The bundle of coins I ordered from my one of my favorite sellers came in. In it was one piece I have been trying to pick up. I wanted a silver coin of Peroz. Peroz was a weak Persian shah who was in power while the Western Roman Empire was on its deathbed. At the time Rome was plagued by territorial losses to hostile Barbarians from the various frontiers. Rome would "fall" in 476 AD. Replaced with various barbarian kingdoms. We know that Sassanian Persia would outlast the Western Roman Empire, but during the lifetime of Peroz, the great Persian Empire would also face formidable enemies. Peroz would make a pact with the Hephthalites in order to enlist their help in securing the throne from Hormizd III. He succeeded and made a quick pact with the Eastern Roman Empire to help rid Persia of the Nomads. Betraying the Hephthalites. He would use Roman auxiliary units against them. During the reign of Peroz the Persian Empire hung by a thread. Peroz a military dimwit would make several serious blunders that would change the course of history. He, in his life, would pay many donkey loads of coins to the Hephthalite nomads for his betrayal He himself was taken prisoner and then his son for a period of 3 years. Until they paid the many dirhams. During his reign the Persians lost control of Armenia and suffered near total defeat as he planned to muster everything to destroy the Hephthalites. The Hephthalites, a street wise people were made aware of his deceitful plan. Peroz amassed an army 100,000 strong to finally crush the Hephthalites. Peroz planned to overwhelm them with huge numbers a battle he knew he would win for sure. Wrong. The Hephthalites engaged the Persians with a small unit a head of the invading force. Giving time for the Hephthalite contingency plan. The Hephthalites would lure the Persians deep into their lands in occupied Bactria, where they would be ambushed and finally destroyed. Peroz fell at the battle of Herat in 484 AD to the Hephthalite Nomads commanded by Kush-Newaz. Persia Shirajan, Kerman The Great Shah of Persia Peroz I 457 -484 AD AR Dirham 28.0 mm x 3.77 g Obverse: Crowned and cuirassed bust right. Stars flanking crown. KAVAT AFZVTV right field. Reverse: Zoroastrian Fire altar with two attendents, flanking flames. SHR mint. Blundered date. Ref: Mitchiner ACW 973ff ex. Garth R. Drewry Collection, ex -CNG AR Dirham
Nice coin, but Mitchiner isn't such a great reference for these. Maybe Medoraman will be kind enough to look this up in SNS? Btw, I checked the Research side of the CNG website. The only Peroz coins sold in the Garth Drewry collection were in Triton XI, lot 1770. So the pedigree should read: "Ex Garth Drewry Collection (Triton XI, 7 January 2008), lot 1770 (part of)"
Nice lookin' coin, diggity-dawg ... ummm, I have one too (I hope that I'm allowed to jump on-board?!!) :thumb: Sassanian Kingdom, Peroz I AR Drachm Date: 459-484 AD Diameter: 28.1 mm Weight: 4.1 grams Obverse: Bust of Peroz Reverse: Fire altar with attendants at sides
Excellent coins, gentlemen. And thank you for taking the time with the write-up AN - that's much appreciated.
While Peroz may have had his weaknesses as a king, he sure made nice coins. Steve's example (is it AY mint?) shows detail on both sides without the blank spots from too little metal to fill both dies. Like the more common and crude Khusro II coins, Peroz coins come from 24 mints clearly marked on the reverse if you read the script. That is where most of us fall short. Comparing to charts and photos on this site helps: http://www.grifterrec.com/coins/sasania/sas_perI_1.html Unfortunately few coins of Peroz were year dated or at least not clearly enough that we escape using terms like 'blundered'. I'm never 100% confident that I am reading the mints correctly. Dates are much worse even on coins that have them. This thread will force me to revisit my two coins since I see that the letters I read as R might be L. I might collect these if I could get to a point of feeling comfortable with the letters.
Gee, I dunno? .... but thanks for the link (perhaps after work today I'll take a gander and try to figure-out the skinny regarding my Peroz) => great lookin' coins, fellas
I would disagree somewhat from the writeup, (respectfully of course). I don't view Peroz as a weak leader. I view him as hungry for glory. Remember he finished the war against the Kidarites his father started, and this helped rid his empire of a formidable enemy. The Hepthalites were getting yearly tribute payments, and if the Sassanids could have defeated them and eliminated the need for this payment it would have been a great boon to the Persians. So, we have a king who finished a war his father started, but wanted to rid Persia of its greatest threat on his own, to be revered forever. His greatest weakness is he wasn't a great military commander, and many of his military leaders he listened to were Sassanian, from Fars, not the great military leaders of Persia who were all Parthian nobility. If Peroz could have convinced the Parthian noble families to united behind this cause, and lead it, it probably would have been successful. As such, I view his defeats as another instance of the dynamic of inter-Persian politics that pitted Sassanid rulers versus the military strong Parthian nobility. Interestingly, the was the first instance really of this struggle. His son, then famously his grandson, would truly open up this gulf wider. His great grandson, Khusro II, basically destroyed the Sassanid empire by expanding this struggle to such an extent the Parthian nobility finally had enough of the Sassanids and sided with the invading Muslims. I find Peroz coins both of fine style like this one, but also a whole bunch of poor style. I am guessing many of the poor style specimens were the tribute coins, made in a rush to ransom the Shah's life.
