The Sasanians produced the most artistically consistent and historically informative ancient coinage: thin, broad silver drachms with the king's crown on obverse and a Zoroastrian fire altar on reverse.
Each king wore a unique crown — a numismatic fingerprint. Göbl's typology and Schindel's Sylloge Nummorum Sasanidarum remain canonical.
After Peroz I (459–484), drachms become dated by regnal year and mint signature (3-letter abbreviation), enabling fine chronological control.
Sasanian drachms continued to be imitated by Arab-Sasanian governors for 50+ years after the conquest.
Ardashir I (founder)
ObverseBust with korymbos crown; Pahlavi legend 'Mazda-worshipping divine Ardashir, King of Kings of Iran'.
ReverseFire altar without attendants.
Founder of the dynasty after defeating Artabanus IV.
Shapur I
ObverseMural crown with korymbos.
ReverseFire altar with two attendants.
Defeated three Roman emperors including Valerian (captured 260 CE).
Khosrow I
ObverseBust with elaborate winged crown.
ReverseFire altar with two attendants, regnal year and mint.
Currency reformer; standardised drachm weight and purity. Massive output.
Khosrow II
ObverseCrowned bust within double border, crescents and stars.
ReverseFire altar with attendants, year/mint.
Most common Sasanian coin; struck in huge quantities through 38-year reign.
Bahram V (Bahram Gur)
ObverseCrowned bust with crescents and stars; winged crown of Bahram V.
ReverseFire altar with two attendants.
Hero of Persian epic — celebrated in Ferdowsi's Shahnameh and Nezami's 'Haft Peykar'. Gold dinars are rare; eastern mints (Sind) supplied trade with India.
Peroz I
ObverseBust with third crown (wings + crescent + globe); legend names Peroz.
ReverseFire altar with attendants; mint signature and regnal year — first dated Sasanian drachms.
Peroz's wars against the Hephthalites bankrupted the empire and he was killed in battle in 484. From his reign onward, mint and year on Sasanian drachms enable precise dating.
Kavad I
ObverseBust with crescent-and-globe crown; Pahlavi legend.
ReverseFire altar with attendants, mint and regnal year.
Kavad's reforms paved the way for Khosrow I. His support for the radical Mazdakite movement marks one of the most dramatic episodes in late antique Iran.
Yazdegerd III (last Sasanian)
ObverseBeardless youthful bust, mural crown.
ReverseFire altar; YE (Yazdgerd Era) dating.
Killed at Merv. His coins continued posthumously into the Arab-Sasanian series.
Shapur I
ObverseCrowned bust of Shapur I right, wearing mural crown with korymbos and earring; Pahlavi legend 'Mazda-worshipping divine Shapur, King of Kings of Iran'.
ReverseFire altar flanked by two royal attendants.
Sasanian gold dinars were comparatively rare, used for diplomatic gifts and high-value trade with Rome and India. Shapur I's gold issues celebrate his triumphs over three Roman emperors — most famously the capture of Valerian in 260 CE.
Bahram II
ObverseFamily group: Bahram II with queen and crown-prince facing — uniquely dynastic for Sasanian coinage.
ReverseFire altar with two attendants.
Bahram II's coins are exceptional in Sasanian numismatics for showing the royal family together — a propaganda response to the religious challenge of Manichaeism, brutally suppressed under his predecessor Bahram I.
Shapur III
ObverseCrowned bust right with distinctive cap-and-globe crown; Pahlavi legend.
ReverseFire altar with attendants; mint signature.
Shapur III concluded the long partition of Armenia with Rome (387 CE), dividing it into Persian and Roman spheres. His gold issues are far rarer than the silver and were probably commemorative or diplomatic.
Bahram Chobin (usurper)
ObverseBust with crown of Bahram Chobin, regnal year 1 — a rare survival of a usurper's issue.
ReverseFire altar with attendants; Susa mint signature.
A Sasanian general from the Mihran clan who briefly seized the throne from Khosrow II — the only non-Sasanian to rule Iran between Ardashir I and the Arab conquest. Khosrow II recovered the throne with Byzantine help; Bahram Chobin's coins were struck for barely a year.