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Author Topic: Recommendations for books regarding Sasanian Empire coinage?  (Read 862 times)

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Offline Julia B

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Recommendations for books regarding Sasanian Empire coinage?
« on: November 30, 2021, 11:13:59 pm »
I’ve been looking into collecting Sasanian coins for a while. I have tried to do some searching for Sasanian coinage books that will be useful in identifying mints, rulers, designs, examples, etc. but I’m not sure which book serves useful for that or not and some of the prices online are a little bit out of my price range for me. It’s generally hard to even find any books of that topic to begin with anyways. If anyone has any recommendations or helpful resources I greatly appreciate it.

Offline Virgil H

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Re: Recommendations for books regarding Sasanian Empire coinage?
« Reply #1 on: November 30, 2021, 11:34:26 pm »
Hi Julia B,
I don't know much about Sasanian coins outside of the interest I have in them as having conquered Elymais and that the coins are quite beautiful. The Forum Numiswiki has a pretty nice entry on Sasanian coins with lists of various references: https://www.forumancientcoins.com/numiswiki/view.asp?key=sasanian. That might be a good start.

Welcome to the Forum, by the way, there are others here who will have much more knowledge than I.

Virgil

Offline Julia B

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Re: Recommendations for books regarding Sasanian Empire coinage?
« Reply #2 on: December 01, 2021, 12:03:15 am »
I’ll be sure to take a look at the resources and references. And Thank you for the warm welcome!

Offline Tracy Aiello

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Re: Recommendations for books regarding Sasanian Empire coinage?
« Reply #3 on: December 02, 2021, 09:37:23 am »
Hello Julia B,

Sasanian coinage is a wonderful area, so rich and with many coins quite affordable. I am currently very far from home, and thus very far from my library. In addition, my online access is spotty and basically limited to my cell phone. Nonetheless, I will work up a reply regarding fundamental sources (or at least what I take to be fundamental sources) and post it as a reply in this thread. This might take me a week or more, so please check back.

Thanks, and all the best.

Tracy

Offline Julia B

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Re: Recommendations for books regarding Sasanian Empire coinage?
« Reply #4 on: December 07, 2021, 11:00:44 pm »
Thank you so much! Take all the time you need. I appreciate you taking the time to gather sources.

Offline Tracy Aiello

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Re: Recommendations for books regarding Sasanian Empire coinage?
« Reply #5 on: December 08, 2021, 06:00:44 pm »
Hi Julia B,

I am thinking in terms of refernces that contain a general discussion of Sasanian coinage in addition to a simple illustrated listing of coins with their brief descriptions. For the beginner I believe that this type of reference is the most beneficial. Below are my personal top picks.

The classical standard reference for Sasanian coinage is Robert Göbl's Sasanian Numismatics. Since this landmark work was published scholarship has added much to Göbl's work, e.g. identification of mints, categorization of types, etc. Nonetheless this reference is still rich in information and in my opinion deserves pride of place on the bookshelf of the collector of Sasanian coins.

Sasanian Coinage and History: The Civic Numismatic Collection of Milan by Andrea Gariboldi is another favorite of mine. As the title implies, the coinage of the various Sasanian King of Kings is, when possible, placed into proper historical contexts.

Although it does not deal with historical contexts, Rika Gyselen's New Evidence For Sasanian Numismatics: The Collection of Ahmad Saeedi is another important reference for the collector.

The Sylloge Nummorum Sasanidarum series contains the most important and detailed modern stuides of Sasanian coinage. The first three volumes (with the third volume having two parts) take the collector from the coinage of Ardashir I to Kawad I, and as of now these are the only volumes in the series dealing with specific rulers that are published. These studies contain a veritable treasure trove of information, detail, tables/charts, and illustrated coin examples. If you decide to specialize in the coinage of a particular King of Kings, then the corresponding SNS volume is a must. As of now we are waiting for the publication of volumes IV, V (parts 1 and 2), and VI. These will take us all of the way to Yazdgerd III and the end of the Sasanian era.

An Introduction to Sasanian Coins by David Sellwood, Phillip Whitting, and Richard Williams is a nice little volume that has the additional charm of being written in cursive. This is clearly an homage to W. H. Valentine's Sasanian Coins, published in 1921 and itself written in cursive. I own Valentine's work but I must admit that the light printing in combination with the cursive makes it impossible for me to read.

Oriental Coins and their Values, Vol. 2: the Ancient and Classical World by Michael Mitchiner is another standard work that you will sometimes see listed as a reference for a particular coin. I do not own this volume so I cannot speak to its virtues.

Finally, you should consider two great works of history by Touraj Daryaee: Sasanian Iran: The Portrait of a Late Antique Empire (2008) and Sasanian Persia: The Rise and Fall of an Empire (2009). The latter is a more in depth version of the former, but I believe that they are both worthy of owning. Daryaee is primarily a historian, but he has a speical interest in numismatics and the discussion of coinage is woven throughout his narratives. He believes very strongly that coins can and must serve as historical sources, especially with respect to the Sasanian era which has an almost absolute dearth of contemporary primary sources.

I hope that the discussion above helps you on your journey, and I hope that others on this forum add to and sharpen my list above.

All the best, and happy collecting.

Tracy

 

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