Nezak Huns

Silver Dirham

納札克匈人

銀迪拉姆

Nazek Hun
Silver Dirham
(Late Period Version)
納札克匈人
銀迪拉姆
(晚期版)
Item number: A3579
Reference number: MACW#1507
Year: circa AD 484-550
Material: Silver
Size: 26.1 x 26.3 x 0.3 mm
Weight: 2.5 g
Manufactured by: Kapisi Mint
Provenance: Stephen Album Rare Coins 2025
Nazek Hun
Silver Dirham
(Early Period Version)
納札克匈人
銀迪拉姆
(早期版)
Item number: A3583
Reference number: MACW#1500, 1501
Year: circa AD 484-550
Material: Silver
Size: 27.0 x 25.6 x 0.6 mm
Weight: 3.05 g
Manufactured by: Ghazni Mint
Provenance: Stephen Album Rare Coins 2025

These are silver coins, possibly struck by the Nezak Huns in the southern Hindu Kush between the late fifth and the first half of the sixth century AD. Their form resembles that of a dirham.

The obverse depicts the right-facing bust of an unidentified leader in the Nezak style, wearing a cap-like crown. The design is blurred, but the headgear appears to feature both wings and buffalo horns, combining the winged-crown motif revived in the Sasanian Empire during the fifth century with steppe Hunnic traditions. To the right of the bust there is an inscription, which may be in Bactrian script (also transcribed as Pahlavi): “𐭭(𐭩)𐭰𐭪𐭩𐭬𐭫𐭪” (n(y)cky MLK), meaning “King of the Nezaks.”

The reverse shows a Sasanian-style fire altar, though its details are indistinct.

The origins of the Huns are debated, with theories proposing Mongolic, Turkic, Iranian, or Tungusic affiliations. The Hephthalites, perhaps of Iranian or Turkic tribal stock, rose to prominence during the Hunnic migrations of the fourth to sixth centuries AD, occupying the former Greco-Bactrian kingdom. The name of the Hephthalites was first recorded by the Northern Wei dynasty in China, while Byzantine sources referred to them as the “White Huns.” South of the Hindu Kush, the Alkhans expanded, also called the “Red Huns.” Alongside the Nezak Huns, who rose locally after the defeat of the Sasanians, they have long been regarded as a branch of the Hephthalite Empire, or at least as having been heavily influenced by it.

In the early sixth century AD, the Alkhans expanded into central India, defeated the Gupta dynasty, and contributed to its eventual collapse, though they were themselves ultimately defeated by the Maukhari kingdom. Around AD 520 they again confronted the Maukharis and the Later Guptas without decisive result, retreating with plunder. By about AD 530 they withdrew to Gandhāra and Kashmir. In the latter half of the sixth century, under Toramana II, they retreated further to Kabul, where they came into contact with the Nezak Huns. Although the details are unclear, some form of coexistence appears to have been established. Thereafter, they repeatedly repelled Sasanian incursions, secured their position locally, and, according to records, sent multiple embassies to the Tang dynasty of China.

The term “dirham” derives from the Ancient Greek word drachmē (drachma, meaning “a handful”), which originally denoted a unit of weight and subsequently became a currency designation. The term was transmitted through the Sasanian Empire into Middle Persian as drhm, and from there entered Arabic as “درهم” (dirham), where it gained wide currency in the Islamic world. During the Sasanian period it was already in extensive circulation, and following the reforms of the Rightly Guided Caliphs and the Umayyad dynasty, the dirham was established as the standard silver coin, alongside the gold dinar and the copper fals, with conversion ratios frequently prescribed by law. The weight of the dirham varied by region, generally ranging between 2.8 and 3 grams, and it functioned both as currency and as a unit of weight, being employed in regulations concerning alms (zakāt), dowries, and punishments. In certain areas, debasement led to the use of copper as the material for minting. With the expansion of Islamic power, both the name and the physical coin of the dirham circulated widely across Central Asia, Persia, India, and al-Andalus. Today, Morocco and the United Arab Emirates continue to use the dirham as their official currency unit.

