Sale: Triton XIII, Lot: 526. Estimate $200.  Closing Date: Monday, 4 January 2010.  Sold For $325. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

KINGS of PARTHIA. Mithradates I. 165-132 BC. AR Drachm (3.88 g, 12h). Hekatompylos mint. Head left, wearing bashlyk and earring, within pelleted border / BAΣIΛEΩΣ MEΓAΛOY APΣ AKOY/ΘEOΠ ΛT[O]P, archer (Arsakes I) seated right on omphalos, holding bow. Assar, Genealogy I, fig. 3/18; Sellwood 10.17; Shore 19 (same dies). Good VF, irridescent toning, some porosity.

From the Todd A. Ballen Collection. Ex Cederlind FPL 66 (August 1986), no. 19.

Mithradates I was renowned for prudence and military ability; with his accession, Parthia’s true expansion began, and eventually culminated in the formation of one of the most successful oriental monarchies. In a series of campaigns following the death of the Seleukid ruler, Antiochos IV, in November/December 164 B.C., Mithradates extended Parthian frontiers in the east and west. He first took advantage of Bactrian weaknesses, caused by prolonged and violent wars between Eucratides I and Demetrius II, and annexed the two strategically important eparchies of Tapuria and Traxiane sometime after 163 B.C. With the eastern frontiers secured, Mithradates turned west and conquered Media Magna and Atropatene. Then, in June/July 141 B.C., his forces overran Mesopotamia and captured Seleucia on the Tigris and Babylon. We next hear of Mithradates in Hyrcania, perhaps preparing for the defence of Parthia’s northern frontiers against steppe invaders. At the same time it appears that his generals extended his campaigns into Elam and ultimately established Parthian suzerainty over the greater part of that province. Mithradates’ last known triumph was against the Seleukid king, Demetrius II, whom he captured and sent off to Media (and later married to his daughter Rhodogune). It is generally believed that Mithradates’ latest dated coinage (S13.5 and S13.10) marks the end of his reign before October 138 B.C. However, the information in several cuneiform tablets reveals that he was alive until 132 BC.