Drachm - Mithridates II Arsacia

Mithridates II earned the epithet "the Great" for a reason — during his reign the Parthian Empire expanded to absorb Mesopotamia, pushed back the Armenians under Tigranes, and received the first recorded diplomatic contact from Han Dynasty China, when Zhang Qian's mission reached the Parthian court around 115 BC. His coinage reflects this transformation: issues evolve across the reign from a relatively modest regional type to something self-consciously imperial in character.

Sellwood 24.16 falls within the later grouping of his drachm sequence, distinguished by specific diadem and beard treatment that numismatists use to track the progression through his long reign.