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After Alexander: Central Asia Before Islam
Ardashir's eastern campaign in the light of the numismatic evidence
Michael Alram
This topic is associated with the research project Sylloge Nummorum Sasanidarum (SNS) carried out by the French Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique and the Austrian Academy of Sciences in order to publish the Sasanian coin collections of the Bibliothèque nationale de France, the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, and the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna. Its aim is not only to present a catalogue of coins but also to gain insight into the minting organisation and financial structures of the Sasanian state and to demonstrate the value and informative status of the numismatic source material in the interplay with archaeological and epigraphic evidence as well as the literary record.
The first volume, prepared by Rika Gyselen and myself, contains the coins of the founder of the dynasty, Ardashir I (224-240), and his son, Shapur I (240-272). In this paper I would like to present some results concerning Ardashir’s eastern campaign in the light of the numismatic evidence which might help to solve some chronological problems based on the contradictory literary sources.
If one accepts Tabari, Ardashir I proclaimed himself ‘king of kings’ immediately after the Battle of Hormizdagan against the Arsacid great king Artabanus IV, which is supposed to have taken place in 223/224. The course of the events that then followed is unclear. According to Tabari, Ardashir’s further advance from Media described a large curve through Adurbadagan/Atropatene, Nodshiragan/Adiabene to Asuristan/Assyria (Iraq), where he conquered the capital of the Parthian Empire, Seleucia-Ctesiphon, probably in 226/227. Then he returned to Fars in order to prepare his great eastern campaign. This took him through Sagestan and Abarshahr at least as far as Marw, which was to hold a strategically key position in the north-east of the Sasanian empire. The account in the anonymous Nihayat al-Irab fi-ahbar al-Furs wa’l-‘Arab is different, however. It places this eastern campaign immediately after Ardashir’s victory over Artabanus and the conquest of Media. According to the Nihayat, Ardashir remained for a year in Marw and then returned to Ray, and from there – here there is agreement with Tabari – he marched through Adurbadagan and the lands of the Tigris to Ctesiphon.
Based on a careful typological analysis Ardashir´s coinage can be divided into three major phases: Ardashir’s first minting phase thus begins with his coronation as king of Fars in Stakhr and ends with his victory over Artabanus IV at the Battle of Hormizdagan in 223/224. The second phase, his first as ‘king of kings’, brought with it a radical reordering of Iranian coinage, from both a typological and a denominational point of view. In this period Ctesiphon was captured, presumably in 226/227 – the year of the founding of the empire as stated by Agathias and Elias of Nisibis. The third and final phase of Ardashir’s reign, which may be roughly dated from c. 229/230 to c. 240, was marked not only by foreign-policy successes and defeats, it also reflected the apogee of his domestic power. His position as the new ‘king of kings’ was now undisputed, and all the lands of the former Parthian Empire had been subjugated with the exception of Armenia. Apparently Ardashir felt he was now powerful enough to push Sasanian expansion to the west as well provoking conflict with Iran’s traditional enemy, Rome.
In Phase 2 and 3 two major mints were operating, probably to be located in Hamadan and Ctesiphon. Moreover, in Phase 3 the mint in Marw was finally opened. Evidence is provided by an edition of small bronze coins, whose characteristic, somewhat coarser style distinguishes them from the contemporary issues of the Ctesiphon mint and which were likely produced as small change for local needs. The location of Marw is based in this case solely on the evidence of finds. If a causal relationship is assumed between the beginning of coinage in Marw and Ardashir’s eastern campaign, the numismatic evidence could be an indication – as reported by Tabari – that minting began only after the conquest of Ctesiphon.
Also part of Phase 3 are the so-called ‘throne-successor
coins’, whose basic problematic nature was discussed by Karin
Mosig-Walburg and Robert Göbl in various articles. Drachms
and large bronze coins of this type were issued. The main focus
of production is clearly the large bronze coins, of which there
are three different series. Most of these issues were likely produced
in the second half of the third minting phase. The attribution of
the ‘throne-successor coins’ to one of Ardashir´s
two major mints remains still open: however, there is some new evidence
that they were struck as a result of Ardashir´s eastern campaign
in the area of Sakastan-Arachosia.