Persian Treasury
Chronology

Timeline of Persian Coinage

Two and a half millennia in twenty-two moments — from the first electrum coins on the western edge of Media to the modern rial of the Islamic Republic.

  1. c. 610 BCE

    Lydian electrum staters

    The first true coins — electrum trites bearing a lion's head — circulate on the western edges of Media.

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  2. c. 546 BCE

    Cyrus conquers Lydia

    The Achaemenid empire inherits Sardis, the world's most advanced mint, but continues to circulate Lydian gold and silver.

  3. c. 515 BCE

    Darius reforms imperial coinage

    The gold daric and silver siglos, both bearing the archer-king, become the empire's standard.

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  4. 330 BCE

    Alexander destroys Persepolis

    Alexander's Macedonians overstrike daric dies; double-darics continue under satrapal authority.

  5. 247 BCE

    Arsaces founds the Parthian state

    Silver drachms with the seated archer reverse begin a 470-year run.

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  6. 141 BCE

    Mithradates I takes Seleucia

    Greek-style tetradrachms become a major Parthian denomination, dated by Seleucid Era.

  7. 224 CE

    Ardashir defeats Artabanus IV

    The Sasanian Empire is founded; fire-altar reverses replace the Parthian archer.

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  8. c. 500 CE

    Khosrow I's thin drachm reform

    Broad, thin silver drachms are struck in such volume that they remain abundant 1,500 years later.

  9. 651 CE

    Death of Yazdegerd III

    The Sasanian empire ends. Arab-Sasanian drachms continue Khosrow II's types for another 50 years.

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  10. 696 CE

    Abd al-Malik's coinage reform

    The Umayyad caliph replaces image-bearing coins with purely epigraphic dinar (~4.25 g) and dirham (~2.97 g).

  11. 874 CE

    Samanid silver economy peaks

    Nishapur, Bukhara and Samarqand pour out dirhams that reach Viking Russia.

  12. 1055 CE

    Seljuq Turks enter Baghdad

    Seljuq gold dinars under Malik Shah dominate eastern Mediterranean trade.

  13. 1295 CE

    Ghazan Khan's Ilkhanate reform

    Mongol coinage is unified across Iran with standardised silver dirhams.

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  14. 1501 CE

    Shah Ismail proclaims the Safavid state

    Tabriz issues silver shahis bearing the names of the Twelve Imams.

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  15. 1598 CE

    Shah Abbas moves capital to Isfahan

    The silver abbasi (~7.7 g) becomes Iran's main circulating coin for two centuries.

  16. 1739 CE

    Nader Shah sacks Delhi

    Mughal gold pours into Iranian mints; Nader's rupees are struck at Kabul and Mashhad.

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  17. c. 1786 CE

    Tehran becomes the Qajar capital

    Agha Mohammad Khan establishes the imperial mint in Tehran.

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  18. 1876 CE

    Machine-struck Qajar coinage

    Nasir al-Din Shah introduces milled toman and qiran from British-built dies.

  19. 1906 CE

    First Imperial Bank of Persia notes

    Paper money, printed in London by Bradbury Wilkinson, enters circulation.

  20. 1932 CE

    Rial replaces the qiran

    Reza Shah's monetary reform creates the modern Iranian rial at parity with the qiran.

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  21. 1971 CE

    2,500-year commemorative issues

    Mohammad Reza Shah issues commemorative gold coins and banknotes for the Persepolis celebrations.

  22. 1979 CE

    Islamic Revolution

    Bank Markazi reissues banknotes with Islamic Republic insignia, initially overprinting the existing Pahlavi notes.

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