Historical Context

Mithradates II ruled during a transformative era of Arsacid consolidation. In modern numismatic literature, his regnal span is divided between two chronological systems: the traditional framework established by David Sellwood (c. 123–88 BC) and the revised framework supported by Babylonian cuneiform astronomical diaries adopted in modern corpora such as the Sylloge Nummorum Parthicorum (c. 122/1–91 BC). Mithradates II ascended the Arsacid throne following the death of his predecessor Artabanus I (frequently numbered Artabanus II in nineteenth- and early twentieth-century scholarship, including Warwick Wroth's British Museum catalog), who perished in conflict against nomadic groups along the eastern frontiers.

Over a reign spanning roughly three decades, Mithradates II restored Arsacid authority across Babylonia, compelled Hyspaosines of Characene to acknowledge Parthian suzerainty, and secured the northeastern boundaries against Central Asian incursions. In the west, Arsacid armies incorporated northern Mesopotamia, seizing Dura-Europos around 113 BC. To the northwest, Mithradates II exerted political influence over Greater Armenia, receiving the future Tigranes II as a royal hostage. His reign also witnessed the first recorded diplomatic encounter between the Parthian Empire and the Roman Republic, conducted between Arsacid emissaries and Lucius Cornelius Sulla along the Euphrates around 96 BC.

Within this expanding administrative landscape, the imperial monetary system underwent systematic reorganization. The silver drachm was established as the primary circulating denomination across the empire. The series evolved from Seleucid-influenced iconographic conventions toward an explicitly Iranian imperial visual idiom, culminating in the introduction of the monumental title Basileus Basileon ("King of Kings") and the formal adoption of the pearl-adorned Parthian domed tiara. Toward the final years of his reign, Babylonian records reflect administrative fracturing, characterized by the emergence of Gotarzes I in Babylonia between 96 and 93 BC prior to the death of Mithradates II in 91 BC.

Obverse Iconographic Composition

The obverse of the silver drachm depicts the left-facing royal portrait of Mithradates II, framed by a continuous circular border of pellets. In contrast to subsequent Parthian coinages that feature frontality or diverse headdresses, the drachms of Mithradates II display a clear sequential evolution of portraiture across four major stylistic phases.

  • Phase I–II (Sellwood Type 24 / SNP 2 Phase I–II): Features a youthful portrait displaying short, closely curled hair and a neatly trimmed, short-to-medium beard. The head is bound by a fabric royal diadem tied at the occiput, with two ribbons descending along the neck. The monarch wears a decorative V-neck tunic and a spiral torque around the neck. In museum and hoard specimens, torque terminals exhibit distinct workshop treatments, ending in pellets, griffins, or seahorse foreparts (hippocamps).
  • Phase III (Sellwood Type 26 / SNP 2 Phase III): Depicts a visibly matured ruler. The facial features are sharper, and the beard is lengthened into a medium-to-long, combed arrangement. The king continues to wear the royal diadem and spiral neck torque.
  • Phase IV early (Sellwood Type 27 / SNP 2 Phase III–IV): Displays an aged monarch characterized by an elongated, horizontally trimmed or squared and pointed beard. The royal diadem remains the principal headgear, worn above tightly curled locks of hair.
  • Phase IV late (Sellwood Type 28 / SNP 2 Phase IV): Introduces the elaborate Parthian domed tiara (mitra or kyrbasia), which supersedes the simple diademed brow. The tiara features earflaps tied or hanging at the cheek and a broad neck guard extending behind. The dome is embellished with a central astral emblem—rendered as a six-pointed or eight-pointed star—flanked by curved bands of pearls or beading. A fabric diadem encircles the base of the tiara, its ribbons extending backward across the field.

Metrological studies across these issues indicate that the silver drachm adhered to a reduced Attic weight standard. Preserved museum comparison specimens typically weigh between 3.90 g and 4.25 g (with a prominent cluster around 4.05–4.18 g), struck on flans measuring 19 to 22 mm with a predominantly medallic (12 o'clock) die orientation.

Obverse Epigraphy and Inscriptions

The obverse field of the standard silver drachm of Mithradates II is entirely uninscribed. Across all major stylistic groups—from the early diademed issues of Sellwood Type 24 through the tiara-clad issues of Sellwood Type 28—the obverse die accommodates only the royal portrait and its beaded border.

While select contemporary bronze denominations and exceptional issues occasionally incorporate subsidiary control characters, letters, or monograms behind the king's head, regular imperial silver drachms maintain an anepigraphic obverse field. The political, dynastic, and religious claims of the regime were systematically confined to the reverse die.

