Some Notes on the Revision of the Chronology of the Coins of the “Dark Age” of the Arsacid

Revision of the genealogy and chronology of the Arsacid dynasty has been the pivot of Farhad Assar’s studies in recent years. Simonetta, who finds errors in Assar’s schema, has himself ignored several key numismatic parameters and his proposed chronology is, thus, in contrast with the widely accepted Sellwood-Mørkholm schema. Sellwood and Mørkholm had already established a meticulous chronology of the drachms and tetradrachms of the “Dark Age” of the Arsacid. Although their schema has some minor defections, it rarely contradicts the extant documents from the Dark Age. This research compares the proposed schemas of Simonetta and Assar to determine which one is reliable. The results reveal inconsistencies between Simonetta’s ideas and the extant historical and numismatic documents. Furthermore, Simonetta ignores the political circumstances of the first months of the reign of Orodes I. Assar’s proposed chronology of the coins agrees well with extant documents from the Dark Age. Simonetta’s conclusions, however, should be used with caution and those who are willing to adopt them in further studies should ensure their reliability.