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Drachm - Kidara Sassanian style, type 11A, Gandhara mint
| Issuer | Kidarite Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Year | 350-400 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Drachm (1) |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | किदार |
| Reverse description | Dynastic fire altar at center, depicted in frontal view with a stepped base and flames rising from the altar table, flanked by two attendant figures standing in adoration facing inward, each rendered in a stiff, frontal posture consistent with Sasanian-derived ceremonial iconography. The composition closely follows Sasanian reverse types, reflecting the Kidarite adoption of Zoroastrian royal symbolism. The entire design is enclosed within a beaded border. The field shows the characteristic flat, hammered surface of a struck silver drachm. |
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| Edge | Log in to see details |
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| Additional information |
The Kidarites emerged from the broader Kushano-Sassanian collapse of the mid-4th century, seizing control of Bactria and Gandhara as Shapur II's campaigns disrupted the existing power structures across the eastern Iranian world. Their coinage is deliberately imitative — the Sassanian royal bust style was adopted not from cultural submission but as a calculated assertion of legitimacy, signaling continuity of authority to populations accustomed to that visual grammar of rulership.
Göbl's type 11A is specific to the Gandhara mint attribution, distinguished by die characteristics documented in his Kushan corpus. The series remains difficult to sequence chronologically with precision, as no Kidarite regnal inscriptions survive that can be independently dated.