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Drachm - Qudama Eastern Sistan - Arab-Sasanian
| Issuer | Abbasid Caliphate |
|---|---|
| Year | 873-948 |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Diameter | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Central Zoroastrian fire altar depicted in stylized form, flanked by two attendants standing in profile facing the altar, a design directly inherited from Sasanian drachm coinage. The altar and attendants are rendered in low relief within a double circular border. Crescent and star symbols appear in the left and right fields respectively. A Pahlavi marginal legend encircles the design, recording mint and regnal information consistent with Arab-Sasanian issues from Zaranj in Sistan. |
| Reverse script | Pahlavi |
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| Additional information |
Qudama's issues from Eastern Sistan fall within the turbulent period when Abbasid central authority over the eastern provinces was fragmenting under pressure from the Saffarid dynasty, which had seized Sistan outright by 861. That a governor-attributed coinage continued to circulate under the Abbasid name through this stretch speaks to the administrative fiction the caliphate maintained long after real control had slipped east.
The weight reduction visible across this series — falling well below the theoretical dirham standard — reflects chronic silver shortages in the Sijistan mint's supply chain during the later ninth century.