1/2 Drachm - 'Ispahbadh of Tabaristan' Khurshid with Farrukhan the Little Arab-Sasanian

The Dabuyid ispahbadhs of Tabaristan — the mountainous region south of the Caspian — were among the last rulers in the Iranian world to resist Arab political absorption after the Islamic conquests, maintaining a semi-autonomous status by paying tribute while continuing to strike coins in an unmistakably Sasanian idiom. Khurshid was the final Dabuyid ruler; his dynasty ended when the Abbasids subdued Tabaristan in the 760s. The pairing of his name with Farrukhan the Little on this issue reflects the dynastic co-regency conventions inherited directly from late Sasanian administrative practice.

The half-drachm module itself is characteristic of Tabaristan's local monetary needs rather than any imperial standard.