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Tetradrachm - Vologases VI
| Issuer | Parthian Empire |
|---|---|
| Year | 208 |
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| Currency | Drachm (247 BC-224 AD) |
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| Obverse description | Diademed and draped bust of Vologases VI facing left, wearing a distinctive tiara or mural crown with stepped battlements above the brow. The king is depicted with a prominent, stylised eye, a long curled beard rendered in rows of beaded locks, and multiple strands of a torque or necklace visible at the neck. A retrograde Greek monogram, likely a mint control mark, appears in the right field. The portrait is enclosed within a beaded border and executed in the characteristically schematic late Parthian style. |
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| Mintage | 520 (208 AD) ΚΦ |
| Additional information |
Vologases VI came to power amid a dynastic rupture — his brother Artabanus IV controlled much of the empire simultaneously, and the two maintained rival courts and issued competing coinages for years. This tetradrachm belongs to a reign defined less by governance than by fratricidal attrition, the Parthian dynasty consuming itself just decades before Ardashir I finished the job entirely in 224 AD.
Sellwood 88.2 is among the final tetradrachm types attributable to a Parthian king. The billon content of late Parthian issues had degraded substantially from earlier silver-rich strikes, reflecting treasury pressures the dynasty never resolved.