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Hemidrachm - Ardashir I type II - Parthian style
| Issuer | Sasanian Empire |
|---|---|
| Year | 226-228 |
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| Composition | Silver (.900) |
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| Obverse description | Diademed bust of Ardashir I facing right, portrayed in the Parthian artistic tradition, wearing a distinctive tiara adorned with a star motif and secured with a diadem of type R. The portrait retains the characteristic high relief and stylized facial features associated with early Sasanian coinage, with the diadem ribbons visible behind the neck. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Middle Persian (Pahlavi) |
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| Additional information |
Ardashir I struck these hemidrachms in the immediate aftermath of defeating Artabanus IV at the Battle of Hormozdgan in 224 AD, a victory that ended four centuries of Arsacid rule. The Parthian stylistic conventions visible throughout this type were not accidental conservatism — Ardashir was consolidating legitimacy over a population and a minting infrastructure that remained deeply Arsacid in practice. The transition to a distinctly Sasanian idiom took years, and this coin sits precisely in that window of deliberate ambiguity.
The narrow 226–228 date range reflects how quickly Ardashir moved to assert a new visual program. By his later issues, the Parthian inheritance is largely abandoned.