Reverse Iconographic Composition

The reverse composition of the drachm series depicts the dynastic founder, Arsakes I, seated facing right. The founder is outfitted in traditional Central Asian nomadic riding dress, comprising a long-sleeved tunic, trousers, a riding cloak, and a soft fabric headdress (bashlyk) fastened securely beneath the chin. In his extended right hand, Arsakes holds a composite recurve bow pointing outward toward the right field.

A fundamental typological and ideological shift occurs in the seat upon which the dynastic archer rests:

  • The Conical Omphalos (Sellwood Type 24 / SNP 2 Phase I–II): Early drachms portray Arsakes seated upon an omphalos—a sacred conical stone derived directly from the Hellenistic Apollo coinage of the Seleucid Empire. This visual convention, inherited from the earliest Arsacid strikings, linked the dynasty to the established monetary vocabulary of the post-Seleucid Near East.
  • The Backless Throne (Sellwood Types 26, 27, and 28 / SNP 2 Phases III–IV): Beginning with the introduction of Sellwood Type 26, mint engravers replaced the omphalos with a backless royal throne (a stool or chair featuring elaborately turned legs, often accompanied by an exergual footstool or ground line). This modification marked a deliberate departure from Seleucid religious prototypes, substituting a distinctly Iranian royal seat that became the standard reverse motif for Arsacid silver coinage for centuries.

Reverse Epigraphy and Inscriptions

The reverse legends of Mithradates II are composed exclusively in Koine Greek and executed in the Greek script, arranged in a rectilinear four-sided frame surrounding the seated archer. Regular silver drachms of this reign contain no Aramaic inscriptions or Parthian heterograms. The epigraphic program is divided into two distinct configurations: a four-line legend and a subsequent five-line legend.

1. Four-Line Legend (Sellwood Types 24 and 26)

The four-line legend was employed on early and middle issues, framing the archer on four sides:

  • Greek Text: Left line: ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ; Top line: ΜΕΓΑΛΟΥ; Right line: ΑΡΣΑΚΟΥ; Bottom line: ΕΠΙΦΑΝΟΥΣ
  • Transliteration: Basileōs Megalou Arsakou Epiphanous
  • Translation: "Of King Arsaces the Great, God Manifest" (or "Of the Great King Arsaces, Epiphanes")
  • Orientation: The text begins down or up the left field, runs left-to-right along the top, continues downward down the right field, and finishes left-to-right beneath the exergue.

2. Five-Line Legend (Sellwood Types 27 and 28)

With the introduction of Sellwood Type 27, the royal title was expanded to incorporate the imperial designation Basileus Basileon, necessitating a five-line rectangular arrangement:

  • Greek Text: Top line: ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ; Right line: ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΝ; Bottom line: ΜΕΓΑΛΟΥ; Inner left line: ΑΡΣΑΚΟΥ; Outer left line: ΕΠΙΦΑΝΟΥΣ
  • Transliteration: Basileōs Basileōn Megalou Arsakou Epiphanous
  • Translation: "Of the King of Kings, Arsaces the Great, God Manifest"
  • Orientation: The layout features one line at the top, one vertical line on the right, one horizontal line at the bottom, and two parallel vertical lines running downward in the left field.

Typology and Documented Variants

The drachms of Mithradates II are classified across four major types in David Sellwood's standard taxonomy, mirrored by the phased structure of the Sylloge Nummorum Parthicorum:

Sellwood Type 24 (SNP 2 Phases I–II; Shore 66–76; BMC Parthia pp. 24–28)

  • Obverse Description: Diademed bust left with short-to-medium trimmed beard; dotted circular border.
  • Reverse Description: Arsakes seated right on omphalos, holding bow; four-line Greek legend (Basileōs Megalou Arsakou Epiphanous).
  • Documented Variants: Subtypes are categorized by torque terminal forms (such as pellet endings on Sellwood 24.9 or hippocamp endings on Sellwood 24.10) and minor control marks or Greek characters situated behind the seated figure (e.g., British Museum specimen 2005,1111.121).

Sellwood Type 26 (SNP 2 Phase III; Shore 77–84; BMC Parthia pp. 29–31)

  • Obverse Description: Diademed bust left with medium-to-long combed beard; dotted circular border.
  • Reverse Description: Arsakes seated right on a backless throne, holding bow; four-line Greek legend (Basileōs Megalou Arsakou Epiphanous).
  • Documented Variants: Subtypes are classified by engraver control marks (such as a Greek letter A behind the throne on Sellwood 26.3) and subtle shifts in beard rendering and garment beading (e.g., British Museum specimen 1843,0620.2).

Sellwood Type 27 (SNP 2 Phases III–IV; Shore 85–93; BMC Parthia pp. 31–33)

  • Obverse Description: Diademed bust left with long, squared or tapered beard; dotted circular border.
  • Reverse Description: Arsakes seated right on a backless throne, holding bow; five-line Greek legend introducing the title ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΝ (Basileōs Basileōn).
  • Documented Variants: Sellwood 27.1 designates the primary unmarked drachm issue; subsequent varieties include subsidiary field symbols such as palm branches or discrete mint marks (e.g., American Numismatic Society specimen 1944.100.82404).

