Hephthalites AR Drachm, Napki Malka type, c. AD 475–575, fire-altar

Hephthalites, Drachm, Silver, circa AD 475–575, uncertain mint; 3.92 g; 29 mm. Obverse: Crowned and draped bust right with earring and beaded necklace; headdress surmounted by a frontal bull’s-head device; pellets and crescents in field; uncertain legend, of the “Napki Malka” series. Reverse: Zoroastrian fire-altar with two standing attendants; ribbons rising from altar; anepigraphic. Struck on a broad, thin flan with irregular edge; reverse weakly struck at center. Reference: Mitchiner 1507–1508 (“Napki Malka” type).

This series reflects Hephthalite control over eastern Iran and Tokharistan in the late 5th–6th centuries. The silver imitations follow Sasanian monetary fabric and iconography—especially the fire-altar—while often carrying the Pahlavi formula read Napki Malka, interpreted as a royal title. Such coins circulated widely from Bactria to Gandhara, documenting the Hephthalites’ adoption of established Persian standards for regional trade until the confederation’s collapse after the Sasanian–Western Turk campaigns in the 560s.