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Pashiz / Unit / Chalkous - Varhran V type I/1
| Issuer | Sasanian Empire |
|---|---|
| Year | 420-438 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Reference(s) | Göbl Sasan#I/1, SNS Schaaf#432-433 |
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|---|---|
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| Reverse description | A fire altar with a stepped base, decorated with pendant ribbons, depicted centrally in the field. Two royal attendants stand flanking the altar, facing inward in the traditional Zoroastrian ceremonial posture, each rendered in a schematic style characteristic of Sasanian base-metal coinage. The altar flame is indicated at the top of the altar shaft. No legends or mint marks appear in the field, consistent with other pashiz issues of this type. The overall composition follows the standard reverse iconography established throughout the Sasanian dynasty for religious and dynastic symbolism. |
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
Vahram V — Bahram Gur in the Persian literary tradition — ruled during a period of renewed conflict with the Eastern Roman Empire and prolonged warfare against the Hephthalites on the eastern frontier. Small-denomination fractional issues like this one were the everyday transactional coinage of the Sasanian economy, circulating in markets where silver drachms were simply too valuable for routine exchange. Lead and copper fractions of this type survive in comparatively low numbers despite their original ubiquity, largely because the material was too base to hoard and too soft to survive.