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Drachm - al-Harith b. 'Abd Allah Arab-Sasanian

Issuer Umayyad Caliphate
Year 683-684
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Value Drachm (1)
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Obverse description Bust of a Sasanian-style ruler facing right, depicted in the tradition of late Sasanian royal portraiture, wearing an elaborate mural crown with distinctive wing-like or crescent elements and a korymbos. The face is rendered with a pronounced eye, stylized beard, and characteristic diadem ribbons flowing behind. The portrait is set within a beaded border, with marginal Arabic and Pahlavi legends in the surrounding field, blending Sasanian artistic conventions with early Islamic epigraphic elements.
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Mintage ND (683-684)
Additional information

Al-Harith b. 'Abd Allah al-Azdi served as governor of Sijistan under the Umayyad administration, issuing coins that replicate Sasanian silver prototypes so closely that attribution depends almost entirely on the Arabic marginal inscriptions. His governorship coincided with the broader Second Fitna — the civil war following Yazid I's death — when central Umayyad authority fractured and regional governors operated with considerable autonomy. That instability is precisely why so many Arab-Sasanian issues from this window survive in such variety; multiple governors struck simultaneously with no unified monetary policy enforcing standardization.

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