134 
ARSACIDiEAN COINS. 
a small globe. The symbol of a star, or the sun, appears near 
his head. The reverse has no altar, but a single upright figure 
standing in the place usually occupied by that emblem of worship 
in the Sassanian coins. It is executed in a very barbarous style, 
having a clump-headed, dwarfish effect. The royal fillets pend 
from its shoulders, and a diadem is on the head, resembling that on 
the opposite side; only the crescent and globe here, rather hover 
over, than touch the crown. From the wretched taste of the 
whole, I should assign it to the latter times of the dynasty, when 
its reign was naturally drawing to a close in every respect, from 
feebleness in the monarchs, and general debasement amongst 
the rulers of the people. I regret having neglected to copy the 
legend, illegible as it was, with any sufficient accuracy to give a 
chance of deciphering its meaning; but the sketch I made of 
the head and figure is exact, and may be interesting to those 
who feel the value of these sort of documents, in the arrange¬ 
ment of history. The most numerous of the Arsacidasan coins 
yet to be found in Persia, are generally much smaller than the 
foregoing, varying most surprisingly in the merit of their work¬ 
manship ; some being in the highest order of medalic taste, and 
others, even more barbarous than the original of the preceding 
sketch. But when we recollect, that a term of nearly 500 years 
occupied the time between the accession of the fifst Arsaces, 
and that of Arduan, the last of his race, our amazement may 
cease, in consideration of the fluctuations in national affairs, and 
therefore in the arts, which must have taken place during that 
long period. 
Details of these princes are only to be gathered from western 
writers ; the native historians, who were generally of the priest¬ 
hood, for the reason given before, almost totally excluding these 
