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Drachm - Hephthalite Prince
| Issuer | Hephthalite Empire |
|---|---|
| Year | 484-560 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Diameter | 29 mm |
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| Obverse description | Half-length frontal bust of a mustachioed Hephthalite prince, bareheaded, with head turned slightly to the left, rendered in high relief within a beaded inner border. The prince wears elaborate jewelry including a beaded necklace, and his right hand is raised holding a ceremonial drinking cup. Flanking the bust are decorative floral or foliate ornaments, and a globular finial surmounts the headdress area, reflecting Central Asian artistic conventions. The overall composition is enclosed within a prominent beaded border running along the coin's periphery. |
|---|---|
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| Mintage | ND (484-560) |
| Additional information |
The Hephthalites — the "White Huns" of Byzantine and Sasanian sources — effectively shattered Sasanian power in 484 when Peroz I rode into a trap near the Oxus and died along with much of his army. The coinage that followed borrowed heavily from Sasanian prototypes, a deliberate appropriation of imperial legitimacy from the dynasty they had just humiliated into paying tribute for decades.
Göbl's classification of this type places it within a sequence now understood as regional imitations produced by subordinate Hephthalite princes rather than a central mint — accounting for the fabric variations that complicate attribution across the series.