Comparative Comparison of Nursery Coins, Before Coronation and After Coronation

Studying the coins of a period, helps us to understand the important historical events that led to the coinage of those coins. Coins of Narseh, the seventh Sassanian king, also have this feature, and their study provides us with valuable information about the Narseh revolt and the civil wars at the end of the reign of Bahram II, which led to the accession of Narseh to the throne. Narseh, the son of Shapur I, had a special place during his father’s reign and finally ascended to the throne in 293 AD. He struck a gold coin before being crowned. Therefore, Narseh coins are divided into two groups in a general classification: pre-coronation and post-coronation. By studying Narseh’s coins, the following questions arise: Why did Narseh strike the gold coin before he became king? And was it common striking the coins, during the Sassanid period, before accessing the throne? 2. What are the symbolic differences between the coins before and after the reign of Narseh? By studying and comparing the similarities and differences of these coins, such as the image of the diadem, which is a symbolic and decisive element in numismatics, the ornaments and appearance features used on obverse and reverse of the coins and the study of various inscriptions, as well as the titles which he had used to describe himself, we conclude that Narseh struck gold coins, which were unusual at the time, in order to publicly announce the succession of the kingdom before he ascended to the throne. On the other hand, Narseh’s conquest and defeat in the battle with the Romans, was one of the main reasons for the changes in the motifs and inscriptions of his coins. This research has been done in a historical-comparative manner and based on library studies and field studies.
 

 In this article, the author examines and compares the similarities and differences of these coins, such as the royal officer, who is in fact the first symbolic element of the kingdom and has a decisive role in the science of coinage, as well as the decorations and outward features used on and behind the coins. The types of inscriptions, as well as the nicknames that Narseh uses in his coins, will indicate that Narseh multiplied gold coins in order to publicly proclaim the succession of the kingdom before he came to the throne. He also used the title “King of Iran and Aniran” to describe himself when he won the first year of his reign in the war with the Romans, but when defeated by the Romans in the second year of his rule, he was forced to accept Peace and in a number of other coins, removed the title “King of Aniran”.
 

On the reverse side of many Narseh’s coins is the scene of the granting of the Prince’s Ring, in which the goddess Anahita bestows the Prince’s Ring, as a symbol of the monarchy, to Narseh. Narseh has also put palm branches on its crown, symbolizing the worship of Goddess Anahita,a question may arise here where does this come from? Generally during the perioud of Kartir, the Sassanian kings largely lost their religious power in the position of guarding the Temple of the Anahita Pool in favor of Kartir, and this continued until the reign of Narseh and eventually succeeded to abandon the Kartir and again brought the temple back to the Sassanid king. The worship of Goddess Anahita may have never been abandoned by the Sassanid king, but with the abandonment of Kartir by Narseh a major religious-political change in the Sassanid Empire led to the return of Narseh to his father Shapur I’st religious status. It was Ardashir I of Sassanid, who held this position in support of King Bahram I and King Bahram II as successor. Later on, we reflect both Narseh’s ideology and religious thought in the Paikuli inscription in which Narseh seizes the prince’s ring from goddess Anahita. It must be acknowledged that Narseh appears in his coins with two types of crowns, the first of which is his royal crown made from a number of small arches or congresses created parallel to the coinage. The second crown of Narseh resembled his first crown, but three or sometimes four palm branches were used to decorate these congresses. The second crown of Narseh is similar to the crown that he holds in the rock relief of Naqsh-eRostam; it must be acknowledged that both the congress and the palm branches are some sort of sign of the goddess Anahita, both of which can be a symbol of the king’s endowment. Or in other words, say that Narseh backed by this Godess has gained his reign. These three or four branches in the crown of the palm for the suppression of uprisings by Narseh has linked Bahram III. Palm trees are symbols of the goddess Anahita because it is associated with plants and their growth.
 

Alram and Gyselen present the timing sequence of Narseh’s coins and their typology in the new SNS series as opposed to Goebb’s theory, namely they believe that the timing of Narseh’s coins appears with a crown that has both congress and three or four branches of palm. The palm branch belongs to the early Narsehb reign, so they are referred to as Type 1 (I) coins, and the coins that appear to be Narseh with only congressional crown are referred to as Late Narseh or Type 2 (II) coins. The removal of palm branches probably dates back to the time after the defeat of the Narseh by the Roman army. As we know, Narseh has no longer used the term “King of Iran and Aniran to describe himself” in the coins he minted after this defeat and historical event, but has removed the word Eniran and has called himself only “King of Iran”.
Finally, in the field of art, Narseh uses the picture of godess Anahita on her coins as well as carved the quality of her Goddess’s coronation in the rock relief of Naqsh-eRostam in which the Godess Anahita donates the royal ring to Narseh and he wants to show his sincerity to Anahita. In the political realm by breaking with Bahram II’s attitude and returning to the tradition of his paternal grandfather Narseh took back the control of Anahita temple from Kartir. In fact, the presence of the symbols of the goddess Anahita in the Narseh’s coins, as well as the presence of this goddess in the rock relief of Naqsh-eRostam alongside the Narseh signify the great religious-political change that put Kartir out of the custody of the Temple of Anahia and the return of that authority to Narseh.