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Drachm - Bahram II
| Issuer | Sasanian Empire |
|---|---|
| Year | 276-293 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Technique | Hammered |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | A Zoroastrian fire altar depicted frontally at centre, with flames rising from the altar top; flanked by two standing royal attendants in full-length robes, the attendant at left wearing a winged crown with korymbos, and the attendant at right wearing a mural crown. Additional sacred symbols appear within the field, including a fravahr (Ahura Mazda) emblem and a crescent moon, reinforcing the coin's Zoroastrian religious iconography. A Middle Persian Pahlavi legend encircles the reverse design. |
| Reverse script | Pahlavi (Middle Persian) |
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| Additional information |
Bahram II ruled for seventeen years but spent much of that reign managing simultaneous crises: a usurpation by his brother Hormizd in the east, persistent Roman pressure in the west, and the religious campaign of the high priest Kartir, who used Bahram's reign to systematically suppress Manichaeism, Buddhism, and Christianity across the empire. The execution of Mani himself occurred under Bahram I, but the institutionalization of Zoroastrian orthodoxy as coercive state policy belongs squarely to Bahram II's tenure.
The Göbl IV/1 classification places this among the earliest die groups of the reign, before the bust type was modified following the eastern revolt.