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Pashiz / Unit / Chalkous - Ardashir I type II - Parthian style Kulah
| Issuer | Sasanian Empire |
|---|---|
| Year | 224-241 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | 3.07 g |
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| Obverse description | Bust of Ardashir I facing right, wearing a Parthian-style kulah (tall headdress) edged with two rows of pellets, surmounted by a central six-pointed star ornament and additional pellet decoration. The hair is covered by a bashlyk similarly edged with pellets, with ribbons and bows flowing from the kulah. Around the king's neck is a necklace comprising two hoops. The portrait is rendered in the Parthian artistic tradition and is enclosed within a beaded border. |
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
Ardashir I founded the Sasanian dynasty by defeating and killing the last Parthian king, Vologases VI, at the Battle of Hormozdgan in 224 AD. These earliest copper issues reflect that transitional moment directly — the Parthian-style kulah headdress places the coinage visually closer to the dynasty just overthrown than to the distinctly Sasanian iconographic vocabulary Ardashir would later develop. It is dynastic propaganda still finding its footing.
Göbl's classification separates these transitional coppers with unusual precision given how poorly documented early Sasanian small denomination production remains. Findspot evidence suggests circulation concentrated in Fars, the Sasanian heartland, rather than spreading through former Parthian administrative centers.