Chaponnière & Firmenich SA

Auction 10  –  21 October 2018

Chaponnière & Firmenich SA, Auction 10

Coins, Medals & Banknotes

Su, 21.10.2018, from 9:00 AM CEST
The auction is closed.

Description

SASSANIAN EMPIRE. Shapur I, 240-272. Dinar 260-272, Ctesiphon. Obv. Crowned bust of Shapur right. Rev. Fire altar, two attendants around. Göbl type I/1. AU. 7,36 g. UNC
The Sassanid Empire, founded in 224 by Ardashir I after his triumph over the Parthians, was one of the greatest powers in Western Asia. With its capital Ctesiphon (near Baghdad), the empire extended over more than 6 million km2 from Judea to the borders of India, and from the Caucasus to the Persian Gulf. In these territories several millennia succeeded one after another since the 13th century BC. The Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Achaemenid Persians, the Seleucids and the Parthians. The Sassanians were the last to rule these rich Mesopotamian lands, before passing into the hands of the first Muslim caliphate.
Shapour already participated in the fall of the Parthian Empire alongside his father in 224. He was crowned King of Kings in 240 and reined alongside his father. In 241, he was the sole to reign, consolidating his empire until 272, especially against the Romans, whom he led two wars against. The first took place at the beginning of his reign; Gordian III managed to conquer cities in Asia Minor and threatened to invade the capital Ctesiphon. But the Roman emperor succumbed in battle, and his successor Philip the Arab preferred to make peace, giving the Sassanids control of Armenia and a tribute of half a million Aurei.
However, peace never lasts with the Romans! Indeed, in 252, they tried a new offensive in Syria. There were many conquests on both sides including Antioch on the Orontes, destroyed by the armies of Shapour in 253, and then re-taken by the Romans in 257. Then in 260, the Roman emperor Valerian was defeated and taken prisoner by Shapour himself. He finished his days in captivity, abandoned by his successor Gallien.
The end of his reign continued in mitigated conflict with the Romans, leaving no room for diplomacy. Shapour died in 272, probably from illness.
This golden Dinar, the prestige coinage of the Sassanian Empire, depicts on the obverse a crowned Emperor Shapour, wearing the korymbos, a traditional bun worn on the top of his head and wrapped in a precious material. On the reverse, two servants protect an inflamed altar, revered Zoroastrianism, religion of the empire.

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Price realized 18'000 CHF
Starting price 15'000 CHF
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