Peroz I of the Sasanian Empire was killed in 484 AD at the Battle of Herat — a catastrophic defeat against the Hephthalites that left the Sasanian state temporarily tributary to its eastern neighbors. His image kept circulating on coinage long after his death precisely because the Hephthalites and successor powers in Bactria and Tokharistan found the type administratively convenient. These northern imitations, struck across a broad century, show progressive degradation of the prototype's details as local die-cutters worked further from the original model.
Peroz I of the Sasanian Empire was killed in 484 AD at the Battle of Herat — a catastrophic defeat against the Hephthalites that left the Sasanian state temporarily tributary to its eastern neighbors. His image kept circulating on coinage long after his death precisely because the Hephthalites and successor powers in Bactria and Tokharistan found the type administratively convenient. These northern imitations, struck across a broad century, show progressive degradation of the prototype's details as local die-cutters worked further from the original model.