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Drachm - Phraates IV
| Issuer | Parthian Empire (Parthian Empire (247 BC - 224 AD)) |
|---|---|
| Year | 38 BC - 2 BC |
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| Value | Drachm (1) |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Reverse description | The enthroned archer motif appears on the reverse, depicting a male figure — traditionally identified as Arsaces I, the dynastic founder — seated in three-quarter view to the right upon a throne, with a bow held in the extended hand. An eagle is positioned behind the figure's head. A monogram appears in the field below the bow. The surrounding seven-line Greek legend is severely stylised and entirely blundered, rendered in a degenerate script that is no longer legible as coherent text, reflecting the late decline of genuine Greek epigraphy on Parthian provincial issues. |
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| Reverse lettering | ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩN ΑΡΣΑΚΟY EYEPΓETOY ΔΙΚΑΙΟY ΕΠIΦΑNOYΣ ΦΙΛΕΛΛΗΝΟΣ (Translation: King of Kings, Arsaces, the Benefactor, the Just, the Illustrious, the Philhellene.) |
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| Additional information |
Phraates IV secured the Parthian throne around 37 BC by murdering his father Orodes II and subsequently eliminating his brothers — some thirty of them by ancient account. His long reign nonetheless produced a diplomatic coup: the 20 BC agreement with Augustus that returned the Roman standards and prisoners captured at Carrhae in 53 BC, a humiliation Rome had nursed for three decades. Augustus treated the repatriation as a military victory and had it commemorated in relief sculpture; Phraates received recognition of his western border.
Sellwood 54.1 belongs to the earlier phase of his coinage, before the diadem types shift in the late reign series.