Drachm - Vologases V Ecbatana

Vologases V spent much of his reign managing Roman pressure on his western frontier, including the catastrophic sack of Ctesiphon by Septimius Severus in 197 AD — an event that significantly disrupted Parthian administrative capacity without actually ending the dynasty. Ecbatana, the old Median capital in the eastern highlands, served as an alternate mint precisely because it lay well beyond the reach of Roman punitive campaigns.

Sellwood 86 pieces from this reign show considerable die axis variation and surface porosity characteristic of the Ecbatana fabric, distinguishing them sharply from contemporary Seleucia-on-Tigris production.