NUMISMATICS

doi:10.1017/CHOL9780521200936.011

10 - NUMISMATICS

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 March 2008

G. C. Miles

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R. N. Frye

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G. C. Miles: Affiliation:
American Numismatic Society

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Summary

When the Arabs entered Iran and in 21/642 defeated the Sāsānian army at Nihāvand they brought with them no coinage of their own. In the first years after the conquest of Byzantine and Sāsānian lands the invaders made use of the existing currency - the Byzantine gold solidus or denarius aureus and the copper follies in Palestine and Syria, the Sasanian silver drahm in the east. Within a very few years, certainly by 31/651–2, the Arab governors in Iran began to imitate the drahm, henceforth to be known as the dirham, at first anonymously, later with their names rendered in Pahlavī characters, but always with the addition, in the outer margin of the obverse, of a pious legend in Kūfic characters. The prototypes were the drahms of Yazdgard III, Khusrau II and Hormizd IV; by far the commonest “portrait” is that of Khusrau II whose immense output of coinage during the long years of his reign (591–628) had flooded the land and whose image was familiar to everyone in both Iran and Iraq. An example of Khusrau II's drahm is illustrated in pl. 25(1): on the obverse is the bust of the emperor, with bearded head, right, surmounted by a winged head-dress; at the right in front of the face, his name in Pahlavī; in the margin a Pahlavī legend AFD, of uncertain significance. On the reverse is a fire-altar, flanked by attendants; at the left in Pahlavī, the regnal date 26; at the right in Pahlavī, the mint signature NIH, for Nihāvand.

Keywords

Byzantine coinage copper coins Arab conquest ‘Abbāsid movement Khārijite movement Syria Sāsānian dynasty Palestine

Type: Chapter
Information: The Cambridge History of Iran , pp. 364 - 377

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CHOL9780521200936.011 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 1975

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References

Brown, Helen W. Mitchell, “Oriental Numismatics”, in A Survey of Numismatic Research, 1966–1971, vol. II (International Numismatic Commission, New York, 1973); Miles, G. C., The Numismatic History of Rayy, New York, 1938 (ANSNS, vol. II); Miles, George C., Excavation Coins from the Persepolis Region, ANSNNM, no. 143 (1959), hereinafter referred to as Miles, Persepolis Region.Google Scholar

Czapkiewicz, M. et al., Skarb monet Arabskich z Klukowicz powiat Siemiatycze (Wrocław–Warszaw–Krakow, 1964). For a general introduction to the Viking Age hoards, see Rasmusson, N. L. in Commentationes de nummis saeculorum IX–XI in Suecia repertis, Pars Prima (Stockholm, 1961); Linder Welin, Ulla S., s.v. Arabiska mynt in Kulturhistorisk Leksikon för nordisk middelader; Welin, Linder, Atti Congr. Int. di Numismatica, Roma, Settembre 1961, vol. II (Rome, 1965). For a recent investigation of the “silver famine” problem: Watson, A. M., “Back to Gold – and Silver”, The Economic History Review, vol. XX (London, 1967).Google Scholar

Frye, Richard N. (ed.), Sasanian Remains from Qasr-i Abu Nasr (Cambridge, Mass., 1973), Miles, George C., “The Coins”; Gaube, Heinz, Arabosasanidische Numismatik (Brunswick, 1973).Google Scholar

Hennequin, , Giles, , “Grandes Monnaies sāmānides et ghaznavides de l'Hindu Kush, étude numismatique et historique”, Annales Islamologiques, vol. IX (Cairo, 1970).Google Scholar

Lindberg's, J.-C. “Essai sur les monnaies coufiques frappées par les Emirs de la famille des Bouides” in Mémoires de la Société Roy ale des Antiquaires du Nord (Copenhagen, 1840–4), was an admirable pioneer work, but an immense amount of material since that date has become available in scattered publications and in unpublished collections. Roy P. Mottahedeh is now engaged in compiling a major corpus and monograph on the subject. Some important data on the coinage drawn from literary sources have been assembled by Claude, Cahen in “Quelques Problèmes économiques et fiscaux de l'Irâq Buyide d'après un traité de mathématiques”, AIEO, vol. X (1952). On Būid “ceremonial” gold pieces see Sir Arnold, Thomas W. in Painting in Islam (Oxford, 1928; New York, 1965), pl. LIX. Walker, J. in ANS Centennial Publication (New York, 1958), fig. 2.Google Scholar

Markov, A. K. Inventarnyi katalog musul'manskix monet Imperatorskago Ermitaža. St Petersburg, 1896.

