KINGDOM OF ELYMAIS
Orodes III, circa 2nd century AD
AE Drachm. 3.72g, 17.3mm
MINTED: Uncertain mint (Susa?), circa 2nd century AD
REF: Sear GIC 5895; van’t Haaff 16.3.2-2A
OBVERSE: Bearded bust left, wearing a diadem tiara with an anchor on it, pellet and crescent above an anchor to the right.
REVERSE: Anchor in field of dashes.
 
Notes:
Brown coppery highlights against pale green field. 
 
Historical Notes:
Elymais, in present day Iran, was the biblical Elam, a region that was supposedly rich in silver and gold.  The kings that ruled there from the 2nd century BC began as semiautonomous vassals of the Parthian Empire, with the later (Arsacid) kings being themselves descended from Parthian nobility.  The historian Appian of Alexandria wrote of Elymais's dextrous archers who rode on the backs of camels.  It was eventually subsumed by the Sasanian Empire in the 3rd century AD.​​​​​​​