Sale: Triton XIII, Lot: 698. Estimate $300.  Closing Date: Monday, 4 January 2010.  Sold For $400. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

KINGS of PARTHIA. Phraatakes. Circa 2 BC-AD 4. AR Tetradrachm (12.88 g, 12h). Seleukeia on the Tigris mint. Dated Gorpiaios SE 310 (August 2 BC). Diademed and draped bust left, wart on forehead, wearing pointed beard, earring and twisted necklet with ornament; all within pelleted border / BΛ(three-bar Σ)IΛ(three-bar Σ)Λ(three-bar Σ)/BΛ(three-bar Σ)IΛ(three-bar Σ)ΩN ΛP(three-bar Σ)ΛKOY/(three-bar Σ)V(three-bar Σ)IΓ(three-bar Σ)T[OY] ΔIKΛIO(Y) EΠIΦN(quadrate O)V(three-bar Σ)/ΦIΛHΛΛHN(quadrate O)(three-bar Σ) (sic), Phraatakes seated right, Tyche standing left before him, presenting diadem and holding cornucopia; monogram between, IT (year) above, [Γ]OPΠ[I]A in exergue. Sellwood 56.1; Shore -. Good VF, find patina, typical areas of flat strike.

From the Todd A. Ballen Collection. Ex Classical Numismatic Group Electronic Auction 155 (3 January 2007), lot 11.

Phraatakes was the son of the slave girl Musa, who was given to the Parthian king Phraates by the Romans in 20 BC. Musa eventually became Phraates’ queen and manuvered her son into an unchallenged position to succeed the king after murdering Phraates in 2 BC. In a seeming attempt to legitimize his rule and secure her influence, Phraatakes and Musa were married in 2 AD, and began issuing a coinage containing both of their portraits. This union was not unprecedented in certain eastern cultures, but did little to secure their position among the Parthian nobility, as they were, after all, of Italian stock. Within two years they successfully overthrew them both and placed Orodes III upon the throne.