Tetradrachm - Mithridates I

Mithridates I transformed the Parthian state from a regional satrapy into a sprawling empire during his reign, seizing Media around 148 BC and then Seleucia-on-the-Tigris — the wealthiest city in the east — by approximately 141 BC. This tetradrachm belongs to that moment of maximum expansion, when Parthia was absorbing the mint infrastructure of the old Seleucid east and adapting it for its own dynastic legitimacy. Sellwood 13.2 is among the earlier issues of this type, predating the stylistic shifts that appear as Mithridates consolidated control over Mesopotamian minting.