Drachm - Phraates Bust facing; Artemis

Elymais was a semi-autonomous kingdom within the Parthian sphere, centered on the region of ancient Susiana in modern southwestern Iran. The dynasty maintained its own coinage well into the 2nd century AD, growing increasingly debased and stylistically degenerate as Parthian central authority fluctuated. By the Phraates issues of this period, the bronze coinage had drifted so far from its Hellenistic roots that individual rulers are identified primarily through numismatic typology rather than any surviving inscription — the legends on most specimens of this type are fragmentary or garbled beyond reading.