Here's the first of my two wins from Frank Robinson's most recent auction: Parthian Kingdom. AR drachm. Vologases IV (147-191 AD). Obverse: Bearded bust left, wearing diadem and tiara with earflaps. Reverse: Seated archer surrounded by blundered pseudo-Greek legend, except top line (mostly off flan on this example) is Aramaic WLGShY MLK' (Vologases King). Sellwood 84.131. This example: Frank S. Robinson Auction 106, lot 111. Vologases IV was the son of Mithradates IV (renumbered by recent scholarship as Mithradates V) and appears to have taken the Parthian throne peacefully in late 147 AD. In 161, he invaded Armenia, deposing the Roman-supported king and installing his own nominee. The Roman prefect of Cappadocia attacked, but was soundly defeated, and the Parthians proceeded into Roman Syria. Lucius Verus (co-emperor with Marcus Aurelius) was sent to Antioch to deal with the situation, but chose to stay in the city living in luxury and leave all the actual fighting to his (fortunately very competent) generals. In 163 the Romans retook Artaxata, the capital of Armenia, and next year started a major campaign in Parthian Mesopotamia. The key cities of Seleukia on the Tigris, Ktesiphon, and Babylon were all captured, and Seleukia and the winter palace at Ktesiphon were destroyed in 165. However, a plague soon struck the Roman troops, who would inadvertently bring back an epidemic that would devastate the Roman Empire. (The plague was attributed to divine wrath at the impiety of the troops, who had looted a statue of Apollo at Seleukia and brought it back to Rome to install at the temple of Palatine Apollo.) The Romans eventually reached as far as Media, but soon pulled back, leaving the large cities of central Mesopotamia for the Parthians to re-occupy. The Parthians re-captured Armenia but were again driven out, with Roman troops now taking Edessa and Nisibis in northern Mesopotamia, and managing to hold this territory. The war petered out by 167, with Rome holding Armenia and some of northern Mesopotamia, while Parthia managed to retain its key wealthy cities of central/ southern Mesopotamia. Essentially nothing else is known of Vologases IV's reign. He died in 191 AD, and was succeeded by Vologases V and Osroes II (the latter apparently a rebel, who is known only from his coinage). Coins of Vologases IV are common- unsurprisingly, given his long reign. Sellwood lists 126 varieties of his tetradrachms, mostly differing in the month-year dates. (If you are determined to make a date collection of Parthian tetradrachms, Vologases IV is your best bet of emperor to try.) The drachms follow the practice initiated by Vologases' father Mithradates of listing the king's personal name (in Aramaic lettering) on the reverse, replacing part of the by-now completely blundered and unreadable Greek legend. The artistic style is extremely stylized, and I admit that, many years ago when I first started collecting Parthian coins, I actually laughed when I first saw a drachm of Vologases IV and compared its portrait to the far more realistic earlier Parthian coins of Mithradates II (c.123-88 BC). While my sense of what constitutes beauty in coin design has expanded since then, I admit that late Parthian coins may not be for you if you demand high realism in coin art. Share your coins of Vologases IV, or Lucius Verus, or whatever else is related.
Nice example, @Parthicus ! Here's a Lucius Verus: Lucius Verus, AD 161-169. Roman AR Denarius, 17 mm, 3.36g, 6h. Rome, AD 168. Obv: L VERVS AVG ARM PARTH MAX, laureate head right. Rev: FORT RED TR P VIII IMP V COS III, Fortuna seated left, holding rudder and cornucopiae. Refs: RIC 586; BMC 477; Cohen 111; RCV 5350; MIR 170.
