Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
Drachm - Phraates Artemis
| Issuer | Elymais (Parthian Empire (247 BC - 224 AD)) |
|---|---|
| Year | 100-150 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Round (irregular) |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Bearded male bust facing left, depicted in the Parthian artistic tradition, wearing an ornate diadem or tiara adorned with pellets and crescent motifs at the top. The hair falls in a series of wavy locks beneath the headdress, and long drapery is visible at the shoulder. The broad, somewhat stylized facial features are characteristic of late Elymaic coinage, with a prominent nose and well-defined beard. The field is plain, and the flan is irregular in shape as typical of hammered issues of this period. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Plain |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
Elymais was a semi-autonomous kingdom in what is now southwestern Iran, nominally subordinate to the Parthian Arsacids but functionally independent for much of its existence. By the 2nd century AD, the local dynasts — including the Phraates series of rulers — were striking their own bronze coinage with increasing stylistic degradation, a reflection of political fragmentation rather than artistic indifference. The die-cutting grew progressively cruder across successive reigns, making precise attribution within the Phraates sequence genuinely difficult without comparative die study.
Van't Haaff's catalog remains the primary reference for Elymaean attribution, and the 14.6 series specifically covers issues where Artemis iconography intersects with this ruler's name — a pairing that reflects the region's syncretic religious environment under late Parthian influence.