Historical Context

King Artabanus II rose to power during an era of acute political and dynastic instability within the Arsacid Empire. In the opening decade of the first century AD, the Parthian grandees had installed Vonones I, the eldest son of Phraates IV who had lived as an imperial guest-hostage in Rome. However, the nobility quickly grew disaffected with Vonones due to his Romanized manners, foreign retinue, and apparent indifference to traditional Parthian pastimes such as horsemanship and hunting.

Seeking a ruler untainted by western customs, the aristocratic faction summoned Artabanus, who was an Arsacid on his maternal side and was then ruling Media Atropatene. Although Vonones initially repelled Artabanus's advance—commemorating the victory on rare drachms bearing the legend Basileus Onones Neikesas Artabanon—Artabanus consolidated his forces in the Iranian highlands, defeated Vonones, and forced him into Armenia. By approximately AD 12, Artabanus had secured both Seleucia ad Tigrim and Ctesiphon, assuming sovereign control of the empire.

Artabanus's reign was characterized by repeated geopolitical confrontations with the Roman Empire, centered primarily on conflicting spheres of influence in Armenia. Under Roman Emperor Tiberius, rival Arsacid candidates were promoted to destabilize Artabanus's court, prompting the king's temporary retreat to Hyrcania. Artabanus subsequently gathered Dahae and Saka nomadic auxiliary troops, recaptured Mesopotamia around AD 36, and negotiated an enduring peace with the Roman legate Lucius Vitellius along the Euphrates. The king's administrative oversight is documented by a Greek epigraphic rescript discovered at Susa (Louvre inv. Sb 2883), dated to Seleucid Era 333 (AD 21/22), which ratified a disputed municipal magistracy.

Obverse Iconographic Composition

The obverse composition presents a profile portrait of Artabanus II facing left, adhering to the standard imperial Arsacid convention of bare-headed kingship without a tiara:

  • Facial Features and Beard: The king is rendered with an elongated profile, an aquiline nose, and a prominent, medium-to-long rectangular beard neatly combed in straight vertical ridges. A finely engraved linear mustache frames the lips.
  • Hairstyle: The royal coiffure consists of rigid horizontal rows or stylized waves swept backward away from the forehead and terminating cleanly at the nape of the neck, leaving the ear fully visible.
  • Regalia and Jewelry: Artabanus wears a Hellenistic-style royal diadem tied around the head with a loop at the crown and three ribbons falling down behind the neck. He is adorned with a spiral torque around the neck and a small globular earring suspended from the earlobe.
  • Border: The portrait is encircled by a circular beaded or dotted border, occasionally truncated by narrow flans.

Obverse Epigraphy and Inscriptions

The obverse field of the silver drachm of Artabanus II is entirely anepigraphic, carrying no letters, dates, or monograms. This absence of text follows the conventional practice of middle and late Arsacid drachm production, wherein all royal epithets, titularies, and administrative mint monograms were confined to the reverse field.

Reverse Iconographic Composition

The reverse features the foundational dynastic motif of Arsacid numismatics, established under the earliest monarchs:

  • Central Figure: Arsaces I, the deified progenitor of the dynasty, is depicted beardless, seated facing right on a backless throne or raised stool (diphros). He is dressed in traditional nomadic Scythian attire, consisting of a bashlyk with hanging ear-flaps, a fitted tunic cinched at the waist, and trousers gathered at the ankles.
  • Attributes: The founder extends a recurve bow forward in his right hand, symbolizing martial authority and dynastic legitimacy.
  • Mint Control Mark: Beneath the extended bow in the right field appears the official ligature monogram for the imperial mint of Ecbatana (classified as Sellwood Monogram 26, combining the Greek characters alpha and tau).

Reverse Epigraphy and Inscriptions

The reverse inscription surrounds the central seated archer on four sides in a rigid, quadrangular frame consisting of seven distinct lines:

  • Language and Script: Ancient Greek (Koine), executed in the stylized, rectilinear script characteristic of first-century AD Arsacid die engraving.
  • Epigraphic Arrangement:
    • Top (two horizontal lines): ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ / ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΝ
    • Right field (two vertical lines, reading downward): ΑΡΣΑΚΟΥ / ΕΥΕΡΓΕΤΟΥ
    • Bottom (one horizontal line, reading rightward): ΔΙΚΑΙΟΥ
    • Left field (two vertical lines, reading upward): ΕΠΙΦΑΝΟΥΣ / ΦΙΛΕΛΛΗΝΟΣ
  • Transliteration: Basileōs Basileōn Arsakou Euergetou Dikaiou Epiphanous Philhellēnos
  • English Translation: "[Coin] of the King of Kings, Arsaces, the Benefactor, the Just, the Manifest [God], the Friend of the Greeks."
  • Epigraphic Execution on Circulating Dies: Due to the declining familiarity with classical Greek among die cutters at highland Iranian workshops, letters are heavily schematized into rectilinear geometry. Omicrons and thetas are typically engraved as rigid square blocks, alphas often resemble open lambdas or deltas, and sigmas are simplified into four-sided rectilinear brackets.

