Artabanus II
Unknown - 12 CE
Artaban | Ardawan | Ardavan | Ardawān | 𐭍𐭐𐭕𐭓 | اَردَوان دوم
Recreation of Parthian King, Artabanus II from coins. Download
A likeness of Artabanus II, imagined in a green kingly gown and golden diadem. Download
Ver.1.0 - Last updated: April 6th 2022, by Mo. Rasoulipour
Brief Biography
Artabanus II, previously king of Media Atropatene, was King of Kings of the Parthian Empire from 12 AD to approximately 40. His father was a Dahae prince, whilst his mother was a daughter of Phraates IV, making him the nephew of Vonones.
During the first part of Artabanus’ reign, there was peace with Rome. Although faced with internal unrest, he was apparently a strong king and helped restore the authority of the central government.
On the death of Artaxias III of Armenia in 35 AD, Artabanus tried to establish his son as Armenia's king. At the same time Roman emperor Tiberius sent Parthian prince, Tiridates III, and ordered his general Lucius Vitellius to restore Roman authority in the East. Artabanus withdrew to Hyrcania, but within a year he returned with a strong army of Scythian (Dahae) auxiliaries and was again acknowledged by the Parthians. He concluded a treaty with Vitellius in 37 AD, in which he gave up all further claims towards Armenia.
- Paraphrased by Mahdi Valian from Wikipedia
References
Artabanus II’s coins are rare among Parthian Kings’ coins in the sense that they provide insights both into a likeness in full frontal and profile face of the emperor. The comparison of the side face and full face coins gives us an insight into what certain features shown in coins that are mostly from the side could have actually looked like. For example in these series of coins we see that the hair could have been split from the center or the forehead and the ribbon ties for the diadem could have been see from both side (Since the ribbon was a very important symbol of kingship tho the size of ties might have been exaggerated in this angle). Also the volume of the hair and they way it was prepped is now more clear based on these coins. But most importantly, we might be able to get a closer guess as to what Artabanus himself looked like.
This map shows coins struck under the authority of Artabanus across the empire. Unsurprisingly the coins minted in Seleucia-Ctesiphon are the ones showing most detail and might be the closes to what the king actually looked like.
Likely Accuracy of the Creative Recreation
Fair Guess:
Due to the unique opportunity in the availability of full frontal and side views of the face struck on coins, this might be one of the closest reconstructions of this project. Yet, the lack of clarity into Artabanus’ father’s origin (Dahae Prince) and lack of detailed face bust and/or colored paintings is much in this construction to the imagination.
See the latest work in progress:
Permissions
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You are however not permitted to sell the products or place barriers of access for public view and use.
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