A Suggestion on Two Sasanian-Late Islamic Coins in the Tabriz-Orumiyeh Museums

Document Type : research articles

Author

Research Institute of Cultural Heritage and Tourism of the Minsirty Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicraft Iran

Abstract

The significance of Sasanian coins extends beyond their historical era and into the post-Sasanian and subsequent periods. This study focuses on an intriguingly overstruck coin of Hormizd IV, a Sasanian monarch, in the Tabriz Museum, and a similar coin in the Orumiyeh Museum. The overstriking process introduced counterstamps with well-known Islamic holy phrases: quwwa (قوه), barakah (برکه), Allāh (الله), which translates as "power," "blessing," and "God." This implies the phrase "power and blessings are from God".
The Islamic legends appear on Tabriz Museum’s coin as: at 4 lā ( لا), 2 hukm (حکم), 12 illā (الا), 10 Allāh (الله), 8 rabbī (ربی), and 6 Allāh (الله). This translates to "There is no judgment except God, my Lord is God". The discovery of a similar coin in the Orumiyeh Museum has raised intriguing questions. Did the individuals responsible for the restriking possess a collection of Hormizd IV coins, and did they apply the aforementioned restriking to these pieces?
In this article, I argue that the genesis of these transformations or in other words, inspiration can be traced back to the Īlkhanī era. While such a design can be discerned from the Sald̲j̲ūḳid period, the indelible imprint of the Īlkhanī period has profoundly influenced the Azarbaijan region.

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