REX PARTHVS

Triton XX, Lot: 723. Estimate $5000. Sold for $8500. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Trajan. AD 98-117. AV Aureus (19mm, 6.89 g, 7h). Rome mint. Struck AD 114. IMP • TRAIANO OPTIMO • AVG • GER DAC P M TR P, laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right / Trajan, laureate and in military uniform, seated left on camp bench set on daïs; behind, praefectus standing left; to left, Parthian king Parthamasiris standing right, knees bent in form of submission; behind, five soldiers standing around king, holding shields, spears, and three legionary signa; REX PARTHVS • in exergue. RIC II 310; Woytek 498f; Calicó 1082; BN 796 = Strack 220; BMCRE p. 106, † = Vicomte E. de Quelen Collection (Rollin & Feuardent, 14 May 1888), lot 1030 (same rev. die). VF, toned, traces of luster around the devices, some light deposits on the reverse. Very rare, Woytek cites seven examples, and notes that all are struck from the same reverse die.

Ex Numismatica Ars Classica 52 (7 October 2009), lot 1067; Numismatica Ars Classica 46 (2 April 2008), lot 562; Triton IX (10 Januaury 2006), lot 1447; Maison Palombo 2 (30 April 2005), lot 83.

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 AD 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, Parthamasiris. This event is commemorated on this issue.