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Pashiz - Wahram V
| Issuer | Sasanian Empire |
|---|---|
| Year | 420-438 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Chalkous (1⁄576) |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | A stepped Zoroastrian fire altar occupies the centre of the field, with two standing attendants flanking it on either side, each facing inward toward the sacred flame in a posture of reverence. The design follows the standard Sasanian iconographic convention for royal copper pashiz coinage. The figures and altar are rendered in low, somewhat coarse relief typical of hammered base-metal issues of this reign. A beaded border frames the composition. |
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| Mintage | ND (420-438) |
| Additional information |
Wahram V — Bahram-e Gur in Persian tradition — is among the most romanticized rulers in Iranian cultural memory, celebrated in Firdausi's Shahnameh as a hunter-king of almost mythological prowess. His reign coincided with renewed hostilities against the Eastern Roman Empire and significant pressure on the empire's eastern frontier from the Kidarites. The copper pashiz occupied the lowest denomination of the Sasanian monetary hierarchy, issued in quantities that rarely survived circulation in collectible condition given the metal's vulnerability to the alkaline soils of Mesopotamia and the Iranian plateau.