Typology and Documented Variants

The silver drachm series of Artabanus II is organized across several mint-specific and regional typologies:

  • Sellwood Type 63.6 / Shore 341–343 (Ecbatana Mint): The standard and most abundant currency issue of the reign. Diagnostics include a bare-headed bust facing left with a square-cut beard, diadem with three ties, the Ecbatana ligature monogram beneath the bow on the reverse, and the standard seven-line Greek box legend.
  • Sellwood Type 63.7 (Rhagae Mint): Displays a comparable obverse portrait paired with the distinctive monogram of Rhagae positioned in the right reverse field.
  • Sellwood Types 63.8–63.13 (Eastern Regional Mints): Issues bearing monograms associated with eastern administrative centers such as Mithradatkart (Nisa) and Margiana, occasionally integrating celestial symbols such as a star within a crescent on the obverse.
  • Critical Typological Reassessment of Shore 344 and 345: In earlier catalogues, specimens displaying apparent additional characters (frequently transcribed as ΟΠΞΛΥ) below the throne were classified as distinct subtypes. Numismatic re-examination has established that these readings represent die bounce, die clash, or double strikes of elements from the outer legend lines rather than intentional typological variations.

Scholarly Debates and Attribution Limitations

Disagreements in Dynastic Numbering

Numismatic literature exhibits divergent numbering schemes for this monarch due to conflicting reconstructions of early Arsacid succession:

  • David Sellwood (1980) and Fred B. Shore (1993) assign this coinage to Artabanus II, treating the second Arsacid monarch as Arsaces II.
  • Warwick Wroth in the British Museum Catalogue (1903) categorized the monarch as Artabanus III, following an interpretation of Justin (41.5.7) that identified Arsaces II as Artabanus I.
  • Gholamreza F. Assar (2005/2006) proposed designating him Artabanus IV, having reconstructed additional early rulers bearing the royal name. Standard auction platforms and collector reference tools predominantly adhere to Sellwood Type 63 under the header of Artabanus II.

Metrology and Comparative Reference Data

Comparative specimens from public auction and institutional listings establish normal physical parameters for the series:

  • Weight range: approximately 3.50 g to 3.86 g (e.g., CNG EA 611, lot 501: 3.86 g; Pars Coins E-Sale 50, lot 152: 3.66 g; lot 153: 3.82 g).
  • Flans: typically measure between 19 mm and 21 mm in diameter, often exhibiting compact edges that truncate the outer border and peripheral legend lines.

Limits of Unexamined Gallery Specimens

Because attribution within Sellwood Type 63 hinges entirely upon specific reverse monograms, die markers, and obverse portrait execution, no unexamined specimen can be definitively linked to a specific mint variety or weight standard without direct physical inspection of the flan and die details.

References

  1. Parthia.com: Artabanus II (c. A.D. 10 - 38). Drachm catalogue, Sellwood 63 series, Shore 344/345 double-strike notes
  2. British Museum Online Collection: Object 1887,0502.1. Silver tetradrachm of Artabanus II, Seleucia ad Tigrim (comparison verification)
  3. Classical Numismatic Group Electronic Auction 611, Lot 501. Artabanus II AR Drachm, 3.86 g, 21 mm, Ekbatana mint, Sellwood 63.6
  4. Pars Coins via VAuctions: E-Sale 50, Lots 152–153. Artabanus II AR Drachms, 3.66 g and 3.82 g, Ekbatana mint
  5. Numista: Drachm - Artabanus II / Artabanus III (Ecbatana). Catalogue record 95196
  6. Tacitus, Annales. Books II.1–4 and VI (conflict with Vonones I, Roman negotiations)
  7. Cumont, F., 'Une lettre du roi artaban III à la ville de Suse', CRAI 76(3). pp. 248–260 (Susa inscription, Louvre Sb 2883)
  8. Shore, F. B. (1993), Parthian Coins and History: Ten Dragons Against Rome. Further reading: Types 341–345
  9. Sellwood, D. (1980), An Introduction to the Coinage of Parthia (2nd ed.). Further reading: Type 63