Pashiz - Ardashir I

The pashiz denomination occupied the lowest tier of the Sasanian bronze coinage, issued to facilitate small transactions in an economy where the silver drachm was often too valuable for daily exchange. Ardashir I, having consolidated power after defeating the last Arsacid king Artabanus IV at the Battle of Hormozdgan around 224 AD, needed a functional monetary system across newly unified Iranian territories — bronze issues like this one were part of that infrastructure. The Göbl VII/2 classification places this piece within a tightly defined emission group, the precise sequencing of which remains debated among Sasanian specialists.