Coins of the Parthians

Some of the most interesting ancient coins were neither 'Greek' or 'Roman'. In fact, the coin producing civilizations of the ancient world spread far across Asia including people and places rarely mentioned in beginning World History classes. One of the most well known of these were the rulers of much of what is today Iran, Iraq and surrounding regions: the Parthians.

The Parthians were a nomadic warrior people of Central Asia who moved into the region following the weakening of Seleukid power in the third century BC. Parthian kings sat at the top of an extensive feudal system that allowed considerable freedom to sub-kings and satraps as well as to 'foreign' people who lived in their domains. For the nearly 500 years they ruled, the Parthians were considered outsiders by the people that made up their empire. The ruling class avoided city life remaining in military encampments based on the two main 'tools' of their power: the horse and the bow. Alternately employing heavy and light cavalry (rather like a force with both Medieval knights in armor and American Indians of the Plains) the Parthians were an effective military force.

Not being a people to write down their own history, most of what is known about the Parthians comes from writings of their enemies, the Romans. This gives us an incomplete and biased view of what was a very complex civilization. In particular, we are weak in our understanding of things that happened in the Eastern part of their lands and during times when they were at peace with Rome. Included in out list of rulers are a few known only as 'Unknown King' and several about whom we know little more than their name. This is made worse by the practice of most kings to inscribe coins with only the name of the founder of their dynasty omitting a personal name. 'Arsakes' became rather like 'Augustus' on Roman coins. Early legends were in Greek but as time passed these letters become increasingly illegible. Some later issues bear personal names in Aramaic letters.

The Parthians were organized in great extended families with the king always selected from one: the Arsakids. Civil wars frequently included killing father and brothers. For much of their history, rival claimants to the title 'King of Kings' controlled various parts of the empire which had poorly defined borders by modern standards. Their economy and success was based on taxes paid by traders using the 'Silk Road' that connected Rome and the West with China and the East. Parthian finances depended greatly on Rome's failure to make direct contact with China until the late second century AD. Parthians were known for being men of their word and their coins continued to be issued with fair weight of good silver long after Roman silver coins were being debased.

Fortunately for collectors, there are two GREAT books on Parthian numismatics. Both are out of print but easily available. Required (!) reading is Fred Shore's Parthian Coins and History, Ten Dragons Against Rome, Classical Numismatic Group, Quarryville, PA 1993. Anyone planning to own more than a few Parthian coins needs this book. The other book is David Sellwood's An Introduction to the Coinage of Parthia, Spink, London, 1980. A much more complete listing of types than in Shore, this book offers little other text. The entire book is written in a fine calligraphy which adds to its interest even if it were not for the information contained. Sellwood is particularly valuable to persons interested in bronze coins (a subject more weakly covered in Shore).

Having devoted more than my usual space to text, the rest of this page will display a table with a few examples of Parthian Silver coins. A separate page shows Parthian bronze coins.

Parthian Silver Drachms
Mithradates I 171-138 BC 19mm 3.4g Hekatompylos		Early Parthian drachms show the king wearing a nomads' cap (bashlik). As usual, the coin shows no personal name of the king but only 'Arsakes'.
Mithradates II 123-88 BC 20mm 3.8g		First Parthian to use the title King of Kings, Mithradates expanded the empire by means of the compound bow shown clearly on the reverse.
Orodes I 90-77 BC 20mm 3.9g		This coin, issued while his father Mithradates II lived, bears the title 'who loves his father'. Parthian coins often show an ornate tiara distinctive to each king.
Orodes I 90-77 BC 21mm 3.3g		After the death of Mithradates II, Orodes began to use a line 'whose father is a god' and stopped wearing the tiara. The great difference between these two portraits previously led this style to be attributed to 'Unknown King'.
Phraates III 70-57 BC 18mm 2.9g Ekbatana mint		Following the death of his father Sinatrukes, Phraates issued a very different series of coins with facing bust portraits . The headband ties are shown as wide ribbons flairing above the shoulders. Few Parthian kings varied from the standard left facing portrait.
Mithradates III 57-54 BC 19mm 4.0g Margiane? mint		After murdering their father Phraates III, Mithradates and his brother Orodes fought II for control of the empire. Drachms were minted from several mints identified by monograms under the bow on the reverse.
Orodes II 57-38 BC 19mm 3.6g Susa mint		As the winner, coins of Orodes were issued for a longer time and are more common. Legends copied by non-Greeks are often blundered. Portrait is shown between the sun (off flan) and moon.
Phraates IV 38-2 BC 19mm 3.8g Mithradatkart		Prominant 'Royal Wart' used to prove Phraates was an Arsakid. Style is becoming more Eastern, less Greek. Phraates murdered his father and was, in turn, killed by his son.
Phraatakes 2 BC-4 AD 17mm 4.0g Mithradatkart		This time the 'Brother of the Sun and Moon' is crowned by Victory. Any resemblance to Greek legends is gone. Phraatakes was overthrown by nobles disgusted by his marrying (and giving power to) his own mother.
Artabanus II 10-38 AD 20mm 3.7g		Parthian drachms are usually off center to the bottom and rarely found showing all of the design on the die. The mint monogram of Ekbatana shown here was copied by other mints during the later periods. After this time it is no longer a reliable indicator of mint location.
Pacorus II 78-105 AD 19mm 2.9g		Becoming king while quite young, Pacorus first issued beardless portraits which are much more rare than the later bearded portraits.
Volagases III 105-147 AD 18x21mm 3.7g		The top two lines on the reverse appear very similar to each other and spell out 'King of Kings'. The personal name, Volagases, is not used. The portrait shows a very pointed beard and three diadem ties. This coin was illustrated as Shore 413.
Mithradates IV 140 AD 18mm 3.6g		The top line on the reverse spells out King Mithradates in Aramaic allowing coins of this usurper to be separated from similar appearing issues of his rival Volagases III. Note his portrait shows only two diadem ties.
Volagases IV 147-191 AD 19mm 3.7g		The royal 'wart' now appears on the cheek of some coins from this reign. The name King Volagases is spelled out on the top line of the reverse.
Osroes II c.190 AD 19mm 3.7g		Again the king's name is spelled out on the reverse with the rest of the legend reduced to nonsense. The seated archer is now quite stylized.
Volagases VI 208-228 AD 20mm 3.2g		The last Parthian king to die, Volagases spent his last years in captivity. His Brother Artabanos IV was defeated and killed in 224 AD and the Parthian kingdom was ended.

After almost 500 years of rule by the foreign Parthians, the region fell to a native force led by Ardashir, founder of the Sassanian Empire. Surviving Parthians fled to the edges of the empire and were never again major players in mainstream history. Considering their constant internal warfare and lack of support from many of the people they ruled, it seems amazing that the Arsakid rule lasted as long as it did.

Parthian silver also included fractional coins (diobols) which I regret are wholly absent from my file of photographs. Also completely ignored on this page were the silver tetradrachms issued for use in the West where there was commerce with Greeks accustomed to this denomination. Unlike the drachms, these larger coins were steadily debased until the last ones were rather poor silver. One of these was my Featured Coin long, long ago. Obviously this page could not provide complete coverage of this large subject. I only hope it will cause some of you to dig deeper into this interesting subject.

Among the legacies of the Parthians is an English term 'Parthian Shot'. The Parthians were known for their abilities to shoot arrows to the rear as they were running away. A Parthian shot is something said while leaving without waiting for a reply. Here is my Parthian shot: If you didn't follow my link to the bronze coins, you missed the best part.

Back to Main page