1918.] Numismatic Supplement No. XXX1I. 375 
of cities, it would be quite hopeless to attempt to read them, a 
onogram being a thing by nature most obscure and ambigu- 
ous. It can nearly always be read in three or four ways, and 
may often, by means of a little ingenuity, be made to represent 
anything the interpreter chooses.” 
rom the appearance of several monograms for a long 
period it is certain that they cannot be the private marks or 
personal names of magistrates. The only possible view is to 
suppose that they indicate, in some may or other, the mint- 
place of the coins. 
The Catalogue of the Coins of Parthia in the British 
Museum (Wroth, 1903) still occupies its leading position as the 
standard work on this branch of numismatic research. There 
are many gaps to be filled, for not only are the issues of some 
Parthian rulers still unrepresented in known cabinets, but 
specimens have yet to be discovered of types which by analogy 
can reasonably be expected to exist. 
With these preliminary remarks I here introduce to the 
notice of students of this epoch a drachme of Phraates IV 
which. so far as I know, is unpublished. 
A Drachme of Phraates IV without Adjuncts. 
The parricide and fratricide Parthian king Phraates IV, 
who reigned from B.C. 38/37 to 3/2, was the eldest of the thirty 
surviving sons of Orodes I (B.C. 57-37). He was an able but 
unscrupulous ruler and began his reign by murdering all his 
brothers. The struggle with Rome was renewed and Antony, 
after the unsuccessful siege of Phraaspa, the capital city of the 
Parthian dependency of Media, had to retreat to the Armenian 
frontier with heavy loss in B.C. 36. This failure brought peace 
to Parthia. His ion reign was not without internal dissen- 
“ons and it appears that his throne was also usurped for some 
ime by Tiridates. Phraates, who had murdered his father 
Orodes, as Orodes had murdered his (Phraates III, B.C. 70-57), 
met his own en ays 
His drachmes and bronze coins are classified in types, 
Vee behind with wreath in beak crowning, king’s 
ead. 
Ragle as above and star in front. 
Eagle as above and crescent in front. 
Eagle as above and star within crescent in front. : 
— as above with star and star within crescent in 
ront. 
Star below crescent in front. 
Star below crescent behind and star in front. 
Star in front. 
Nike flying behind wreathing king’s head. 
SROs BOOn 
