CHRONOLOGICAL BAR · COIN · HISTORICALLY ATTESTED FIGURE

Mithridates II the Great

Mithridates II: the expansion of the Parthian kingdom

Mithridates expanded Parthian power and disseminated his image and his titles through the coins.

Museum documentation · free public access, no account required.

AI-recreated portrait of Mithridates II the Great, head and shoulders against a black background; hypothetical appearance. — **Mithridates II the Great · AI-Recreated Portrait · Hypothetical Appearance**
Reconstruction · Declared visual hypothesis
AI-recreated portrait of Mithridates II the Great. The clothing is based on the historical context of the panel; the face, the age represented, the colouring, and the details not preserved are interpretive. It is not an authentic photograph nor a scientific facial reconstruction.
Tracekeepers

**Mithridates II the Great · AI-Recreated Portrait · Hypothetical Appearance**
Reconstruction · Declared visual hypothesis
AI-recreated portrait of Mithridates II the Great. The clothing is based on the historical context of the panel; the face, the age represented, the colouring, and the details not preserved are interpretive. It is not an authentic photograph nor a scientific facial reconstruction.
Tracekeepers

History and context

Mithridates II expanded and consolidated Parthian power while his coins disseminated diadem, tiara, and royal titles. The attribution of each series proceeds from modern numismatic work; the bust is a dynastic convention and the legend usually privileges the founder's name Arsaces.

The selected visual window is concrete: Parthian coins with legends and royal portrait. The panel does not use a generic work as if it were a certified portrait.

Reading limit: Do not include him as Achaemenid; document mint, dating, and attribution of the chosen coin.

Evidence and interpretation

Authorised material window: coin. Parthian coins with legends and royal portrait. Interpretation limit: Do not include him as Achaemenid; document mint, dating, and attribution of the chosen coin.

AI-recreated portrait of Mithridates II the Great. The clothing is based on the historical context of the panel; the face, the age represented, the colouring, and the details not preserved are interpretive. It is not an authentic photograph nor a scientific facial reconstruction.

Catalogue facts

Canonical ID: mitridates-ii
Status: Historically attested figure
View window: currency
Chronology: Reign c. 121–91 BCE
Location: Parthian Empire
Relevance: Arsacid expansion and affirmation of the title 'king of kings'
Scope: Parthian or Sasanian epilogue · subsequent to the Achaemenid core of this room
State in museum: no objective Parthian museum available
Status on the books: without presence; editorial reserve

A closer look

About 1 min to read · 1 section. Further reading and sources · free access. Editorial review recorded: September 5, 2026.

The reverse engages with the Seleucid coin

The drachm 99.35.2953 shows on the reverse a seated archer wearing trousers, sleeves, a cap and a diadem. His posture adapts the model of Apollo used on Seleucid coins, but the figure already belongs to a Parthian regal idiom. The Metropolitan keeps its identity open: it may be an ideal sovereign or an allusion to Arsaces. The appropriation of an earlier scheme helps to read the conquest also as a transformation of monetary images. This dialogue corresponds to the Parthian world of the 2nd–1st centuries BCE, several centuries after Achaemenid rule.

Museum · Metropolitan Museum · Silver drachm, 99.35.2953Access recorded: September 5, 2026.

Reference images and provenance

No verifiable entrance photograph is preserved for this representation. You may consult its documentation, but we would not present its face as an exact reconstruction.

Additional visual documentation

A cited publication does not establish which image was used to create the character.

Sources and references

Consult the material footprint and your institutional record

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