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Research Coins: Electronic Auction

 
157, Lot: 52. Estimate $100.
Sold for $98. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

KINGS of PARTHIA. Mithradates III. 87-80/79 BC. AR Drachm (23mm, 4.17 g). Rhagae mint. Diademed bust left, wearing tiara / Arsakes I seated right on throne, holding bow. Sellwood 31.6 (Orodes I); Shore 124 (Orodes I). VF, oversized flan displaying the full bust treatment.

A re-intrepretation of cuneiform inscriptions from Babylon allows us to adjust the sequence of Parthian kings. Mithradates III was the son of Mithradates II, enthroned about 87 BC. He was succeeded by Orodes I, whose antecedents are less clear, but may have been the son of Gotarzes I, who had usurped the throne for a few years following the death of Mithradates II in 91 BC. The two rivals, Mithradates III and Orodes I, fought for power until the former’s defeat around 79 BC.