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Tetradrachm - Mithridates I
| Issuer | Parthian Empire |
|---|---|
| Year | 140 BC |
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| Shape | Round (irregular) |
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| Obverse description | Diademed and bearded bust of Mithridates I facing right, rendered in the Hellenistic tradition. The king wears a distinctive soft tiara or diadem with flowing ribbons, his thick, wavy hair swept back from a broad, deeply modeled face. A full, carefully articulated beard covers the lower face, lending a regal and imposing character to the portrait. The bust is shown in high relief against a plain field, with no surrounding legend, reflecting the early Parthian numismatic style that blended Iranian royal iconography with Greek artistic conventions. |
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
Mithridates I transformed the Parthian state from a regional buffer kingdom into a genuine imperial power during the 160s–140s BC, seizing Media and then Seleucia-on-the-Tigris from a weakened Seleucid empire distracted by dynastic civil war. This tetradrachm belongs to his Seleucia mint issues, struck after he captured that city around 141 BC — the symbolic and commercial heart of Mesopotamian coinage production. Sellwood 13.3 places it within a tightly defined early group distinguished by specific diadem and ear treatments that specialists use to sequence the Seleucia occupation chronologically.