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Drachm - Phraates Bust facing; eagle right
| Issuer | Elymais (Parthian Empire (247 BC - 224 AD)) |
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| Year | 100-150 |
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| Shape | Round (irregular) |
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| Obverse description | Frontal bust of Phraates with a long, straight beard, wearing a diademed tiara. A pellet within a crescent appears above the bust, with an anchor symbol to the right in the field. The portrait is rendered in a schematic, late Parthian style characteristic of Elymaean bronze coinage. The overall composition is set within an irregular flan typical of hammered provincial issues. |
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| Reverse description | An eagle stands facing right, holding a wreath in its beak, depicted in a stylized manner consistent with Elymaean bronze coinage of the period. The bird's wings are partially spread, with the body rendered in low relief against a plain field. A beaded border encircles the design, forming a dotted circle around the central motif. The reverse design follows the established iconographic tradition of the Elymaean dynastic series. |
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Elymais was a semi-autonomous kingdom tucked into the mountainous region northeast of Susa, nominally subordinate to Parthia but stubbornly independent in practice — its rulers struck their own coinage long after neighboring dynasts had been absorbed. By the time issues of this type were being produced, the facing bust had become a regional convention so entrenched that it persisted well into the Sasanian period. The eagle reverse links the dynasty to earlier Seleucid iconographic habits, a deliberate archaism by the second century AD.