Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
Tetradrachm - Orodes II King on omphalos
| Issuer | Parthian Empire (Parthian Empire (247 BC - 224 AD)) |
|---|---|
| Year | 57 BC - 38 BC |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | 15.31 g |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Diademed and lightly bearded bust of Orodes II facing left, a characteristic wart visible on the brow, the neck adorned with a pellet-ended spiral torque. The portrait is rendered in the Hellenistic tradition with fine detail to the facial features and hair. The field is bounded by a dotted border. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse script | Greek |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
Orodes II secured the Parthian throne through fratricide — he and his brother Mithridates III fought a civil war that ended with Mithridates besieged and executed around 54 BC. Within a year, his general Surena annihilated Crassus and seven Roman legions at Carrhae in 53 BC, the worst Roman defeat in a generation. The omphalos type belongs squarely to this period of Parthian ascendancy, struck as Rome was reeling and Parthia controlled everything east of the Euphrates.
Billon rather than pure silver signals gradual debasement across Orodes' long reign — a trend that accelerated under his successors.