Never mind the wife-swapping cult, how about tax reform and honest governance?

Here's another of my recent wins from Frank Robinson:

Sasanian Kingdom. AR drachm. Khusro I (531-579 AD), regnal year 30. Darabgird mint. Obverse: King's bust right, name before. Reverse: Zoroastrian fire-altar with two attendants, mintmark DA to right, date "thirty" to left.

Khusro's father, king Kavadh I (488-531 AD), had favored a radical Zoroastrian sect called the Mazdakites. The Mazdakites preached a doctrine with some resemblance to socialism, including sharing the resources of the aristocracy with the lower classes. (Kavadh may have supported the Mazdakites as a way to break the power of the nobility, leaving the central monarchy in control.) The Mazdakites also practiced wife-swapping, though some killjoy historians claim this aspect was over-emphasized by their enemies. Upon Kavadh's death, he named his younger son Khusro as successor. The Mazdakites supported the oldest son, Kawus; but Khusro soon defeated his sibling, executed the leader of the Mazdakites and many of his followers, and was successful in reestablishing Zoroastrian orthodoxy. Politically, Khusro continued to fight the powers of the aristocracy and minor nobles, removing the exemption from taxation that many of the wealthy families had enjoyed and installing government employees as tax collectors, instead of leaving local tax collection to the corrupt nobles. He also encouraged small landowners, and was strict in punishing any corruption by government officials. He fought a number of wars against the Byzantines, and also campaigned against the Hephthalites in Central Asia and established a military presence in Yemen. Overall, he is considered one of the greatest kings of the Sasanian dynasty, and is still revered in Iran as Anushiruwan (Immortal Soul); his Wikipedia article even shows a statue of "Anushiruwan the Just" in Tehran's main courthouse:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khosrow_I#/media/File:Anoushiravan.jpg

Like most Sasanian drachms, this coin shows some areas of flatness in the strike- Sasanian drachms are impressively large in diameter but rather thin, so often there wasn't enough metal to fill all the space in the dies. However, this one does have a good, clear face of the king. This was minted in Darabgird, a small city in Fars Province, Iran which was supposedly founded by the Achaemenid king Darius I (hence the name Darab-gird or "Darius-town").

 

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Nice, here is mine.


Khusru I (Anushirwan) (531-579AD)
AR Drachm
O: Crowned bust right.
R: Fire altar flanked by attendants; star and crescent flanking flames.
4.04g
30mm
BYSh mint (Bishapur in Iran), dated year 42 (572 A.D.)
Gobl SN II/2

 

Haha killjoy historians!

Interesting portrait on the examples so far. Is that typical for the series?

 

Very nice and interesting examples. I enjoyed the write-up!!

I haven't branched out into this area very much but I do have this example:

Silver-Drachm of Shapur III., 383-388 AD. (Sasanian)
OBV: Bust of king Shapur III. right
RV: Fire altar between two attendants; weight is 3.60gr., G�bl 126

 

For the Title alone.

 

Great coin! You know what they say about socialism though: it works great until you run out of other people's wives.

 

Frank Robinson........didn't he play (baseball) for Baltimore?

 

IMO, the matter of flatness is a given so our job is to find coins where the flat areas don't distract or even add to the coin in some way. I would be proud to own no-brainer great coin like the OP. Mine is horrid. You got a good deal.

 

cool win parthicus! i have one from this cat, it's pretty darn sweet except for that hole somebody punched in it.





Sasanian Empire. Khosrau I. AD 531-579. AR Drachm

O: Crowned bust right, Pahlavi script./R: Fire altar with ribbons and attendants; star and crescent flanking flames; RY date on left (regnal year 28, 558AD, mint signature on right, GU (Gurgon mint). 30 mm, 4.1 g

 

I love the portrait! (Yours too, @chrsmat71.)

Kirman mint, 552-553:

 

Thanks for the comments, everyone!

For Khusro I, yes, his portrait tends to show him with a very tall, thin head. Some other Sasanian kings also have portraits like that, but others don't- it was specific to certain kings, not a general feature of Sasanian art.

Different guy. The Frank Robinson I'm referring to is a coin dealer based in Albany, NY who runs about three auctions a year of mainly low- to mid-priced ancient coins. (He also has occasional fixed-price lists of world coins, including lots of Chinese cash.) Many of us on the Coin Talk Ancients forum are regular bidders in his auctions.

 

Thanks for clarifying.