acanthite
User is Offline
Joined: 08 May 2007
Posts: 261
Location: Western hemisphere
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| Posted: Thu Aug 30, 2007 1:32 am Post subject: Umayyad dirham |
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Here is a coin I received recently for those interested in ancient and in this case 'medieval' coins. It is a dirham from the time of the Umayyad caliphs, a group who broke with the tradition that the office of the top Islamic authority be elective and established a dynasty. This usurping of established goverment, along with other factors, helped generate the rift that divides Sunni and Shii'ite muslims to present day. This particular coin, silver at 2.8g, was minted during the time of Al-Walid I (705-715 AD), at the Sabur mint, located on the present-day border of Iran and Iraq.
The part of the coin relevant to determining the time and place is on the obverse, written CCW and curving around the margin. It says, starting at about 1 o'clock:
'In the name of Allah (was) minted this dirham in Sabur (in the) year two and ninety'.
The year 92 AH = 710/711 AD
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