Tetradrachm - Orodes II

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.