Drachm - Hunnic tribes Kidarites - Peroz Sassanian style, Shapur III imitation, Kapisa-Gandhara mint

The Kidarites occupied a strange administrative middle ground in the late 4th century — nominally successors to the Kushano-Sasanian governors of Bactria and Gandhara, yet producing coinage that deliberately mimicked Sasanian royal types to project legitimacy they hadn't inherited through conquest alone. This piece imitates Shapur III, who ruled Ctesiphon until 388, meaning the die cutters at Kapisa were copying a model almost simultaneously with its original production.

Göbl's EM 19 classification places this squarely within the transitional phase before Kidarite coinage developed a more independent visual vocabulary. The imitative fidelity varies considerably across the type.