Æ Tetradrachm - Phraates

Elymais was a semi-independent kingdom wedged between Parthia and Susiana, and its later copper tetradrachms — issued well into the second century AD — reflect a polity running on inertia rather than authority. By this period the kingdom had been effectively subordinate to Parthian overlordship for generations, and its coinage had degenerated accordingly, with die-cutting increasingly schematic across successive rulers named Phraates. The specific reference type 14.7.2-3b falls within a bracket where attribution between individual Phraates rulers remains genuinely contested among specialists.