The Kingdom of Characene

The Kingdom of Characene, located at the head of the Persian gulf, was centered on the city of Charax Spasinou, an important stop in the trade from Mesopotamia and points west to India. Characene was founded in the 180s BC under Hsypaosines, and existed as an independent kingdom only for a short time before being conquered by the Parthians during the reign of Mithradates I, after which it maintained a semi-autonomous existence under its own kings until the fall of the Arsacids in 224 AD. Its coinage consisted mainly of silver tetradrachms, originally imitative of Baktrian types, with Greek inscriptions which gradually gave way to Aramaic as the coinage became increasingly debased.