Two new Parthians from scarce mints

I recently won these two Parthian drachms from a CNG auction:

Coin 1. Parthian Kingdom. AR drachm (20.5 mm, 3.79 g). Orodes II (57-38 BC). Kangavar mint. Obverse: Diademed bust left. Reverse: Seated archer surrounded by blundered 7-line Greek legend, Kangavar mint-mark under bow. Reverse double-struck. Sellwood 43.3, Shore 415. This coin: CNG 422, lot 335 (ex Nisa Collection).


Coin 2. Parthian Kingdom. AR drachm (22 mm, 3.80 g). Phraates IV (38-2 BC). Susa mint. Obverse: Diademed bust left, star before, eagle carrying crown behind. Reverse: Seated archer surrounded by 7-line Greek legend, mintmark below bow, palm branch behind throne. Slightly scyphate flan. Sellwood 53.9-10 (exact variety of mintmark unclear). This coin: CNG 422, lot 338 (ex Nisa Collection).


Orodes II was a son of the Parthian king Phraates III. Around 57 BC, he teamed up with his brother Mithradates III 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, which seems to have been unpopular as they were shortly afterwards overthrown by the Parthian nobles.

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. Kangavar was (and still is) a city in northwestern Iran, not far from Hamadan (Ecbatana). The city is mentioned in a 1st century AD source, and archaeologists have found a possible temple of Anahita, but overall the city seems to have always been rather small and unimportant. Susa, in southwestern Iran, is a very ancient city, with evidence of habitation as early as 7000 BC. It is mentioned in the Bible and plays a key role in the Biblical story of Esther. It was used as the winter capital for the Parthian kings, but despite this its output of coinage was quite modest. The city was finally abandoned in 1218 after being destroyed by the Mongols. Post your coins of Orodes II or Phraates IV, or coins rare Parthian mints, or whatever else you can plausibly claim is related.

 

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Very nice coins and a great writeup.

 

Great coins and write up!

 

Excellent Parthians!!! Thank you for the history lesson as well - I'm always learning here. -d

 

Somehow I have only a few of my Parthians on photo file. I'm focusing less on drachms and more on the bronze (and am still looking for a tetradrachm of Phraataces). There's a lot of variety and surprises in the AE area. But I never paid much attention to mints. Here's a tetrachalkon of Orodes II from Rhagae. 16 mm, 4,00 gr.

 

That's a neat little bronze! I like the reverse.

 

Great write up and very nice coins @Parthicus ... thanks for that History. Amazing how everyone has the same history for the rulers: "Let's just kill EVERYBODY!" seems to be the mantra.

I have Orodes II, but I will toss in an older ruler:


Parthia 177-138 BCE AR Drachm Diademed draped bust Mithradates I left bashlik - archer seated on omphalos Sellwood 10.1

 

Hi @Pellinore, I like your bronze but I must disagree with your claim of Rhagae mint. Check in front of the stag, there is definitely a standard Ecbatana mintmark. I have an example of the same type:

 

Ecbatana, great! It was the identification of the seller. I will make some more Parthy pix.

 

Great pickups, Parthicus! You dont find the Susa mintmarked coins that often. Interestingly, i almost bid on that one (already have a nice Kangavar example) but wound up getting a drachm of Mithradates II and Mithradates V instead (from the same CNG sale your two coins pictured above were listed in). Anyways, here is my Orodes II from Mithradatkart. A nice, lustrious example (albeit a bit of a flat strike on the reverse archers head). Keep the Parthians coming!
Orodes II AR Drachm
Ca. 57-38 B.C
Mithradatkart mint
4.12 gm.
Ex CNG 415 lot 266
Sellwood 45.14

 

@Parthicus Very nice coins and writeup. I have 2 coins of orodes II which both are ex sellwood collection.

KINGS OF PARTHIA ORODES II 57-38 BC. DRACHM (AR) KANGAVAR MINT, SELLWOOD 45.21, SHORE 230, SCARCE MINT, FROM DAVID SELLWOOD COLLECTION



KINGS OF PARTHIA ORODES II 57-38 BC. DRACHM (AR) RHAGAI MINT, SELLWOOD 43.7, SHORE 217, FROM DAVID SELLWOOD COLLECTION

 

Oh yea @DBDc80 keep them coming! Here are more parthians of mine. This coin of mine is listed on parthia.com and it is from famous Gonnella collection. Below taken from

http://www.parthia.com/mithradates2.htm

Mithradates II (123-88 B.C.)
AR Drachm 3.99g (Rhagae
Obv: medium bearded bust left wearing diadem, pellet-ended torque; behind bust, monogram [~~]; circular border of pellets
Rev: beardless archer wearing bashlyk and cloak seated right on omphalos, holding bow in right hand; no border; square four-line Greek inscription without guide lines = ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΜΕΓΑΛΟΥ ΑΡΣΑΚΟΥ ΕΠΙΦΑΝΟΥΣ
Previous collection: Robert Gonnella
Photo by Dr. Busso Peus Nachf.
- Sellwood 24.14 variant (no guide lines)[1 in db]
- Peus 388 (1 Nov 2006), lot 332 (this coin)
- Sammlung Gonnella: Münzen Der Arsakiden (2008), 75 (this coin)
- Shore not listed

 

@Alegandron Nice bashlyq type of Mithridates I here is mine similar to yours but better quality in terms of strike only issue is its surface on obverse is a bit brittle.

 

That is a beautiful Mithradates II, Arashpour! I do believe that ine is scarce, and from a great collection to boot! Here is my 24.10 (sellers pics, ex Pars Coins.

 

Very nice coin @DBDc80 I guessed its from Pars coins I didn't buy from him mainly because his coin very cleaned. I like the uncleaned silver coins more but nevertheless it is very nice coin! Congrats !

 

Yes, it is my understanding that some individuals native to parts of the world once ruled by Parthia who collect Parthian coins prefer them cleaned and untoned. I like both, and have several nice toned Parthians in my collection (as seen in my avatar) it would be a crime (to me anyway) to clean that 30.2 tetradrachm!

 

I love that one, have my eye on one currently.

 

Totally Agree to me cleaning any ancient coins and disturbing its original look is not nice! I prefer the same condition as found

 

also here is some Parthian tetradrachms These tetras I love their bust . The first one is Thirdates I who rebelled against Phraates IV the second is Phraates V son of Phraates IV and Queen Musa , the third one is from vologases I Hope you enjoy

 

@DBDc80 Here is my orodes I (previously Unknown King) drachm