這是一些可能於公元五世紀末到六世紀前半,由興都庫什山脈南部的納札克匈人政權所鑄的銀幣,形制類似迪拉姆。

錢幣正面為未知領導者的右側半身像,呈納札克風格,頭戴帽冠。頭冠有雙翼及水牛角,結合了薩珊五世紀時再現的翼冠圖樣與匈人傳統。人像右側有字,多數為缽羅婆文(亦譯巴列維文)的「𐭭(𐭩)𐭰𐭪𐭩𐭬𐭫𐭪」(n(y)cky MLK),即「納札克之王」。據稱最後一個字母揭示錢幣出品位置之造幣廠,主要有前期的加茲尼,和後期的迦畢試。

錢幣背面為薩珊式的拜火祭壇,中央為乘載聖火的壇柱,兩側為侍從,侍從頭部有太陽圖樣紋飾。

匈人的起源眾說紛紜,有蒙古、突厥、伊朗、通古斯等說的分歧。而起源可能為伊朗或突厥部落的嚈噠人,也在公元4-6世紀的匈人大遷徙中興起,據有希臘-巴克特里亞王國一帶。嚈噠之名在北魏時首次為中原政權所知,並在拜占廷文獻中被稱為「白匈人」。興都庫什山脈以南開始擴張的艾肯匈人,也被稱為「紅匈人」,與薩珊王朝被擊敗後本地崛起的納札克匈人,長期以來被認為是嚈噠帝國的分支,或至少是受了強烈的影響。艾肯匈人於公元六世紀初往印度中部擴張,擊敗笈多王朝,並最終導致笈多王朝崩潰,但最終被摩臘婆王國擊敗。約公元520年,與摩臘婆和後笈多王朝再戰,無果,沿途劫掠而還。約公元530年,艾肯匈人撤至犍陀羅與喀什米爾地區,約公元六世紀後半,在頭羅曼二世領導下,又撤至喀布爾地區,與在當地立國的納札克匈人接觸,過程不明,但應該是達成某種形式的共存。此後多次擊退薩珊王朝,立足當地,並從紀錄來看,多次遣使唐朝。

「迪拉姆」(dirham)一名源自古希臘文drachmē(德拉克馬,意為「一握」),最初是重量單位,後來成為貨幣名稱;此詞經由薩珊王朝傳入中古波斯語作drhm,再進入阿拉伯語為「درهم」(dirham),遂在伊斯蘭世界通行。薩珊時期已廣泛流通,至正統哈里發與伍麥葉王朝改革時,迪拉姆成為標準銀幣,與金幣第納爾(dinar)、及銅幣(fals)並列,折算比率常以法律規定。各地迪拉姆重量不一,通常在2.8至3克之間,既作貨幣又作重量單位,用於天課、聘金與刑罰等規範。在一些地方,常因貶值而使用銅為幣材。隨著伊斯蘭勢力擴張,迪拉姆的名稱和實物在中亞、波斯、印度、安達盧斯廣泛流通。至今,摩洛哥、阿聯酋仍以迪拉姆為法定貨幣單位。

類似/相同物件 請看:

奧地利 維也納藝術史博物館 Vienna Museum of Art History

https://data1.geo.univie.ac.at/projects/dasantlitzdesfremden/showcases/showcase11.html

俄羅斯 澤諾東方錢幣資料庫 Zeno.ru – Oriental Coins Database

https://www.zeno.ru/showphoto.php?photo=358320

更多相關訊息請參考:

Mitchiner, Michael. The ancient & classical world, 600 B.C.-A.D. 650. London: Hawkins, 1978. (MACW#)

Wink, André. Al-Hind the Making of the Indo-Islamic World: The Slave Kings and the Islamic Conquest: 11Th-13th Centuries. Vol. 2. Brill, 1990.

Tandon, Pankaj. More Early Medieval Portrait Coins of the Yashaaditya Series. Journal of the Oriental Numismatic Society. Vol. 195, 2008, p. 17–23.

Tandon, Pankaj. Pracandendra, Not Pracatunde: An Improved Reading of Some Coins of the Yashaaditya Series. Journal of the Oriental Numismatic Society. Vol. 197, 2008, p. 30.

Todd, Ian. The Silver Damma: On the Mashas, Daniqs, Qanhari Dirhams and Other Diminutive Coins of India, 600-1100 CE, 2018.

帕尔梅什瓦里·拉尔·笈多(Parmeshwari Lal Gupta)等着;张子扬译,《贵霜王朝货币史》(Kusana Coins and History),北京:中国金融出版社,1993。

帕尔梅什瓦里·拉尔·笈多(Parmeshwari Lal Gupta)着;石俊志译,《印度货币史》(Coins),北京:法律出版社,2018。

大卫·赛尔伍德(David Sellwood)等著;付瑤译,《萨珊王朝货币史》,北京:法律出版社,2019。

达利遥义(Touraj Daryaee)著,吴赟培译,《萨珊波斯: 帝国的崛起与衰落》北京:北京大学出版社,2021。

勒内·格鲁塞(René Grousset)著;赵晓鹏译,《草原帝国》北京:中国致公出版社,2019。

返回頂端