Byzantine Influence On Sasanian Coins/Art?

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Author	Replies: 3 / Views: 994
Harmonica Pillar of the Community Canada 1118 Posts	Posted 07/07/2017 08:16 am Hello everyone. I recently bought a Maurice Tiberius decanummis and Sear's Byzantine book to complement my growing Sassanian collection. Most of my coins are drahms of Xusro/Khusro II. I do however have one of Shapur the Second. As I examined my drahms more closely I noticed something. All my Khusro II drahms have the fire altar attendants looking straight at me while Shapur's attendants are in profile. I read in Sear's book the Byzantine really started to switch from profile to a "straight on" approach. I also noticed in Gobl's book on Sassanian numismatics that you only start to see the fire altar attendants head on starting with the coins of Khosrow the First. That lead me to think maybe the two great powers in the Near East influenced each other's coin designs. Hear is a Wikipedia blurb on Khosrow and the Byzantine-Sassanid war. Quote: In 532, Khosrow and Justinian, emperor of the Eastern Roman/Byzantine Empire concluded Pax Perpetuum, or the Eternal Peace in hopes of settling all land disputes between the Romans and Sasanians Would this has caused a cross-pollination of numismatic art? Are there any other examples of Byzantine and Sassanian art influencing each other, especially in a numismatic sense? Report this Post to the Staff

Spence Moderator United States 34408 Posts	Posted 07/07/2017 08:43 am @harmonica, seems like I haven't seen your posts for a while--we must be hanging out in different corners of CCF lately. You pose an interesting question and I look forward to hearing from our Byzantine and Sassanian experts about these connections. For sure the Byzantines influenced other coin producers (such as the Crusaders). "If you climb a good tree, you get a push." -----Ghanaian proverb "The danger we all now face is distinguishing between what is authentic and what is performed." -----King Adz Report this Post to the Staff
Finn235 Pillar of the Community United States 6130 Posts	Posted 07/07/2017 11:00 am It's an interesting theory; one that I haven't really seen brought up before. I would wager that if anything, the Byzantine's exposure to the nice big Sassanid drachms and Muslim dirhems was the driving factor to the big, thin trachy that had to be made scyphate to not snap in circulation. Report this Post to the Staff
echizento Moderator United States 23731 Posts	Posted 07/07/2017 12:01 pm Very interesting theory, but I haven't seen any evidence that points in tat direction. The peace between the Sassanians and the Byzantines was always a fragile one that didn't really last that long. The Byzantine emperor Phocas ruined any remaining peace that was between the two powers. As you know Khusro II attacked Jerusalem in 614 AD, capturing the city sacking it and taking the True Cross of Jesus and other relics back to their capital at Ctesiphon. It took 14 years and the weakening of their power before the Byzantine emperor Heraclius was able to defeat them and retake the True Cross back. Not too many years after that Islam became the power in the region. There is were we seen a lot of influence between them and the Byzantines in the coinage. Report this Post to the Staff
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