD Van't Haaff 20.1.1-1A (possibly a variant with no anchor) AE drachm, 3rd century AD Van’t Haaff 20.1.1-1B
