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1/2 Drachm - Mihran Abbasid Governors of Tabaristan - Arab-Sasanian
| Issuer | Abbasid Caliphate |
|---|---|
| Year | 787 |
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| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Drachm (750-948) |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Stylized Sasanian royal bust facing right, depicting a crowned ruler in the late Sasanian tradition with a distinctive mural or stepped crown surmounted by a crescent and pellet ornament. The bust is rendered in low relief typical of Arab-Sasanian provincial coinage, with schematized facial features and draped shoulders. Flanking the bust are degenerating Pahlavi inscriptions in the fields, retaining vestigial elements of the earlier Sasanian epigraphic tradition. The overall design reflects the continuation of Sasanian iconographic conventions under Abbasid gubernatorial authority in Tabaristan. |
|---|---|
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
Mihran was among the last of the semi-autonomous governors permitted to strike coins in Tabaristan under Abbasid oversight, continuing a local tradition of fractional silver coinage that the Arab administration tolerated largely because the mountainous Caspian province proved extraordinarily difficult to integrate. The region had resisted the initial Arab conquest far longer than most of Iran, and the coinage concession was partly a political accommodation to local Zoroastrian elites who retained real administrative influence well into the Abbasid period.
The half-drachm fabric itself descends directly from late Sasanian provincial issues, a denominational convention the Abbasids never bothered to reform in Tabaristan.