Drachm - Phraates IV

Phraates IV secured the Parthian throne by murdering his father Orodes II and then systematically eliminating his brothers — some thirty of them. Roman relations dominated his long reign: he returned the legionary standards captured at Carrhae in 53 BC to Augustus in 20 BC, a diplomatic gesture Rome celebrated as a military victory and Phraates likely viewed as a cheap concession. He was eventually poisoned by his Italian slave-wife Musa, whom he had accepted as a gift from Augustus.

Sellwood 54 spans a wide chronological range within the reign, with die studies suggesting continued production at Mithradatkart.