Abarshahr

Abarshahr is the older name of Nishapur. It was the capital of one of the four quarters of the province of Khurasan. Muslim geographers explain its Persian name as "Cloud-city"; the encyclopaedia prefers Marquart's derivation, which compares the name with the Armenian Apar ashyart. The city was sometimes given the honorific title Iranshahr, "City of Iran". ¹

Its mint signature on Sasanian coins takes several forms. The same forms appear on the Arab-Sasanian dirhams struck by the Muslim conquerors between 54/673–4 and 69/688–9. Under the Umayyads its Arabic name is on the post-reform dirhams of 91/709–10 to 97/715–6. The Umayyad governors Ziyad ibn Abi Sufyan and his sons Ubayd Allah and Salm, and Abd Allah ibn Khazim, all appear on its coins. Later minting continued under the name Nisabur. ²

The article cites Le Strange, Markwart's catalogue of the provincial capitals of Eranshahr (1931), Walker's catalogue of Arab-Sasanian coins (1941) and Herzfeld's numismatic note of 1936. ²