A Study of the Coins of the Time of Sassanid Shahpur IV

A large part of available knowledge about Shahpur Yazdegerdan or Shahpur Shah-Armen, the prince of Yazdegerd I, has been derived from historical Armenian and Western texts. However, the fate of Sassanid King has still remained hidden. Hence, this study aims to provide a clear picture of this king and his fate through introducing some of the coins that have remained from his time and examining a number of historical documents. The results of the study indicate that, unlike some preconceptions, Shahpur IV was not an assassinated prince among the other ill-fated Iranian princes. Rather, he was a Sassanid King who was killed by Sassanid nobles and courtiers in a plot before his formal crowing and levee.