Tetradrachm - Phraates IV

Phraates IV reclaimed the Parthian throne around 37 BC by murdering his own father Orodes II and then systematically eliminating his brothers — somewhere between thirty and eighty of them, depending on the source. His grip on power remained precarious enough that he briefly fled to the Scythians after a revolt, only to return and consolidate rule through equally brutal means. The years corresponding to this issue coincide almost exactly with Augustus's diplomatic negotiations over the return of the Roman standards lost at Carrhae in 53 BC, finally surrendered by Phraates in 20 BC.

Sellwood 55.10 is a late Ecbatana mint type, struck on the characteristically broad, thin flans of the period.