A Sasanian drachm or an imitation struck by the Hunnic?

Great insight, thanks. Was that change during the reign of Kavad I contemporary with the famous Mazdakite reforms and their subsequent repression?

 

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Apologies - by K II - I meant Khusru II.

As to the communist phase under Kavad matters are not so clear cut, but much later text (Arab historians - my ailing memory prompts Tabari -(?)) suggest changes around then that maybe do show up in coin. On all accounts we have Khusru I picking up the pieces after a Communist mess-up, and he got famous for what he did under the name Anushirwan.

I see the wiki Khusru I page gives lots of detail. His reform seems to be a mix of pro-market moves but coupled with infrastructure investment. The arabs were still going on about what a great guy Anushirwan had been more than 600 years afterwards (see Ibn Khaldun on that)

Anyhow - Khusru I is definately the guy who first really boosts coin production to huge levels, an example followed then by Hormizd IV and Khusru II

Rob T

 

Ah, Khusro II. You mean the style difference between left and right:



Left: Year 7 (596 AD), Darabgerd. Right: Year 22 (611 AD), Adharbaiyan.
Left: a sorry shadow. Right: a bold conqueror.

 

Yes, thats it. A huge change, lots of coins before the change, lots of coins after - but a big gap with (almost?) nothing inbetween.

I used to think the later coins stuck more closely to the weight standard, and maybe the purity - but recent work seems to suggest even the weight standard was not changed.

On weights of these coins - its important to remember a lot of them continue to circulate under Arab rule - and increasingly after 79H - perhaps in something like a black economy (?). It seems the Sasanids never clipped their coins, but under Arab rule they very often got clipped, so only hoards buried in Sasanid times are useful for getting the correct weight

Rob T

 

Were they clipped officially to attain the weight of the lighter dirham? On the other hand, the Khusro II imitations that were struck by the Arab governors have the same diameter as the old large Sassanian dirhams.

 

Sometimes perhaps - but in general no. Sasanid coins are turning up in hoards about 200 years after 'Abd al Maliks reform. By then very clipped and very worn. And the official Islamic coin was also being clipped.

The simple story would be that there was an official coinage - seigniorage paid - in reformed dirhems, plus a black economy paid by weight in old Sasanid coin. But even that does not really work - since people kept on clipping the old coin down to ever lower values - and there is no point in that if you pay by weight

Stefan Heidemann showed the Arab - Sas seem to be struck slightly low - about 3.9g. And that is part of the story for sure I think. Some old coin was clipped down to that.

There seems to be a general situation where there is a mint weight but then another official lower weight - the minimum legally acceptable (actually that is normal everywhere down to the 19th century). But when the state sets a such minimum - some guys immediately clip their coins down to that. So its easy to see how a kind of vicious circle might set in. I think that is part of the story too. But the whole story is too complex for one simple explanation.

Rob T

 

Yes, I'd agree. Does look like an official issue. Stuart.

 

Taking a look at the OP coin again, I don't see stars in the three obverse rim crescents. Could this be a Xusro I or Varhran VI drachm? The knockabout lettering on the obverse is not so clear to me.