Another coin from Pars Auction 7: Parthian Kingdom. Rhagae mint. AE dichalkoi (3.06 g, 15 mm). Orodes I (80-75 BC). Obverse: Bust left, wearing tiara with fleur-de-lis on side and "pearls-on-stalk" decorations along edges, anchor behind head. Reverse: Horse galloping right, Greek inscription around. Sellwood 34.9. This coin: Pars Coins Auction 7, lot 107 (July 14, 2020). The period from the death of Mithradates II to the accession of Orodes II (c.91- 57 BC) is sometimes called the Parthian Dark Ages. During this period, there seems to have been an extended struggle for the throne, with multiple claimants issuing coinage and few surviving written records to clarify the political situation. Orodes I seems to have been the son of Gotarzes I (c.91-87 BC) and Aryazate, daughter of Tigranes I of Armenia. Orodes had a brother, Mithradates III (87-80 BC), who was accused of excessive cruelty and deposed by Orodes. Orodes marched into Elymais in 77 BC and expelled his vassal Kamnaskires III. Almost nothing else is known about his reign, except that he was married to his sister Ispubarza. His reign seems to have ended in 75 BC for unknown reasons. This coin type, and drachms with the same obverse design, were formerly assigned to the usurper Sinatrukes, but Assar argues for their issuance by Orodes. The anchor was a traditional symbol for Elymais, and so this issue may commemorate his action against Kamnaskires in 77 BC. There are examples of the drachm type on which the anchor and the "pearls" on the tiara are erased from the die; these may have been struck by a competing ruler who captured Orodes' mint facilities. This is a fairly nice example of Parthian bronze, and a scarce type that may be commemorating historical events. All in all, not bad for $55. Please feel free to post any related coins.
The Armenian princess Ariazat or Aryazate (in Armenian ari = brave, and azat = free), the mother of Orodes I, was actually the granddaughter of Tigranes I, and the daughter of the Tigranes II (known as Tigranes the Great). So here is the grandfather of Orodes I: Tetrachalcoi of Tigranes II (The Great), 80 BC - 68 BC, Tigranocerta (Armenia) mint, Kovacs.81. Obv.: head of Tigranes II right, wearing Armenian flapped five-pointed tiara, decorated with 8-pointed star between two eagles. Rev.: BAΣIΛEΩΣ BAΣIΛEΩN TIΓPANOY, Tyche seated right, holding palm, below, river-god Araxes swimming right, letter A above the river god, and TP monogram above the hand of Tyche. Part of the Parthian Dark Ages was its conquest and partial incorporation into the short-lived Armenian empire, that, among other expansions, gave Tigranes the title of King of Kings (BAΣIΛEΩΣ BAΣIΛEΩN featured in the above coin).
Oops, you are correct. Got my Tigranes' mixed up. That's a very nice Armenian coin, too, thanks for sharing.
Parthian AE is an acquired taste. Pars has had some unusual ones in the last few sales but the only one I wanted was completely unloved by everyone else. I wanted a Vologases V because he was the king that opposed Septimius Severus and his silver in over my head. ex Pars, $26.24 all in. It weighs (0.98g) like a chalkous but Sellwood only lists the type (Athena head right) as a dichalkous which should weigh twice that much. IDK, I bought it for the portrait.
As usual with my Parthians, ID's are as provided or believed when purchased and I have not kept up with new theories. Not Pars but related: Gotarzes I dichalkous Sellwood 33.12, 3.6g Orodes I, AE15 Sellwood 31.11, 2.73g
I guess the coin pictured below would fall into the Parthian "Dark Ages", it was an auction win about 4 years ago. I was intrigued by the ostentatious Armenian tiara he was wearing with the horn on the side . I remember reading he was murdered by his two sons .
