HUNNIC TRIBES, Hephthalites. Drachm (Silver, 31 mm, 3.21 g, 4 h), imitating a drachm of the Sasanian King Peroz I (457/9-484) from Balkh. Termez (?), after 561/2. Draped bust of Peroz I to right, wearing mural crown with korymbos set on crescent; in outer margin, ηβ ('eb') ιοομο ('ioomo') in Bactrian. Rev. Stylized Sasanian fire altar flanked by two attendants; to right, blundered βαχλο ('Balkh' in Bactrian). Göbl 288. Vondrovec Type 288 var. 2. Minor edge crack and with an edge split, otherwise, very fine.


This type may have been issued by the Hephthalites after they were expelled from Baktria following a defeat in 561/2 against the joint forces of the Sasanian Emperor Khosrau I and the Western Turkic Khaganate. It may have been struck in Termez ('place of transition' in Sogdian), an important ford on the Oxus (Amudarya).