A SURVEY OF SASSANIAN SILVER COINS FOUND IN CHINA

Hsia Nai Since the founding of New China in 1949, many Sassanian silver coins have been unearthed during archaeological excavations. Altogether there are 33 instances of suchfinds adding up to a total of 1,174 pieces, including many Arab-Sassanian coins. For convenience of reference, their find-spots, dates of minting and depositing, number of coins,previous publications, places of minting, etc. are given in Tables I and V. The findspots of these coins are as follows (see the sketch map in Figure 1): Turfan,Kucha, Wukia (Ulugh-art) in Sinkiang Uighur Autonomous Region; Sining (Chinghai),Sian, Yaohsien (Shensi), Loyang, Shenhsien (Honan), Taiyuan (Shansi) and Tinghsien(Hopei) in north China; and Yingteh and Ch'u-chiang in Kwangtung Province. Most ofthem are located on or near the Silk Road or near the eastern terminus of the sea routebetween China and Sassanian Iran. As to the dates of minting, they are issues of the following twelve rulers (The figures within the brackets indicate numbers of coins found.): Shapur , A. D. 310-379, (14);Ardashir , A. D. 379--383, (14); Shapur , A. D. 383--388, (4); Yazdegerd , A. D.438--457, (4); Peroz, A. D. 459--484, (122); Kavadh I, A. D. 488--531, (1); Jamasp, A.D. 497--499, (1) Chosroes I, A. D. 531--579, (5); Hormizd , A. D. 579--590, (1);Chosroes , A. D. 590--628, (593); Boran, A. D. 630--631 (2); Yazdegerd , A. D.632--651, (3). In addition, there are 282 Arab-Sassanian coins of Chosroes type (Plates and ). This numismatic record fits very well with literary evidences and reflects the vicissi-tude of the strength and prosperity of the Sassanian Empire and its position as a transitcountry for the silk trade between China and the Byzantine Empire. Shapur coins arethe earliest Sassanian silver coins ever found in China. We know that he was the one whoconquered the Kushan Empire in Central Asia and incorporated it as a Sassanian provincewith the provincial capital at Balkh. During his reign Iranian cultural influence reachedas far as China, and his coins followed caravans into China. The occurence of such rarecoins as those of Boran and Yazdegerd can be explained by the historical fact thatYazdegerd , the last ruler of the Sassanian dynasty, sought military help from T'angChina and contacts between the two countries became much closer under his reign. Afterthe fall of his dynasty, his son and grandson took refuge in Sian, the capital of T'angChina. Since some of these coin finds were excavated in contexts where dates of associatedfinds were known, it is possible to determine the length of time from the dates of their mint-ting to the time of their deposition. It ranges from ten to fifty years, but in some instancesmay be as long as a hundred years or even more (Tables --). It shows that greatcaution is requisite in fixing the dates of deposits solely on the basis of the dates of coins. On most of these Sassanian coins, the place of minting is inscribed on the right side ofthe reverse. Since the identifications of many Pahlevi mint-signatures, and sometimes eventheir readings, are very questionable, only those which are more or less certain are given inTable . They are Abarshahr, Ardashir-Khurra, Bishpur, Balkh, Darabjird, HamadanIstakhr, Kirman, Merv, Nihavand, Nahr-Tira, Raiy, Rev-Ardashir, Seistan, Susa and Za-rang. It is noteworthy that all these mints are situated in the eastern provinces of the Sassa-nian Empire nearest to China (See the sketch map in Figure 3). The coin finds of Ulugh-art (totalling over 1,000 pieces) and of Sining (totalling over100 pieces) are certainly coin hoards. But the single piece of Chosroes in the now famousHo-chiats'un Treasure at Sian was evidently preserved as a curiosity by its owner whocollected foreign and ancient Chinese coins, since it was found together with a Byzantinegold coin, five Japanees silver coins, several ancient Chinese copper coins of both Han andpre-Han dates, and numerous gold and silver vessels, precious stones, etc. Sassanian silver coins further served as tomb furniture, personal ornaments (togetherwith gold and silver jewellry) or religious tokens to be placed in the mouth of the dead.Although the ancient Greek practice of placing a coin, traditionally an obol, in the mouth of the deceased as payment of his fare to Charon, ferryman of the

underworld, is wellattested in literature, the "Charon's obol" theory suggested by A. Stein for his TurfanSassanian coin finds seems untenable as there is no evidence of such practice by either me-dieval Greeks or Iranians. On the other hand, in medieval China this funerary custom wasstill prevailing even in the Central Plains, a custom which can be traced back to the Shang-Yin and early Western Chou periods (late second and early first millenium B. C.) whenmetal coins were yet unknown and cowrie-shells were used for this purpose. Some of the Sassanian silver coins found as tomb furniture in China bear a single orseveral perforations. Originally, these were probably used as personal ornaments, being ei-ther sewn on to a garment or headdress, or strung together to be hung as pendants. According to Chinese literary sources, foreign silver coins (apparently denoting the Sas-sanian coins) were sometimes locally circulated in the Kansu Corridor in the Northern Choudynasty (A. D. 557--580) and in the Turfan region from the sixth century, through theearly 8th centuries. This is now borne out by the discoveries of both contemporary com-mercial documents written in Chinese and the Sassanian silver coins themselves. Sassanian silver coins have also been found in relic caskets under Buddhist pagodas inChina. In ancient India, the birthplace of Buddhism, pagodas or stupas were erected to en-shrine the sacred relics of the Buddha, usually encased in a relic casket which in turn wasplaced inside the basement of the pagoda. And often jewellries and coins, including Sas-sanian coins, were put in the casket along with the relies. Apparently, this practice followedthe footstep of Buddhists into China. In conclusion, these discoveries of Sassanian coins are enough to show that a brisktrade was carried on between Iran and China during the Sassanian period since thefourth century, attesting to the long history of friendship between the people of our two countries.