Armenian tiara has a (normally 5-) pointed top (symbolising the mountains of the highlands), earflaps, sometimes a backflap covering the back side of a neck. On sides they featured either an 8-pointed star (possibly the star of Innana, the goddess of Aratta from pre-Urartian era), or the same star surrounded by two eagles (the symbol of Artaxiad dynasty), or, for a short period, the comet that passed by during the times of Tigranes II and Tigranes the Younger. Parthian coins do not have Armenian tiaras, and the rounded top is characteristic to the Parthian ones.
Alex22, It looks like you are right, thanks for the correction . I got my misinformation from the Heritage auction description . After doing a Google search I did find this interesting link. https://allinnet.info/news/the-armenian-crown-tiara/
Sorry @Parthicus for the caused diversion of the topic. To return it back to the original route, here is my only Parthian coin, acquired as Orodes I. However, it seems the recent presentations of the same type caption it as that of Mithradates III (see, for instance, http://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=6364378). I am not sure how Mithradates III matches the brought time period in the same listings, unless there has been a revision in the Parthian history and the order of the royalty (and associated titles). Will appreciate any insight on this. Drachm of Orodes I, king of Parthia, 87 BC - 79 BC, Ekbatana mint, Sellwood.31.6 (as Orodes I); Shore.123 (as Orodes I). Obv.: Diademed and draped bust of Orodes I to left, wearing tiara decorated with a star. Rev.: BAΣIΛEΩΣ/MEΓAΛOY (top) APΣ-AKOY (right) AYTOKPATOPOΣ/ΦIΛOΠATOPOΣ (bottom) EΠIΦANOYΣ/ΦIΛEΛΛHNOΣ (left), Arsakes I seated right, holding a bow. @dougsmit kindly pointed out that my coin could have been used as a jewellery at some period of its life, which would explain the shape of the flan with a bit pronounced poles (especially visible from the reverse side). This may also explain why its obverse is worn unlike the reverse, which could have been covered, hence preserved, in the jewellery.
Also, where I acquired the above coin, it stated "Ex Slg. E Link, Mainz.". Any ideas what Slg. E Link is? Collectors initials and surname, or some notation in German?
No worries. Anyway, Parthian and Armenian affairs were pretty tightly linked, so it's relevant. Dr. Gholam Reza Farhad (G.R.F.) Assar has published a major series of articles which argue for significant revisions in the king list and chronology. The articles are collected here: http://parthian-empire.com/articleListPage.php and you can find the whole thing explained in Dr. Assar's essay (about 60 pages of small type) in the Sunrise Collection book. (Numismatic Art of Persia: The Sunrise Collection, Part I: Ancient- 650 BC to AD 650, edited by Bradley R. Nelson, ISBN 978-0-9837652-8-8.) Briefly, there's a previously unrecognized king Mithradates, probably a son of Mithradates II, who reigned 87-80 BC (which is a good chunk of what was previously thought to be Orodes I's reign). This new Mithradates thus gets named "Mithradates III", while the brother of Orodes II, who was previously called Mithradates III, gets promoted (or is it demoted?) to "Mithradates IV", and the mysterious guy at c.140 AD is "Mithradates V". If you want to know more, I'd recommend reading the essay in the Sunrise Collection book (which is pretty easy to find) and then check out the articles for more explanations on how he reached particular conclusions.
The coin pictured below is the only other Parthian coin left in my collection, & since Mithradates II is mentioned in this thread I'm posting it .
Thank you so much @Parthicus for the kind explanation, the references and the recommendation. Will certainly go through those! This has triggered an interest in me to gradually collect Parthian coins (1 per ruler) focusing on the time at and around the Parthian "Dark Ages". Never appear next to my wife .
Thanks for showing the face of Mithradates II @Al Kowsky! He has quite a relevance to some of my coins from the neighboring kingdoms, so I did read about him but never saw the face as clear as in your coin. Amazing how the coins can serve as powerful lucid windows through time, enabling a peek at grandeur events and people. Unfortunately, that power is completely stripped away from the cartoonish medieval coins .
