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Dinar - Ardashir III
| Issuer | Sasanian Empire |
|---|---|
| Year | 628-629 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Orientation | 9 o`clock ↑← |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Pahlavi |
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| Reverse description | Full-length standing frontal effigy of King Ardashir III, wearing a cap surmounted by a crenelated mural crown with globe and crescent above a pair of wings, with royal hair parted into two korymboi above the shoulders and ribbons flying upward from the shoulders. The king holds an inverted sword with both hands, its point resting on the ground line, with stars and crescents disposed to the left and right of the figure. A Pahlavi legend surrounds the figure, reading right to left: 'gyhan ap[e] bym kartar' (rid the world of fear) and 'artastr ay[a]ky' (Ardashir, year one), confirming this as a regnal year one issue of 628-629 AD. |
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| Additional information |
Ardashir III came to the throne at roughly seven years old following the murder of his father Kavad II, himself the architect of a brief, catastrophic purge of the Sasanian royal family. The boy ruled for sixteen months before being strangled — almost certainly on the orders of the general Shahrbaraz, who then seized the throne for himself. These dinars were struck during the final convulsive phase of the empire's civil wars, a period so unstable that six monarchs held power in under four years.
The "cf." qualifiers in both Göbl and Sunrise suggest this piece presents minor die or variant distinctions from the referenced types — not unusual for issues produced under such administrative collapse.