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Tetradrachm - Orodes II
| Issuer | Parthian Empire |
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| Year | 57 BC - 38 BC |
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| Shape | Round (irregular) |
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| Obverse description | Diademed and draped bust of Orodes II facing left, rendered in high relief in the Hellenistic tradition. The king wears a royal diadem with long flowing ties behind the neck, and an elaborate tiara or mural crown adorned with a row of pellets along the headband. His hair falls in thick, wavy locks to the shoulder, and he sports a neatly trimmed beard. The royal costume features a torque at the neck and a heavily ornamented garment with rows of pellets at the shoulder, conveying regal authority. The broad, plain field surrounding the effigy is characteristic of Parthian royal coinage of this period. |
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| Reverse description | The enthroned king Orodes II is depicted seated to the right on a throne or stool, his right hand extended in a gesture of reception or investiture. Before him, the goddess Tyche kneels to the left, reaching upward toward the king while holding a long sceptre in her other hand, in a scene symbolising the divine conferral of royal legitimacy. A dynastic monogram appears in the upper field above the figure of Tyche. The scene is framed by the Greek royal legend arranged around the periphery of the reverse field. The composition follows the well-established Arsacid iconographic programme for royal tetradrachms of the mid-first century BC. |
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| Additional information |
Orodes II seized the Parthian throne by having his brother Mithridates III hunted down and executed — a dynastic purge that opened one of the empire's most consequential reigns. His defeat of Crassus at Carrhae in 53 BC, where seven Roman legions were destroyed and the standards captured, made him the first eastern ruler to inflict a catastrophe of that scale on the Republic. The billon composition of this series reflects a gradual debasement across his reign, the silver content declining noticeably in later issues as military expenditure mounted against both Rome and internal claimants.