A Unique scene. Really?!

This kind of imagery was not completely new. The scene with an emperor on a platform and the ruler put in place below is also seen on coins by Trajan (emperor 98-117), shown here. On the gold coin, we see three kings which were crowned after Trajan’s campaigns between 113 and 116 CE. Again, the reigning emperor Trajan is on the platform with two soldiers. The imagery is similar in almost all aspects, apart from the legend. The second coin of Trajan is a bronze sestertius showing the emperor on the platform, joined by a prefect. Trajan is placing a diadem on the man to his left, Parthamaspates, who was likely one of the first client kings in Parthia. A personification of Parthia is kneeling before the emperor. His clothes are clearly non-Roman. Again, the imagery is similar.

This kind of imagery was not completely new. The scene with an emperor on a platform and the ruler put in place below is also seen on coins by Trajan (emperor 98-117), shown here. On the gold coin, we see three kings which were crowned after Trajan’s campaigns between 113 and 116 CE. Again, the reigning emperor Trajan is on the platform with two soldiers. The imagery is similar in almost all aspects, apart from the legend. The second coin of Trajan is a bronze sestertius showing the emperor on the platform, joined by a prefect. Trajan is placing a diadem on the man to his left, Parthamaspates, who was likely one of the first client kings in Parthia. A personification of Parthia is kneeling before the emperor. His clothes are clearly non-Roman. Again, the imagery is similar.

Interestingly, the other golden coin showing three kings receiving approval from the emperor (RIC II 366) was also found in Rome itself. Seeing the value of the golden coins and the fact that they were minted in Rome, makes messagery for higher class Romans seem very likely as well. Another example of a similar scene was found in Osijek, Croatia. The bronze coin, a sestertius, bears a scene on the reverse in which the personification of Parthia is kneeling and Parthamaspates is being crowned by Trajan. Similar ones were amongst others also found in Slovenia and Hungary (all RIC II 667). This imagery was thus not exclusively used for the elites in Rome.