Catalog
BI Drachm - Nazak Malka
| Issuer | Hephthalite Empire (Hunnic tribes) |
|---|---|
| Year | 630-711 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Drachm (1) |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Diameter | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Sasanian-style fire altar depicted at centre, flanked by two standing attendants facing inward, each holding a staff or lance, in the manner of Zoroastrian fire-worship scenes derived from late Sasanian coinage. The altar shows a flaming finial rising from a stepped or columnar base. A crescent and additional dynastic symbols appear in the right field. The entire design is enclosed within a beaded border, with the composition reflecting the strong Sasanian religious and iconographic influence on Hephthalite coinage of the period. |
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
Nazak Malka was a western Hephthalite ruler operating in the Kabul-Zabulistan region during the chaotic decades following the Arab conquest of Sasanian Persia. His coinage borrows heavily from late Sasanian prototypes — a deliberate act of political positioning as much as monetary convenience, signaling continuity of authority to populations accustomed to Persian administrative forms. The billon composition reflects the fractured metal economy of the period, when access to quality silver had become deeply unreliable across the eastern Iranian world.
Arab forces under the Umayyad caliphate eventually subdued the region in 711, making this the terminal horizon for the type.