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Drachm - Bahram II
| Issuer | Sasanian Empire |
|---|---|
| Year | 276-293 |
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| Shape | Round (irregular) |
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| Obverse description | Jugate busts of Bahram II and his queen facing right, with a small confronting bust at right facing left. Bahram II wears an elaborate winged crown surmounted by a large korymbos, with a long beard dressed in two rings and thick curling tresses falling behind; two ribbon ties rise from behind the royal head. The queen wears a headdress incorporating a boar's head, while the small bust opposite bears a headdress with an eagle's head. A dotted border frames the design, with a Pahlavi legend running anticlockwise from 11 o'clock to 1 o'clock reading 'mzdysn bgy wrhrʾn MRKAn MRKA ʾyrʾn W ʾnyrʾn MNW ctry MN yzdʾn', translating as 'The Mazda-worshipping Lord, Bahram, King of Kings of the Iranians and Non-Iranians, whose essence is from the gods.' |
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| Reverse script | Inscriptional Pahlavi |
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Bahram II ruled for seventeen years but faced near-constant pressure — from his own nobility, from the pretender Hormizd in the east, and from Roman incursions that culminated in the humiliating campaigns of Carus, who pushed as far as Ctesiphon around 283 AD before his sudden death spared the Sasanians further disaster. The coinage of his reign is accordingly varied, with multiple die groupings documented by Göbl reflecting different phases of royal and priestly authority at court — the high priest Kartir exercised unusual influence during this period and left his mark on imperial iconography in ways with no parallel before or after.