90, Lot: 99. Estimate $750. Sold for $630. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

KINGS of PERSIS. Artaxerxes (Ardashir) V. Circa 209-224 AD. AR Drachm (22mm, 3.59 gm). Mint A ("Stakhr"). Bearded facing head, wearing diadem and Parthian-style tiara with pellet-in-crescent / Bearded head of Papak left, wearing diadem and Parthian-style tiara with pellet-in-crescent. Alram, Beginning, fig. 16; Alram 657; Göbl I/1; De Morgan pl. XXXIV, 18. VF, darkly toned, rough surfaces, light encrustation. Very rare.

From the Bellaria Collection.

Artaxerxes V, son of Papak, brother of Shahpur, was the leader of the revolt of Persis against the Arsakid kings of Parthia. Having secured his father’s rise to the kingship of Persis, it was natural for him to refuse to recognize his brother Shahpur as king upon the former’s death. Subsequently, when Shahpur was killed, Artaxerxes ascended the throne with the blessings of his other brothers. A natural and charismatic leader, he took advantage of the latest Roman invasion of Parthia in 216 AD to begin a revolt against Arsakid rule. Eventually, his insurrection was joined by other Parthian vassal kingdoms, Media, Adiabene, and Kirkuk. In 222 Artaxerxes forces defeated Vologases VI, and, in 224, Vologases’ brother, Artabanos V at the Battle of Hormuzdagan. Claiming lineage to the great Achaemenid kings of antiquity, his desire to found a new Persian empire was realized; the Sasanian Empire was established, with Artaxerxes, now called Ardashir, as its first king.