etched wings. The
head is surrounded by a double pearl bordering, outside of which, in the
margin, are three crescents and stars. The legend is _Khusrui afzud_,
with a monogram of doubtful meaning. The reverse shows the usual
fire altar and supporters, in a rude form, enclosed by a triple pearl
bordering. In the margin, outside the bordering, are four crescents and
stars. The legend is merely the regnal year and a mint-mark. Thirty-four
mint-marks have been ascribed to Chosroes II. [PLATE XXIII., Fig. 4.]

A rarer and more curious type of coin, belonging to this monarch,
presents on the obverse the front face of the king, surmounted by a
mural crown, having the star and crescent between outstretched wings at
top. The legend is _Khusrui mallean malka--afzud_. "Chosroes, king of
kings--increase (be his)." The reverse has a head like that of a woman,
also fronting the spectator, and wearing a band enriched with pearls
across the forehead, above which the hair gradually converges to a
point. [PLATE XXIV., Fig. 1.] A head very similar to this is found on
Indo-Sassanian coins. Otherwise we might have supposed that the uxorious
monarch had wished to circulate among his subjects the portrait of his
beloved Shirin.

[Illustration: PLATE XXIV.]

CHAPTER XXV.

_Accession of Siroe's, or Kobad II. His Letter to Heraclius. Peace made
with Rome. Terms of the Peace. General Popularity of the new Reign.
Dissatisfaction of Shahr-Barz. Kobad, by the advice of the Persian
Lords, murders his Brothers. His Sisters reproach him with their Death.
He falls into low spirits and dies. Pestilence in his Reign. His coins.
Accession of Artaxerxes III. Revolt of Shahr-Barz. Reign of Shahr-Barz.
His Murder. Reign of Purandocht. Rapid Succession of Pretenders.
Accession of Isdigerd III._

"Kobades, regno prefectus, justitiam prae se tulit, et injuriam qua
oppressa fuerat amovit."--Eutychius, _Annales_, vol, ii. p. 253.

Siroes, or Kobad the Second, as he is more properly termed, was
proclaimed king on the 25th of February, 2 A.D. 628, four days before
the murder of his father. According to the Oriental writers, he was very
unwilling to put his father to death, and only gave a reluctant consent
to his execution on the representations of his nobles that it was a
state of necessity. His first care, after this urgent matter had been
settled, was to make overtures of peace to Heraclius, who, having safely
crossed the Zagros mountains, w