Balash

April 18, 2021 Mohammad Rasoulipour

484 – 488 AD

Recreation of semi imaginary portrait of the Sasanian King, Balash. ShahanShah of the Sassanid Empire.
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Ver.1 - Last updated: May 15th 2022, by Mo. Rasoulipour

Sassanid Balash, brother of the deceased king Peroz, who was elected to rule Eranshahr in his stead by the nobles.
His rule was short and uneventful except for the peace treaty with the Hephtalites

Insignia

Name:
The etymology is unclear.

References

The faces on the coins of Peroz and Balash are not dissimilar. For instance, a short nose and a full face, a short beard and an aquiline nose and the round bump above the crown, struck on both coins, contradict the seal of Peroz. Another point is that Balash might not have altered the facial appearance of the coins after Peroz's death, and stopped at changing the crown. Nevertheless, a more accurate guess might be based on the amazingly detailed seal of his brother rather than the coins minted by himself.

The way the crown is depicted in Balash’s coins is not very clear. It is apparent that it is a mural crown though there appear to be three options on what the crown crests are like. In the reconstruction the first option has been used.

Visual Description in Literature

The crown is described as sky blue and the vest, green. Pants, red with black and white embroidery. -Hamzah Isfahani

from - The 'History of the Kings of the Persians' in Three Arabic Chronicles: The Transmission of the Iranian Past from Late Antiquity to Early Islam (Translated Texts for Historians LUP) Paperback – September 1, 2018 - by Robert G. Hoyland
Page 69

Likely Accuracy of the Creative Recreation

Wild Guess:
The depictions on Balash on the coins are highly symbolic as expected for this particular period of the Sasanian rule. One cannot derive the general features of the face from them. However, as the seal of kingship of his brother, Peroz I, has been found, it might be possible to roughly estimate Balash’s appearance in a somewhat imaginary manner.

See the latest work in progress:

See this Instagram gallery in the original post

Permissions

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You are however not permitted to sell the products or place barriers of access for public view and use.

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