The Mirdasids were an Arab dynasty of Bedouin origin — the Banu Kilab tribe — who seized Aleppo in 1024 and held it intermittently against sustained Fatimid and Byzantine pressure for decades. Mu'izz al-Dawla Thamal, who ruled Aleppo twice, navigated an extraordinarily complex web of competing powers, at one point paying tribute simultaneously to both Cairo and Constantinople to maintain his position.
Billon coinage from this dynasty is poorly documented and survives in small numbers, reflecting the limited urban economic infrastructure of a frontier emirate under near-constant siege pressure.
The Mirdasids were an Arab dynasty of Bedouin origin — the Banu Kilab tribe — who seized Aleppo in 1024 and held it intermittently against sustained Fatimid and Byzantine pressure for decades. Mu'izz al-Dawla Thamal, who ruled Aleppo twice, navigated an extraordinarily complex web of competing powers, at one point paying tribute simultaneously to both Cairo and Constantinople to maintain his position.
Billon coinage from this dynasty is poorly documented and survives in small numbers, reflecting the limited urban economic infrastructure of a frontier emirate under near-constant siege pressure.