Item number: A3584

Year: AD 665-680

Material: Copper

Size: 28.4 x 29.2 x 0.6 mm

Weight: 3.4 g

Provenance: Stephen Album Rare Coins 2025

This is a copper coin, probably struck in the first half of the seventh century AD by the Turkic–Nezak Hunnic polity in the southern Hindu Kush, in a form resembling a drachm.

The obverse may depict the right-facing bust of Bārhat Tegin, rendered in Nezak style, wearing a cap-like crown surmounted by a crescent enclosing a trident. This design may represent a simplified form of the Nezak-style buffalo-horn headdress. To the left of the portrait appears the tamga (ancient Turkic: 𐱃𐰢𐰍𐰀, tamga) of the Hephthalite-Hun group known as the Alkhan, serving as their tribal emblem. The tamga is composed of a crescent with its opening turned upward, set above a symbol resembling “丌” or “Π,” connected by a vertical line. To the right of the bust is a Bactrian legend reading “σριο ϸανιο” (Srio Shaho). The first term, “Srio,” is a phonetic rendering of “Śrī,” meaning “auspicious,” a common honorific of rulers in the Indic cultural sphere. The second term derives from the Persian royal title “Shah.” The combined phrase may be rendered as “Auspicious Shah” or more simply as “King.”

The reverse follows the Sasanian type of fire altar flanked by two attendants, though the details are indistinct.

The origins of the Huns are contested, with theories proposing Mongolic, Turkic, Iranian, or Tungusic derivations. Their emergence is often associated with the Hephthalites, an Iranian or Turkic tribal confederation that rose to power during the Hunnic migrations of the fourth to sixth centuries AD, dominating the region of the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom. The name Hephthalite first became known to Chinese dynasties under the Northern Wei and appears in Byzantine sources as the “White Huns.” South of the Hindu Kush, the Alkhans, also called the “Red Huns,” expanded, while the Nezaks arose locally in the wake of Sasanian decline. Both groups have long been regarded either as branches of the Hephthalite Empire or as polities heavily influenced by it. In the early sixth century AD the Alkhans expanded into central India, defeating the Gupta dynasty and contributing to its collapse, though they were themselves ultimately defeated by the Malwa kingdom. Around AD 520, after inconclusive campaigns against the Malwas and the Later Guptas, they plundered and withdrew. By AD 530, the Alkhans retreated to Gandhara and Kashmir, and in the later sixth century, under Toramana II, they withdrew further to Kabul, where they encountered the Nezaks, who had established their rule there. The process of interaction is unclear but must have involved some form of coexistence.

From AD 654 the governor of Sijistan for the Rashidun Caliphate, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Samura, conquered the Kabul region. The local Turkic–Nezak polity was likely severely weakened and may have brought in Turkic forces as military support. However, during the First Muslim Civil War (AD 656–661), the Arabs did not maintain permanent control. In AD 661 Chinese sources record that the last Nezak ruler, Ghar-ilchi, sent envoys to the Tang court, receiving investiture as King of Jibin and being placed under the jurisdiction of the Xiuxian commandery within the Anxi Protectorate. In AD 665 the Umayyad governor of Basra again dispatched Ibn Samura to the region, who captured Kabul and induced Ghar-ilchi to accept Islam. Soon afterwards, the Turkic leader Bārhat Tegin overthrew the regime and reconquered much of the Helmand valley and Kandahar. In AD 680, after the death of Bārhat Tegin, the throne passed to his son Usan Tegin Sāh, who also sent envoys to the Tang court and continued to be recognised as King of Jibin.

The drachm originated in ancient Greece and, through the eastward conquests of Alexander the Great, was disseminated by the successor kingdoms of the Hellenistic period. Initially a silver denomination, it later gave rise to base-metal issues, including copper, in Central Asia and India.

物件編號: A3584

年代: 公元 665-680 年

材質: 銅

尺寸: 28.4 x 29.2 x 0.6 mm

重量: 3.4 g

來源: 史蒂芬稀有錢幣專輯 2025

這是一枚可能於公元七世紀前半，由興都庫什山脈南部的突厥-納札克匈人政權所鑄的銅幣，形制類似德拉克馬。

錢幣正面可能為巴爾哈特勤的右側半身像，呈納札克風格，頭戴帽冠，冠上有新月形裝飾，內有三叉戟圖樣，可能來源於納札克式水牛頭角頭飾的簡化。肖像左側為艾肯匈人的塔木加(古突厥語：𐱃𐰢𐰍𐰀, tamga)，即族徽。塔木加形狀為由上端有一新月，缺口朝上，已依直線連接下端一形似「丌」或「Π」之符號。人像右側有巴克特里亞文(亦譯大夏文)「σριο ϸανιο」(Srio Shaho)，前詞音譯「室利」，即「吉祥」，為泛印度教地區君主常見尊號，後詞來自波斯君主稱號「沙阿」(Shah)。大約可以合譯為「吉祥沙」或直接譯為「君王」。

錢幣背面為薩珊式的拜火祭壇，細節不明。

匈人的起源中說紛紜，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。

公元654年起，正統哈里發國的錫斯坦總督，阿卜杜·拉赫曼·伊本·薩穆拉攻佔了喀布爾地區，本地的納札克-艾肯匈人政權可能受到了極大的削弱，並可能由此引入突厥勢力作為軍事憑依。但因公元656-661年的第一次伊斯蘭內戰，阿拉伯人並未持續佔領。公元661年，史載納札克末代君主曷擷支曾遣使唐廷，得封罽賓國王，劃歸安西都護府之修鮮州都督府管理。公元665年，伍麥亞王朝的巴士拉總督再次派遣薩穆拉重回此地，攻佔喀布爾，令曷擷支皈依伊斯蘭教。不久之後，突厥首領，巴爾哈特勤，便推翻政權，並反攻奪還赫爾曼丹河流域及坎大哈大部分的領土。公元680年，巴爾哈特勤逝後，王位傳予其子烏散特勤灑。烏散特勤灑並遣使唐廷得續封罽賓國王。

德拉克馬源自古希臘，經亞歷山大大帝的向東擴張，由希臘化時代的諸繼業者王國傳播各地。初為銀幣，後於中亞、印度等政權衍生銅幣。