128 
KHOSROO PURVIZ. 
that it is a convincing proof of their contempt for the ancient 
purity of the Mithratic faith ; and from such contempt, he also 
dates the utter oblivion of this line of monarchs, in the native 
annals of Persia. In that nation, learning and religion were in 
the same hands j and when a prince trampled on the rights of 
the one, he was sure to be treated with retaliation by the pro¬ 
fessors of the other. The honours of history were in their 
power, and they dispensed or withheld them, according to the 
subject’s reverence or neglect of their sacred occupation. Hence 
the scorn into which the Magi fell? during the reign of the Ar- 
sacidag, may be deemed the real cause of the gap in ancient 
Persian history, which leaps at once from the death of Alexander 
and his sovereign generals, to the accession of Ardashir, whose 
coin I have just described; and who, in destroying the Arsacidag, 
or Parthian usurpers, revived the old Kaianian line in the Sas- 
sanian branch, and also restored the religion of Zoroaster. 
No. 6. This is considered a very curious coin, from the variety 
of objects on both sides. The crown of the monarch is winged, 
surmounted by a globe, and bound with a chaplet of large pearls ; 
the diadem itself, under the globe, is formed in the shape of an 
eagle, its head projecting over the forehead of the king, and hold¬ 
ing a smaller globe in its beak. The legend round this side, as 
far as I can decipher it, runs thus : — Mezdezn , Kesra Purwaz 
Malkan , Malka, Airan ; some marks appear directly under the 
head, which we may suppose are the date. The reverse, has 
the burning altar, with the usual royal supporters, each holding 
a sceptre in his hands: the words behind them, are Kesra 
Yezdani , “ Khosroo the Divine.” But the great singularity of 
this coin is, that the head and shoulders of a man are seen rising 
from amidst the flame on the altar. This may be meant to ex- 
