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Tetradrachm - Sawrshafan Afrighid
| Issuer | Afrighid dynasty (Choresmia) |
|---|---|
| Year | 750-801 |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
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|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The enthroned ruler depicted as an equestrian figure galloping to the right, raising a whip in his hand in a pose emblematic of royal authority and martial prowess. A dynastic tamgha symbol is prominently placed to the left of the horse in the field. The central device is encircled by a Chorasmian script marginal legend running around the coin's periphery, executed in the highly stylized cursive script typical of late Afrighid silver coinage. |
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
The Afrighids ruled Choresmia (modern Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan) as a client dynasty under successive overlords — first the Sasanians, then the Arab Caliphate following the Islamic conquest of the region in the early 8th century. Sawrshafan reigned during precisely that turbulent transition, and his coinage reflects it: the silver content had degraded significantly from earlier Afrighid issues, a direct consequence of disrupted trade networks and the fiscal pressures of living under Umayyad, then Abbasid, suzerainty.
Vainberg's classification places this type at the tail end of Afrighid numismatic production before the dynasty's eventual absorption into the Abbasid administrative framework ended autonomous local coinage altogether.