1917. j Numismatic Supplement No. XXIX. 157 



received in marriage the daughter of the king, and with his 

 help expelled Jamasp and recovered his kingdom in 499. 



Kobad died; eighty-two years old, 13th September 631, and 

 was succeeded by his destined heir, Khusrau I, surnamed 

 Anosharvan "the Blessed", whom his father is said to have 

 caused to be crowned as he lav on his deathbed. 



t. 



Kobad or Kabad is the Avestic word Kawata " found on 

 the gate " (see the Bundehesh. Translation, West. 1880 ; p. 136). 



Qobad 



WafiaTTjs 



buch ; p. 159). 



(See Justi, Iranisches Namen- 



On his coins we find Kavat and rarely Kavad, amplified 

 from his sixteenth vear bv the word afzunV (from afzu'ni'k 



. - 



/ 



af. Kobad is the only king who has this word associated with 



his name. On the coins 



/ 



always separate and inscribed on the other side of the field. 

 During his first reign, we find on the reverse his name Kavat 

 with the indication of the city of issue. 



Although there were some exceptions during the reign of 

 Firoz I, the usage of marking the'regnal year on the drachmes 

 was not established till the reign of Jamasp in 497. There- 

 after the date is inscribed in the field on the reverse to the 

 left, the right being reserved for the mint monogram. This 

 usage became a definite convention which endured till the end 

 of the Sassanian dynasty. It was maintained by the Aiabs in 

 their copies of the Sassanian drachme, struck in the course 

 of the seventh and eighth centuries of the Christian era, and the 

 Ispehbeds of Tabaristan followed the same usage on their 

 coinage 



With his restoration to the throne, Kobad adopted from 

 his predecessors the practice of dating his coins. The earliest 

 certain date is ot the vear 11 (iajdeh) which corresponds with 

 499 : for the reading dioki (one) mentioned by Dorn was dis- 

 puted with reason bv Bartholomaei (Melanges asiatiques, April 

 1859, p. 613). The last date is of the year 43 (se chehell which 

 is the year 531, the series between these two dates being com- 

 plete. 



The mint-monograms did not appear on the d rac hm es 

 of the earlv monarchs till the reign of Bahrain IV (388-39J). 

 During the' time of this king and his successors Yezdegerd 1 

 (399-420) and Bahrain V (420-438) ; the monograms, which are 

 composed of a few letters onlv, were inscribed on the right and 

 left or on both sides of the fire surmounting the altar on the 

 reverse side of the drachmes. Under Yezdegerd II (438-4;>7) 

 the monograms passed into the field on the right and were 

 regularly confined to that place. 



From the vear 13 during the second reign (499-531) ot 

 Kobad I, the Sissanian coinage is enriched with the marginal 



