The Wonderful World of Ancient Coin Collecting
Coinage of the Roman Empire


Obverse
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Coin Details

  

Set Details
Coin Description:
Grade: NGC Ch XF Surface: 4/5 Surface: 4/5
Owner: RAM-VT
 
Set Category: Ancients
Set Name: The Wonderful World of Ancient Coin Collecting
Slot Name: Coinage of the Roman Empire
Research: Currently not available

Owner's Description

Parthian Kingdom Orodes I, c80-77BC (The NGC label states "Also sttr. to Orodes I - I have no idea why NGC's above notation states GotarzaesI) Drachm, Sear #7389 Grade: Ch XF; Strike 5/5; Surface 3/5 Census - NGC does not provide census info on ancient coins :>( Obv: Orodes I cuir. Bust l. with medium-lenght beard, wearing tiara ornamented with star device Rev: Arsaces seated r. on throne, holding bow Arsaces I of Parthia - Arsaces I was the founder of the Arsacid dynasty, and after whom all 30+ monarchs of the Arsacid empire officially named themselves. A celebrated descent from antiquity (the Bagratid line) begins with Arsaces. King Orodes I of Parthia ruled the Parthian Empire from c. 90 to 80 BC in succession to Gotarzes I. Until 88 BC his reign coincided with that of Mithridates II, the rival king against whom Gotarzes had revolted. Coins bearing Orodes' likeness were issued from the Median mints of the cities of Ecbatana and Rhagae. The history of Parthia is quite obscure during this period, but Orodes' reign seems to have ended, as it had begun, in civil war with an unknown claimant. The name of his successor is also unknown, and it is only with the beginning of the reign of Sanatruces, c. 77 BC, that the line of Parthian rulers can again be reliably traced. Orodes is mentioned as king of kings of the Arsacid dynasty in a Babylonian report of the lunar eclipse of 11 April 80 BC. The Parthian Empire (247 BC – 224 AD), also known as the Arsacid Empire (Modern Persian), was a major Iranian political and cultural power in ancient Persia. Its latter name comes from Arsaces I of Parthia who, as leader of the Parni tribe, founded it in the mid-3rd century BC when he conquered the Parthia region in Iran's northeast, then a satrapy (province) in rebellion against the Seleucid Empire. Mithridates I of Parthia (c. 171–138 BC) greatly expanded the empire by seizing Media and Mesopotamia from the Seleucids. At its height, the Parthian Empire stretched from the northern reaches of the Euphrates, in what is now south-eastern Turkey, to eastern Iran. The empire, located on the Silk Road trade route between the Roman Empire in the Mediterranean Basin and Han Empire of China, became a center of trade and commerce. The Parthians largely adopted the art, architecture, religious beliefs, and royal insignia of their culturally heterogeneous empire, which encompassed Persian, Hellenistic, and regional cultures. For about the first half of its existence, the Arsacid court adopted elements of Greek culture, though it eventually saw a gradual revival of Iranian traditions. The Arsacid rulers were titled the "King of Kings", as a claim to be the heirs to the Achaemenid Empire; indeed, they accepted many local kings as vassals where the Achaemenids would have had centrally appointed, albeit largely autonomous, satraps. The court did appoint a small number of satraps, largely outside Iran, but these satrapies were smaller and less powerful than the Achaemenid potentates. With the expansion of Arsacid power, the seat of central government shifted from Nisa, Turkmenistan to Ctesiphon along the Tigris (south of modern Baghdad, Iraq), although several other sites also served as capitals. My cost was $106.00

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