Sellwood Type 28 (SNP 2 Phase IV; Shore 94–101; BMC Parthia pp. 34–36)

  • Obverse Description: Bust left wearing a pearl-bordered domed Parthian tiara embellished with a central star emblem; diadem encircling the headdress; long pointed beard; dotted circular border.
  • Reverse Description: Arsakes seated right on a backless throne, holding bow; five-line Greek legend containing the imperial title ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΝ.
  • Documented Variants: Subtypes are distinguished primarily by the number of rays on the central tiara star (six-pointed star on Sellwood 28.1–28.4; eight-pointed star on Sellwood 28.5–28.7) alongside variations in neck torque ornamentation.

Scholarly Debates and Attribution Limitations

1. Chronological Framework and Cuneiform Astronomical Diaries

A central debate in Arsacid numismatics concerns the regnal dates of Mithradates II. David Sellwood's 1980 manual posited a reign extending from c. 123 to 88 BC. However, historical reconstructions by G. R. F. Assar and the authors of SNP 2, drawing on astronomical diaries and administrative tablets from Babylon, establish that Mithradates II came to power c. 122/1 BC and died in 91 BC. The cuneiform evidence further reveals that Gotarzes I controlled Babylonia by c. 96–93 BC, indicating dynastic overlap during the final years of Mithradates II's reign. Catalogers continue to balance Sellwood's traditional dates against the refined cuneiform timeline.

2. Adoption of the Imperial Title "King of Kings"

The historical catalyst for the five-line legend incorporating ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΝ on Types 27 and 28 remains subject to scholarly discussion. Historians such as M. Rahim Shayegan and G. R. F. Assar have linked this claim to the stabilization of southern Mesopotamia and Characene around 109/108 BC. Other scholars connect the adoption of the title to the submission of Greater Armenia and the elevation of Tigranes II around 96/95 BC. Because Arsacid drachms lack explicit calendar dates, attributing the five-line legend to a specific year remains an inferential hypothesis.

3. Mint Identification without City Monograms

Unlike late Parthian drachms that bear explicit mint monograms (such as those of Ekbatana, Rhagae, or Mithradatkert), the drachms of Mithradates II do not record mint ethnics. Attributions to workshops at Ekbatana, Rhagae, or eastern mints are deduced from stylistic affinities, torque terminal motifs (such as griffins versus hippocamps), hoard provenances, and die linkage patterns. These geographic assignments represent working hypotheses rather than indisputable facts.

4. Dynastic Numbering Systems

Discrepancies in the numbering of Parthian monarchs persist across older and newer numismatic publications. Warwick Wroth's 1903 British Museum catalog termed Mithradates II's predecessor "Artabanus II" (designating Arsaces II as Artabanus I). Sellwood corrected the predecessor to Artabanus I, though subsequent re-evaluations of early Arsacid genealogy have introduced further variations. Similarly, the coinage of the so-called Parthian "Dark Age" following Mithradates II involves disputed assignments between Gotarzes I, Orodes I, Sinatrukes, and a proposed Mithradates III, underscoring the necessity of identifying the specific cataloging system utilized.

References

  1. Sylloge Nummorum Parthicorum (SNP), Volume 2: Mithradates II (c. 122/1–91 BC). Curtis, V. S., Magub, A., Pendleton, E. J., Hopkins, E. C. D. (2020), Vienna: ÖAW, pp. 15–49
  2. American Numismatic Society Collection Database (MANTIS) - Specimen 1944.100.82404. ANS Accession 1944.100.82404: AR Drachm, Mithradates II, Newell Bequest, Sellwood Type 27.1, 4.18 g
  3. British Museum Online Collection - Registration 2005,1111.121. British Museum Registration 2005,1111.121: AR Drachm, Mithradates II, archer on omphalos reverse
  4. Catalogue of the Coins of Parthia (BMC Parthia). Wroth, Warwick (1903), London: British Museum, pp. xxxi–xxxii, 24–36, Plates VI–VIII
  5. Parthia.com Typological and Inscription Archive: Mithradates II. Parthia.com: Overview of Sellwood Types 24, 26, 27, and 28, inscriptions and auction concordances
  6. British Museum Online Collection - Registration 1843,0620.2. British Museum Registration 1843,0620.2: AR Drachm, Mithradates II, BMC Parthia p. 30 no. 66
  7. The Parthian Coin Project (BIPS): SNP Volume 2 Overview. British Institute of Persian Studies: SNP 2 project overview and historical introduction