Drachm - Orodes II Rhagai

Orodes II ruled at the peak of Parthian power, and 40 BC falls squarely within his reign's violent final chapter — the year Mark Antony's lieutenant Decidius Saxa was defeated by Parthian forces under crown prince Pacorus, who briefly occupied Syria. Roman humiliation at Carrhae in 53 BC still resonated, and Parthia's westward pressure was very much ongoing. The Rhagai mint, located in Media near modern Tehran, was one of the empire's most productive silver facilities and supplies the bulk of surviving Orodes II drachms.

Sellwood 48.10 is a late issue within the Orodes sequence, distinguished by specific die characteristics in the diadem arrangement and echelon star placement in the field.