Posted 08/10/2015 10:00 am
Tenbobbit. Congrats on the pickups.
These are both AE drachms of Elymais. Elymais was a semiautonomous vassal kingdom under the Parthians, which is to say it was occasionally independent. It lasted from the mid-2nd century BC to the early 3rd century AD, when it was defeated (as were the Parthians) by the Sassanid invasion led by Ardashir I in 227 AD.
Elymais was located at the north end of the Persian Gulf, northwest of Persis and east of Babylonia in the southwestern part of what is now Iran.
Your coins are from the last of the three periods of Elymaean history, the Elymais Arsacid Dynasty. This dynasty may have been descended not from the Kamnaskires kings (the original dynasty that ruled Elymais) but perhaps from members of the Arsacid family of Parthia...thus we recognize some Parthian royal names among these kings. The coins of this period become increasingly Eastern in style (compared to early issues of Elymais), and use mostly Pahlavi for legends, which was a script derived from Aramaic. Most authors simply refer to the text as Aramaic.
Attributions for Elymaean coins is fluid, with research ongoing. This is not like Romans, with definitive dates, attributions, mint locations and such. This is much murkier stuff.
Using the most recent research (P.A. Van't Haaff) for ID's:
First coin:
Orodes V
Late 2nd to early 3rd century AD
Van't Haaff type 18.1
(the Artemis bust reverse is your top pic)
Second coin:
Phraates
Early to mid 2nd century AD
Van't Haaff type 14.4, subtype 1-1C
Congrats. That's a good friend you have!
These are both AE drachms of Elymais. Elymais was a semiautonomous vassal kingdom under the Parthians, which is to say it was occasionally independent. It lasted from the mid-2nd century BC to the early 3rd century AD, when it was defeated (as were the Parthians) by the Sassanid invasion led by Ardashir I in 227 AD.
Elymais was located at the north end of the Persian Gulf, northwest of Persis and east of Babylonia in the southwestern part of what is now Iran.
Your coins are from the last of the three periods of Elymaean history, the Elymais Arsacid Dynasty. This dynasty may have been descended not from the Kamnaskires kings (the original dynasty that ruled Elymais) but perhaps from members of the Arsacid family of Parthia...thus we recognize some Parthian royal names among these kings. The coins of this period become increasingly Eastern in style (compared to early issues of Elymais), and use mostly Pahlavi for legends, which was a script derived from Aramaic. Most authors simply refer to the text as Aramaic.
Attributions for Elymaean coins is fluid, with research ongoing. This is not like Romans, with definitive dates, attributions, mint locations and such. This is much murkier stuff.
Using the most recent research (P.A. Van't Haaff) for ID's:
First coin:
Orodes V
Late 2nd to early 3rd century AD
Van't Haaff type 18.1
(the Artemis bust reverse is your top pic)
Second coin:
Phraates
Early to mid 2nd century AD
Van't Haaff type 14.4, subtype 1-1C
Congrats. That's a good friend you have!
