Drachm

Numismatists – the scholars who study coins – refer to the ‘front’ side of the coin, which usually features the head of a person or god, as the ‘obverse,’ and the ‘back’ side as the ‘reverse.’

On the obverse of this silver coin, a bust of the king faces forward. He has a mustache and a cropped beard, and he wears a pointed hat with earflaps with a diadem (the headband worn by victorious athletes in ancient Greece) tied over it. He also wears a torque or necklace around his neck. He is flanked by stars, and a border of dots surrounds the image.

The reverse shows a seated man facing right. He wears sleeves and trousers under a cloak, as well as a hat with earflaps and a diadem. In his hand he holds a bow with the bowstring upwards. He sits on a high-backed throne. In front of him is a monogram, perhaps containing the Greek letters A and T; this may indicate that the coin was minted at Ecbatana (modern Hamadan, in western Iran). A Greek inscription, barely legible, reading "of the king of kings Arsaces the generous, just, renowned and Greek-loving" surrounds the man.

This coin was struck by a Parthian king, either Vardanes (c. A.D. 40-45) or Gortazes II (c. A.D. 40-51). The king on the obverse is probably meant to be the coin’s issuer, wearing a diadem as a symbol of victory. The identity of the figure on the reverse is unknown; perhaps it is an idealized Parthian king, depicted as an archer. The figure of the archer is quite stylized, in contrast to earlier Parthian coins where it is more closely modeled on the image of Apollo that appears on early Seleucid coins.

The inscription on this coin, like those on almost all Parthian coins, names the first ruler of the empire Arsaces I (reigned ca. 247–217 B.C.), rather than the current ruler. It may be a reference to the dynasty founded by Arsaces, or perhaps the seated archer is meant to represent him. It is also possible that all Parthian kings were called ‘Arsaces’ as a title or throne name.

The depiction of the king facing forward is extremely rare on ancient coins until Late Antiquity, and there is no clear rationale for its occurrence here. Most likely the issuer felt the need to differentiate his coins from those of a predecessor or rival. Whatever the reason, the practice was never widely adopted, perhaps because the front-facing image of the king seemed wrong to the coins’ users and undermined confidence in its value.