Catalog
Drachm - Orodes II Rhagai
| Issuer | Parthian Empire |
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| Year | 40 BC |
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| Orientation | Medal alignment ↑↑ |
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| Obverse description | Bust of Orodes II facing left, depicted with a voluminous, elaborately rendered globular beard and hair in the distinctive Parthian style. The king wears a tiara adorned with a diadem, with a crescent and eagle visible to the upper right of the field. A six-petalled star or rosette appears in the left field. The portrait is rendered in a bold, somewhat stylized manner characteristic of late Parthian royal coinage, with the royal sceptre or bow visible behind the bust. A dotted border encircles the design. |
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| Mint | Rhagai |
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| Additional information |
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.