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Pashiz / Fals - Mansur Arab-Sasanian
| Issuer | Umayyad Caliphate |
|---|---|
| Year | 700-705 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Diameter | Log in to see details |
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| Shape | Round (irregular) |
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| Obverse description | Frontal bust of a Sasanian-style ruler depicted in the tradition of late Sasanian royal portraiture, wearing a distinctive mural or segmented crown with flanking ornaments. The face is rendered with stylized features including large almond-shaped eyes, a prominent nose, and a flowing beard. The bust is shown in full face, a departure from the typical Sasanian profile convention, reflecting the transitional Arab-Sasanian aesthetic of the early Umayyad period. The surrounding field is plain, with the flan showing characteristic irregular edges typical of early Islamic copper coinage. |
|---|---|
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
The Arab-Sasanian coinage series represents the Umayyad administration's pragmatic retention of pre-Islamic Sasanian visual conventions during the early conquest period, when local populations still needed familiar monetary forms. By the time this piece was struck, Abd al-Malik's sweeping monetary reforms of 696–698 had already replaced the silver and gold coinage with purely epigraphic Islamic types — copper was simply last in line for reform, left to regional governors and local mint authorities longer than any other metal.
The name "Mansur" on this fals almost certainly refers to a local governor or mint official rather than a caliph. Copper attribution in this transitional phase remains genuinely contested among specialists.