Recognizing the Namelocation of Iran Based on Minted Coins in the Sasanian Period

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 MA in Ancint Iranian Language, Tabriz University Student, Tabriz, Iran

2 PhD candidate of in History if ancient Iran, Department of history of Iran, Islamic Azad University, Science and Research Branch, Tehran, Iran

3 Professor Department of history. Faculity of Literature and Humanities. Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran.(Corresponding Author)

Abstract

A noteworthy point in Sassanid history is the appearance of the full Pahlavi name of Iran on the back of some coins. This name, which was written in the place of insertion of the mints, i.e. on the right side of the back of the coin, is associated with the written word 'yl'n and the phoneme eran, which means Iran. This is despite the fact that for the word Iran, other abbreviations with the letters AYLA, AYL, AY were also used in coins. Since there were cities in the Sassanid era whose names were compound and were formed by combining the name of Iran, therefore, according to the rule, coin engravers should have used the mentioned abbreviations to insert the names of these cities at the mint. However, we can see that the full name of Iran was sometimes used for some kings on the back of the coins, and based on historical sources, the kings in question did not dominate any of the cities whit the name of Iran. So, really the complete sign of Iran, which was inserted in the mints, represented what place? We know that this full name was also used in some gold coinages, which were ceremonial and exclusive to the capital. In this article, we will try to clarify the Sasanians purpose to use this name on the coins. To achieve this goal, data has been collected from historical documents and analyzed in a descriptive-analytical method.

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