KINGS OF PARTHIA. Mithradates I, 165-132 BC. Tetradrachm (Silver, 26 mm, 15.54 g, 1 h), Seleukeia on the Tigris, SE 173 = 140/39 BC. Diademed and draped bust of Mithradates I to right.
Rev. BAΣIΛEΩΣ / MEΓAΛOY - APΣAKOY / ΦIΛEΛΛHNOΣ Herakles standing left, holding skyphos in his right hand and club and lion skin in his left; in outer field to left, monogram; in exergue, ΓΟΡ (date). Sellwood 13.3. Shore 36. Sunrise 261. Rare. A very attractive example with an exceptional portrait. Tiny marks and very minor traces of corrosion on the obverse
, otherwise, extremely fine.
From a European collection, formed before 2005.
After Antiochus IV unexpectedly died during his anabasis in 164 BC, the Seleukid Empire was increasingly weakened by ever-new usurpations and civil wars. Into this power vacuum stepped the new Parthian king, Mithridates I (165-132 BC), who since 150 BC had been attacking the eastern regions of the faltering empire. Media fell first, and in 141 BC, he even conquered Babylonia, including the most important Seleukid residence city after Antiochia on the Orontes, the great city of Seleukeia on the Tigris. Mithridates also seized the royal Seleukid mint in this city, which henceforth emitted these wonderful tetradrachms in his name, held in the finest Hellenistic style.
However, it became apparent that the Parthian conquests were still on shaky ground, as evidenced not only by the conquests of Hyspaosines of Characene, who temporarily gained control of Seleukeia, but also by the powerful counteroffensive of Antiochus VII (138-129 BC), who repeatedly defeated the Parthians in the years 131-129 BC, expelled them from Babylonia, and advanced as far as Parthyene. His death in February or March 129 BC and the destruction of his army, however, meant the final end of any Seleukid imperial ambitions. The Parthian Empire now stepped into their shoes, establishing itself as the new great power between the Euphrates and Baktria. Mithridates I himself was already dead by this time, but his successors were to become the great adversaries of another great power reaching out to the East: Rome.
