A Literary and Historical Atlas of Asia. J. G. Bartholomew
bear a Pehlevi legend in addition to the Greek inscription which is by this time almost unintelligible.
Sassanian Empire.—Early in the third century A.D. the last remnants of Parthian power were destroyed by Ardashir, a Persian prince, who founded the Sassanian empire, which after successfully disputing the supremacy of Asia with the Romans for four centuries finally fell before the conquering hosts of Islam. The Sassanian silver coins, particularly of the later kings, are exceedingly numerous at the present day, but the gold and copper are rare. The types of the gold and silver are throughout the dynasty the same; on the obverse is the head of the king with a long legend of the form, "Ardashir, worshipper of Ahura Mazda, divine king of kings of Iran, a scion of the celestial race," on the reverse a fire-altar, usually with two attendant priests, and at first the legend "the fire of Ardashir" (etc.), later the mint and regnal year of issue. The earlier coins are of remarkably good workmanship, and give us fine portraits of the Sassanian kings (Plate II. 4, gold coin of Ardashir I., 226–241 A.D.; Plate II. 5, silver drachm of Sapor I., 241–272 A.D.). The gold coins weigh rather less than an English sovereign, and their standard appears to be derived from Roman solidi; the silver coins are drachms following the Parthian standard, and, particularly the latter pieces, are remarkable for their thin fabric (e.g. Plate II. 7, Khusrau (Chosroes) II., Parvez, 590–628 A.D.) which was copied by the Arabs in their silver coins, and can be traced in certain Mohammadan series to the present day.
Bibliography.—B. V. Head, Historia Numorum (Oxford, 1911), pp. 643–845; B. V. Head, Coinage of Lydia and Persia (London, 1878); British Museum Catalogue of Greek Coins, Lydia (1901), Syria (1878), Parthia (1905), Phoenicia (1910); E. Babelon, Perses Acheménides (Paris, 1893); E. Babelon, Rois de Syrie (Paris, 1890); Dorn & Bartholomaei, Monnaies Sassanides (St. Petersburg, 1875).
II.—MOHAMMADAN COINAGES
(Exclusive of India)
Beginnings of Arab Coinage.—The Arabs were unacquainted with the art of coinage till they learned it on their campaigns of conquest in Syria (Byzantine) and Persia (Sassanian). At first they were content to issue gold and copper pieces imitated from contemporary Byzantine coins (Plate II. 9, early copper coin of Abd-al-Malik; obverse, figure of the Caliph; reverse, modified Byzantine cross), while their silver pieces were copies of late Sassanian coins (like Plate II. 7), with the addition of bismillah (in the name of God) on the margin.
Abd-al-Malik's Reformed Currency.—Though one traditionist says that even Adam felt the need for money and struck dinars and dirhems, more reliable authorities agree in attributing to Abd-al-Malik, the fifth Omayyad Caliph (684–705 A.D.), the institution in 696 A.D. of a purely Muslim coinage, worthy of the great Arab empire and the foundations on which it was built. This coinage was of gold, silver, and copper, and the names dinar (denarius aureus), dirhem (drachma), and falus (follis), which have remained in use practically to the present day, were borrowed from the Byzantines. The dinar originally weighed rather more than half a sovereign, while the dirhem was a little less than sixpence in English money, but the names came to mean simply gold and silver coin respectively.
Mohammad's interdiction of any form of image-making, as savouring of idolatry, limited the orthodox Caliph to legends on his coins, but thereby gave Arab coins an importance as historical documents possessed by no other series. From the earliest times they bore the mint and date (in the Mohammadan era dating from 622 A.D.), and later the ruler's name and titles, often including valuable genealogical data, were added. The right of striking coins was one of the privileges of sovereignty, and Muslim coins thus throw a good deal of light on Arab history.
Plate II. 6 is a dinar, and Plate II. 8 a dirhem of Abd-al-Malik; both bear on the obverse the profession of faith, "There is no god but God; He hath no associate:" around the reverse of the dinar is the legend, "In the name of God this dinar was struck in the year 77" (696 A.D.), while the similar inscription on the dirhem includes the mint (Damascus, 79 A.H.) and is placed around the obverse. On both the reverse areas is "God is alone; God is eternal; He begets not and is not begotten" (the dinar ends here, but the dirhem continues) "nor is there any one like unto Him" (Koran, cxii.). Around the obverse of the dinar and reverse of the dirhem is, "Mohammad is the prophet of God, sent with guidance and the religion of truth to make it prevail over all other religions" (dinar stops here), "averse though the idolaters may be" (Koran ix. 33).
Abbasids.—In 750 A.D. the Abbasids overthrew the Omayyads, and at first made but superficial alterations in the coinage; the long reverse formula was replaced by the simple profession, "Mohammad is the prophet of God." Plate III. 2, a dinar of the "good" Caliph Harun-al-Rashid (786–809 A.D.) is typical of the period, except that it bears the name of his ill-fated vizier, Ja'afar, who will be remembered by readers of the Arabian Nights as the companion of the Caliph's nocturnal ramblings, on whom this signal honour was conferred. In the ninth century a second marginal inscription, "To God belongs the order before and after, and in that day the believers shall rejoice in the help of God" (Koran, xxx. 3, 4) was added on the obverse, while the Caliph's name begins to appear regularly on the reverse area.
Contemporaries of the Caliphs.—Coins with similar legends were struck by the various dynasties which arose on the weakening of the authority of the Caliph in the ninth and tenth centuries. In addition to the ruler's name they usually bear the name of the reigning Caliph, whose spiritual authority was still recognised; such are Plate III. 1, a dirhem of the Samanid Nasr b. Ahmad struck in 300 A.H. at Samarkand, which was then one of the great centres of Mohammadan learning and literary activity; Plate III. 4, a Buwayhid dinar of Rukn-al-Daula (932–976 A.D.), struck at Hamadan in 352 A.H., bearing the name of the fainéant Caliph al-Muti; and Plate III. 6, a dinar, struck at Rayy, 447 A.H., of the Great Seljuk Toghrul Beg (1037–1063 A.D.), the Turkish conqueror of Western Asia whose descendants were among the most redoubtable of the "Saracens." Plate III. 3, a dinar of the last Abbasid Caliph—Al-Mustasim (1242–1258 A.D.), illustrates the change in the fabric and calligraphy of the coinage which had taken place in six centuries. Plate III. 5 is a dinar of Mahmud of Ghazni (998–1030 A.D.), with the reverse legend in Sanskrit for the benefit of his Indian subjects.
Seljuks, Ortukids, and Ayyubids (Saracens).—Plate III. 7, a dirhem of Sulaiman II. (1199–1203 A.D.), a Seljuk of Asia Minor, is the first of a series of striking deviations from the orthodox Mohammadan type, prompted as much by necessities of commerce with Christian nations as by a lack of orthodoxy on the part of their issuers, heretics though they were. The obverse area is occupied by a horseman holding a mace over his shoulder, while around is the Shia form of the Mohammadan creed (as above, with the addition of the words "Ali is the friend of God"); the reverse bears the usual data. Plate III. 8 is a dirhem of one of his successors Kaikubad I. (1219–1236 A.D.), a fine specimen of the calligraphy of the period; Plate III. 9, is a dirhem of his successor, Kai-Khusru II. (1136–1245 A.D.), bearing the "lion and sun," the horoscope of his beautiful Georgian wife, whose portrait he wished to place on his coins, till his counsellors persuaded him to be content with her horoscope. The coins of the Ortukids, who