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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Only a Poor Old Man, post: 6785340, member: 111037&quot;]Something nice arrived in the post today. A Sasanid drachm, my very first! This is the coin I mentioned when [USER=15481]@svessien[/USER] presented a table of his 2021 acquisitions. I never really had it in my mind to get a Sasanid coin before. I would see then come and go in seller listings, but the strikes would be all over the place and the wear would be dreadful. So when this one showed up, it was love at first strike <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie34" alt=":clown:" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" />. It has an interesting and exotic design, it is dead-centered, and there is little to no wear. On top of it, it was only 50 quid and it came with a provenance too. I had to have it. And there was another surprise when I actually got to hold it in my hands. The seller did not mention dimensions, so I was shocked to find out that it is 30 mils wide! I had heard before that Sasanid coins were thin, but I did not expect such a wide flan for a drachm. </p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1271943[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>Apart from its physical attributes, I discovered that it was from a ruler associated with an era and events I am really interested it. It is the dude that tried to get rough with Heraclius, and almost got as far as sacking Constantinople. This coin was struck under the reign of Khusro II, or Khosrow II if you prefer that spelling. He is regarded as the last of the great Sasanid (Persian) Kings before the Muslim conquest. He spent most of his reign interacting with the Byzantines one way or another, but it was mostly being in war with them. Relations weren&#039;t so bad in the beginning as the Byzantine emperor Maurice actually helped Khosrow reclaim his throne after an internal rebellion. But when Maurice lost the throne in a typical Byzantine manner, Khosrow started raiding Byzantine territories under the excuse of avenging his death. In reality, he just saw an opportunity to get the upper hand from the Byzantines who had defeated the Sasanid empire earlier. </p><p><br /></p><p>There are lots of &#039;what ifs&#039; concerning those two emperors. Some have speculated that if Maurice hadn&#039;t miscalculated the mood of the army that overthrown him, and if Khosrow hadn&#039;t focused most of his life fighting the Byzantines, the Muslim conquest and expansion into Asia Minor would have never succeeded. Perhaps that is true, but as there are no Deloreans that can travel back in time yet, there is little one can do about it. Let&#039;s focus to what actually did happen. One of my favorite Byzantine emperors is Heraclius, and he was the one that effectively stopped Khosrow from sacking the great city. The siege of 626 has earned its place in history as the one that came really close to ending the Byzantine empire. Constantinople would not be in such a danger again until the Latin sack of 1204.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1271946[/ATTACH] </p><p>&nbsp;<i>The siege of Constantinople -&nbsp; Constantine Manasses Chronicle (Wikimedia Commons)</i></p><p><br /></p><p>The Sasanids where based on the Asian side of the Bosporus, and their allies, the Avars, on the European. However, the Byzantine navy controlled the sea which was a deciding factor as it made the communication of the two allies impossible. A siege ensued, but the brilliant Theodosian walls were no match to whatever the siege engines could throw at them. The deciding moment though was the destruction by the Byzantines of all the Persian fleet&#039;s efforts to assist their allies, and that was even before the infamous Byzantine secret weapon the Greek fire was invented. </p><p><br /></p><p>After the unsuccessful siege, things went downhill for Khosrow. In 627 at the battle of Nineveh Heraclius gave the deciding blow to the Sasanids with the Persian King having to flee. Dastagird was plundered with untold riches falling into the hands of the Byzantines. These events quite justifiably caused great anger in the ranks of the Persian army and Khosrow was overthrown. He was soon killed, and the Byzantines signed a peace treaty with his son that included the return of the Holy Cross that had been taken from Jerusalem earlier in the war. </p><p><br /></p><p>I have some questions regarding this coin. The design of the reverse apparently depicts a fire altar, but I would love some more information about it if possible. Also, what is the part of the coin that determines the year it was minted? </p><p><br /></p><p>Other than that, show me your Persian and Sasanid coins! <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie50" alt=":happy:" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" />[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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