Art. XXV.—The Successors of the Seljuks in Asia Minor

Extract

In preparing the eighth volume of the Catalogue of Oriental Coins in the British Museum, which will describe the coins of the Turks, I found myself confronted at the outset with a serious obstacle in the shape of twenty-five coins of various Turkish Amírs of Asia Minor, of whose history and chronology almost nothing appeared to be known, and of whose coinage the only examples hitherto published were five specimens (three varieties) described by Dr. E. von Bergmann and by Prof. J. Karabacek respectively, in the “Berichte” of the Vienna Academy, and in the “Numismatische Zeitschrift.” The twenty-five examples in the British Museum had long remained unnoticed. Some I found in the 'Othmánly series; but most of them were discovered and partly identified by my uncle, the Keeper of Coins. The inscriptions were for the most part clear enough; and the difficulty consisted simply in the fact that the history of the princes who issued them was not generally known or easily accessible. The trouble and research that were necessary before I could arrange and attribute the coins and draw up approximately complete chronological lists of these dynasties and princes, are, I think, a sufficient excuse for the following pages, in which I shall try to smooth the way for my successors.