Miles, George G. The Numismatic History of Rayy. New York, 1938.

Miles, , “The Coinage of the Kākwayhid Dynasty”, Iraq, vol. V (1938); Miles, , “Notes on Kākwayhid Coins”, ANSMN, vol. IX (1960); Miles, , “A Hoard of Kākwayhid Dirhems”, ANSMN, vol. XII (1966); Miles, , “Another Kākwayhid Note”, ANSMN, vol. XVIII (New York, 1972), with additional bibliography.Google Scholar

Miles, , Persepolis Region, where the bibliography of earlier literature will be found. A few specimens were described by Walker, J. in Mémoires de la Mission Archéologique en Iran, vol. XXXVII (Paris, 1960).

Miles, , “Al-Mahdi al-Haqq, Amīr al-Mu'minīn”, RN (1965), where references will be found to a number of other revolutionary issues.Google Scholar

Miles, , “Trésor de dirhems”, op. cit..

,On Byzantine-Arab coin relationships consult Miles, “Byzantine Miliaresion and Arab Dirhem: Some Notes on Their Relationship” in ANSMN, vol. IX (1960).

Pakhomov, E. A., Moneti Gruzii (Zap, Num. Otd. Imp. Russ. Arxeol. Obščestva), vol. I (1910); Kapanadze, D. G. in Vestnik Gosudarstvennogo Muzeya Gruzii, vol. XII-B (1944) (in Georgian, with Russian summary).

Vasmer, R., “O monetax Sadžidov” in lzyestiya Obsledovaniya i Izučeniya Azerbaidžana, no. 5 (Baku, 1927). The Numismatic History of Rayy, nos. 155C, 156A,B.Google Scholar

Vasmer, R., “Zur Chronologie der Gastāniden und Sallāriden”, Islamica, vol. III (Leipzig, 1927); Madelung, W., “Abū Ishāq al-Sābī on the Alids of Tabaristān and Gīlān”, JNES, vol. XXVI (1967).Google Scholar

Vasmer's, R. “Zur Münzkunde der Qarāhaniden” in MSOS (1930), and Davidovitch's, E. A. “Numizmatičeskie materiali dlya xronologii i genealogii sredneaziatskix Karaxanidov” in Nttmizmatičeskii Sbornik (Moscow, 1957). See also Pritsak, O., “Die Karachaniden”, Der Islam, vol. XXXI (1953), and his article “Kara-Hanlilar” in the Turkish Islam Ansiklopedisi, and Bosworth, C. E., “Ilek-Khans”, EI, 2nd ed.Google Scholar

Volov, L. “Plaited Kufic on Samanid Epigraphic Pottery”. Ars Orientalis (continuation of Ars Islamica) (Ann Arbor, Mich.), vol. VI (1966).Google Scholar

Walker, John in A Catalogue of the Muhammadan Coins in the British Museum, vol. I: A Catalogue of the Arab-Sassanian Coins (London, 1941), hereinafter referred to as B.M. Cat I.

Zambaur, E., Die Münz prägungen des Islams (Wiesbaden, 1968), supplemented recently by Miles, , “Additions to Zambaur's Münzprägungen des Islams”, ANSMN, vol. XVII (1971).Google Scholar

Zambaur, E., “Contributions à la numismatique orientale”, NZ (1905). An important monograph on Sffarid coins is Vasmer's, R. “Uber die Münzen der Saffāriden und ihr Gegner in Fārs und Hurāsān”, NZ (1930). For a dirham hoard containing Saffārid coins, quite possibly the property of a soldier in Ya‘qūb. al-Laith's army, see Miles, , “Trésor de dirhems du IXe siècle”, Mémoires de la Mission Archéologique en Iran, vol. XXXVII (Paris, 1960).Google Scholar

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10 - NUMISMATICS

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