Sale: Triton VII, Lot: 635. Estimate $200.  Closing Date: Monday, 12 January 2004.  Sold For $325. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

SASANIAN KINGS of PERSIA. Bahram V. 420-438 AD. AR Obol (0.45 gm). BBA (Court) mint. Degraded Pahlavi legend, crowned and cuirassed bust right / No legend, bust of Bahram in front of fire altar with attendants; mint signature to right. Cf. Göbl I/2 (for type); Paruck -; Alram -; MACW -; De Morgan -. Nice VF. Unpublished denomination for this type; possibly the second known (see Sotheby’s, 24 March 1983, lot 408, for the other known obol of this type). ($200)

Near the end of the reign of his father, Yazdgard I, a small group of Christians attacked a number of temples, causing a new persecution against their religion. Bahram continued this upon his accession. As tensions rose, a number of Christians fled to the Romans, and their return was demanded by the Sasanians. The refusal of the Romans to comply led to war preparations on both sides, but this quickly devolved when the Christian community under the Sasanians split from the western church under a doctrinal dispute. The doctrines of this new community, the Nestorians, were viewed as non-threatening, and the persecution also ceased. Much of his reign afterwards was spent successfully staving-off repeated invasions by the Hephthalites.