Drachm - Bahram II

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.