Trajan's New King of Parthia

175, Lot: 223. Estimate $2000. Sold for $1700. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Trajan. AD 98-117. Æ Sestertius (36mm, 24.18 g). Rome mint. Struck circa AD 116-117. Laureate and draped bust right / REX PARTHIS DATVS, Trajan seated left on camp bench set on daïs, presenting Parthamaspates, who is touching his crown, to Parthia kneeling right; military figure standing behind Trajan. RIC II 667. Good VF, green patina, a few minor pits.

Parthian interference in Armenia prompted Trajan to declare war against their king, Osroes I, in AD 114. He quickly re-established Roman control of Armenia, forced the submission of Osrhoene, and in 116 took Mesopotamia by defeating Osroes I. Rather than pursuing the Parthians into Iran, Trajan set up a pro-Roman Parthian "buffer state" in Mesopotamia under a puppet-king appointed by Trajan, Parthamaspates. This event that is commemorated on this issue.