AE Chalkous; 15mm,
2.36g, 11h, Ekbatana mint
Sellwood 16.29
Shore 56
O: diad bust left
R: inscription
beginning on right vertically BAΣΙΛΕΩΣ/MEΓAΛOY
APΣAKOY/ΘEOΠATOPOΣ
on left. Elephant standing right.
Besides being contemporaries, Phraates II and Antiochus VII were combatants, and Phraates II though losing the initial rounds eventually gained the upperhand and Antiochus VII was defeated and killed. He also had a trump card with the captivity of Demetrius II who was released around this time. The defeat of Antiochus VII heralded the death knell for the Seleucid state, which had been in decline for sometime. Less than 70 years later, the Seleucid state was reduced to just another Roman province leaving only Egypt for a short time afterwards as the sole survivor from the successor states of Alexander. Unfortunately for the victor, Phraates II did not survive much longer after his victory succumbing to a battle in the Parthian east versus the Sakas where the Greeks whom he captured in his defeat of Antiochus turned the tables on him.
Antiochus VII & Phraates II
