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Tyrants of the Tigris & euphrates
195
Sasanian Empire
Silver Drachm (4.23g, 28 mm), AD 438-457
Yazdgird (Yazdgard) II, Sasanian King, AD 438-457
Sunrise # 934 (this coin),SNS Type Ia2/1, Gobl Type I/2. Extremely Fine.
Mint: WH (Veh Ardashir or Veh Andiyok Shapur).
This coin was minted in the city of Veh Ardashir (in Iraq) which was a suburb of the capital of Ctesiphon,
20 miles south of present-day Baghdad. The city housed many wealthy Jewish merchants and nobility.
Veh Ardashir was also the seat of the Christian Patriarch. The other mint center Veh Andiyok Shapur is
located in southwestern Iran and was a part of a larger city known as Gundishapur which had a famed
and very rich medical library and was a major center of higher learning. This city also had one of the
earliest organized hospitals in the ancient world. This is a scarce silver drachm with the “Prayer” type
reverse.