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Drachm - Ardashir I
| Issuer | Sasanian Empire |
|---|---|
| Year | 233-238 |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
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|---|---|
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| Reverse description | A stepped fire altar with a single flame rising from the altar top, flanked on either side by a standing royal attendant, each wearing a globular headdress and facing the altar. Royal diadems of type R are depicted draped from the altar structure. An Inscriptional Pahlavi legend surrounds the composition within a beaded border, the whole scene rendered in crisp hammered relief typical of early Sasanian coinage. |
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| Mint | Ctesiphon, Babylonia (modern-day Madain, Iraq) |
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| Additional information |
Ardashir I founded the Sasanian dynasty by defeating and killing the last Arsacid king, Artabanus IV, at the Battle of Hormozdgan in 224 AD — ending nearly five centuries of Parthian rule. The coinage issued in the years immediately following consolidation of his empire reflects a deliberate break from Arsacid monetary tradition, establishing the distinctive fire altar reverse that would define Sasanian silver for the next four centuries.
The SNS Iran IIia classification places this among the mature issues of Ardashir's reign, after his initial experimental types were abandoned in favor of a standardized fabric.