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Dinar - Shapur II
| Issuer | Sasanian Empire |
|---|---|
| Year | 320-379 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | 7.04 g |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | A Zoroastrian fire altar occupies the central field, rendered in high relief with stylized flames rising from the altar table and supported on a stepped or columnar base — the defining religious emblem of Sasanian royal coinage. Two lateral attendants or fire-tending figures flank the altar, each turned inward toward the sacred flame, as is customary on Sasanian dinars. Subsidiary symbols appear at the lower left and right of the altar base. The entire composition is enclosed within a beaded border. A Pahlavi inscription referencing the fire of Shapur appears in the field. |
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
Shapur II ruled for 70 years — the longest reign in Sasanian history, spanning the entirety of the fourth century's middle decades — and spent much of it at war, simultaneously defending eastern frontiers against the Chionites and conducting three major campaigns against Rome that culminated in the humiliating Treaty of 363, which returned Nisibis and fifteen other cities to Persia after three centuries of Roman control.
The Göbl Ia/7 classification places this among the earliest die groupings of his coinage, likely predating the Roman conflicts of the 340s.