Ancient NEWSmismatics: "King of Kings, King of Coins": Gold

Dinar of Shapur I by L.A. Hambly

Magnificent Shapur I Gold Dinar: SASANIAN KINGDOM. Shapur I the Great (AD 240-272).
AV dinar (22mm, 7.42 gm, 3h). Mint I ("Ctesiphon"), Phase II, circa AD 260-272. Bust of
Shapur right, wearing mural tiara with korymbos and long ear flap, large floriate brooch on left
shoulder / Large flaming fire altar flanked by two attendants, both wearing mural crowns and
holding scepters, pellets above each. Sunrise 739 variant (single pellet on reverse). Cf. SNS type
11C/1b. Gbl type 1/1. Rare, with an outstanding portrait and lustrous fields. Choice Mint State.

The long and glorious history of Persia as an Imperial power dates to the rise of Cyrus

OBV

the Great in the sixth century BC. Cyrus, king of the Parsa people who had settled in the
region bounded by the Tigris River and the Persian
Gulf, created an vast and enduring empire by
subsuming the Median, Lydian and Babylonian
Kingdoms and pushing into Thrace and the Indus
Valley. At its peak, this Achaemenid or First Persian
Empire encompassed 8 million square kilometers and
ruled over about 44% of the worlds total population,
making by percentages the largest political state in
world history. Though eventually toppled and overrun
by Alexanders Macedonians in the fourth century BC,
the native Persian identity remained strong in the
successor Seleucid and Parthian Kingdoms. The
Parthians were steppe nomads who absorbed the Persian culture thoroughly, including
artistic style, modes of dress and religion; their Empire was more feudal in nature and
less centralized than the Achaemenid Kingdom, but proved resilient enough to defy the
growing might and territorial greed of the Romans for nearly three centuries, from 53 BC
to the early 200s AD. However, the Parthians were essentially defensive in their military
strategy, content to confine their rule to the Tigris-Euphrates valley and surrounding
lands. All that changed in the AD 220s, when a new and strong Persian native dynasty
arose, the Sasanians (named after the supposed progenitor, Sasan), who defeated their
Parthian overlords under the charismatic Ardashir I
(AD 224-242). Ardashir declared himself
shahanshah, or king of kings and set about
restoring the reconstituted Persian Empire to the
glories, and territorial extant, it had attained under
the Achaemenids six centuries before. Since much of
the former Persian-ruled west, including Asia Minor,
Syria, Phoenicia, Judaea and Egypt, were now under
Roman control, Ardashir, from the outset of his
reign, began attacking the Roman Empire, not just to
REV
raid and plunder, as the Parthians had done, but with

Ancient NEWSmismatics: "King of Kings, King of Coins": Gold

Dinar of Shapur I by L.A. Hambly
the intent of detaching and ruling the eastern provinces. Ardashirs record in this regard
was mixed the Romans were still a force to be reckoned with and counterattacked under
the Emperors Severus Alexander (AD 222-235) and Gordian III (AD 238-244), pushing
the Persians back to their original frontiers. But upon Ardashirs death in AD 242, and
the ascension of his son Shapur I to the throne, the balance of power titled decisively
toward the Sasanians. Shapur immediately had to deal with a Roman punitive invasion
launched by the boy-emperor Gordian III. Suffering a reverse at Resaena in eastern Asia
Minor in 243, Shapur drew the Romans into the Persian desert and defeated them at
Misiche, near the capital of Cstesiphon. Gordian was either killed in the battle or deposed
and killed by a cabal of his officers; his successor, Philip I, was forced to sue for peace,
agreeing to withdraw and pay a large annual subsidy of 500,000 gold aurei. (The gold
from this windfall may have provided the source material for the beautiful gold dinar
offered in our CICF sale.) For the next eight years, Shapur built his strength up and
waited until the Romans were preoccupied with internal civil wars before launching a
devastating attack in AD 253. He captured and sacked Antioch, the third greatest city of
the Roman Empire, forcing the newly installed Emperor Valerian to assemble a large task
force and move east to confront the rampant Persians in about AD 257. Once again,
Shapur withdrew before the advancing Romans, drawing them into a perfect trap and
capturing Valerian and his entourage alive, the greatest feat of arms yet by a Sasanian
monarch and the worst humiliation ever suffered by a Roman emperor. A famous rockcarved relief in Naqsh-e Rustam shows Shapur seizing Valerian by the arm while another
Roman Emperor (Philip?) kneels before him in supplication. Shapur continued his annual
military exploits for the remainder of his reign, becoming the greatest military threat the
Romans had faced since the days of Hannibal. His raids and conquests enriched the
treasury and enabled him to engage in stupendous building projects; meanwhile, under
the relentless pressure the Roman state fragmented and spiraled close to oblivion before
starting a recovery in the AD 270s. Shapur was more than just a great warrior, however:
He employed many of the soldiers, engineers and artisans captured in his campaigns to
build and beautify cities throughout his kingdom. A devout and evangelical Zoroastrian,
he was nevertheless tolerant of other faiths and is warmly mentioned as a just king in
Jewish writings. Upon his death in AD 270, the Persian Empire was once again arguably
the greatest and richest Empire on earth.