page_title: Kavad I
section_title: Coins
hierarchical_section_title: Kavad I / Coins
caption_attribution_description: English: SASANIAN KINGS. Kavād (Kavādh) I. Second reign, AD 499-531. AV Dinar (22mm, 4.07 g, 3h). AYL (Susa?) mint. Dated RY 41 (AD 529/30). kw’d in Pahlavi to right, bust right, wearing mural crown with frontal crescent, two ribbons, and korymbos set on crescent, ribbons and crescents on shoulders; stars flanking head; star-in-crescents in margin / Fire altar with ribbons; flanked by two attendants; star and crescent flanking flames; y’č in Pahlavi (date) on left, ;6 ’yl in Pahlavi (mint) on right; double border. SNS type Ib-c/1b; SNS Schaaf –; SC Tehran –; cf. Göbl type II/2 (for type); Saeedi –; Sunrise – . EF, hint of weak strike in outer border of reverse. Unpublished and unique.
context_page_description: Kavad I was the Sasanian King of Kings of Iran from 488 to 531, with a two or three-year interruption. A son of Peroz I, he was crowned by the nobles to replace his deposed and unpopular uncle Balash.
  Inheriting a declining empire where the authority and status of the Sasanian kings had largely ended, Kavad tried to reorganize his empire by introducing many reforms whose implementation was completed by his son and successor Khosrow I. They were made possible by Kavad's use of the Mazdakite preacher Mazdak leading to a social revolution that weakened the authority of the nobility and the clergy. Because of this, and the execution of the powerful king-maker Sukhra, Kavad was imprisoned in the Castle of Oblivion ending his reign. He was replaced by his brother Jamasp. However, with the aid of his sister and an officer named Siyawush, Kavad and some of his followers fled east to the territory of the Hephthalite king who provided him with an army. This enabled Kavad to restore himself to the throne in 498/9.
  Bankrupted by this hiatus, Kavad applied for subsidies from the Byzantine emperor Anastasius I.
context_section_description: The provinces of Gorgan, Khuzestan, and Asoristan provided the most Sasanian coinage for Kavad during his reign. His reign marks the introduction of distinctive traits on the obverse sides of the coin which includes astral symbols, particularly, a crescent on both of his shoulders, and a star in the left corner. The reverse side shows the traditional fire altar flanked by two attendants facing the it in veneration. Kavad used the title of kay (Kayanian) on his coins, a title that had been used since the reign of his grandfather Yazdegerd II (r. 438–457). Kavad was, however, the last Sasanian shah to have kay inscribed on his coins—the last one issued in 513. The regular obverse inscription on his coins simply has his name; in 504, however, the slogan abzōn ("may he prosper/increase") was added.
caption: Gold coin of Kavad I, possibly minted at Susa.
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