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Dirham - 'Abd-al-Rahman III Madinat al-Zahra
| Issuer | Umayyad Caliphate of Córdoba |
|---|---|
| Year | 948-962 |
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| Value | 1 Dirham (0.7) |
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| Obverse description | Hammered silver dirham with an irregularly rounded flan. The obverse bears multiple concentric registers of Kufic Arabic inscription arranged within a plain linear border and an outer circular legend. The central field contains the shahada and mint formula in angular Kufic script across four lines, reading the declaration of the unity of God and the mint attribution to Madinat al-Zahra. A second outer marginal legend encircles the entire design. The script is characteristic of the mature Andalusian Umayyad style, with well-defined angular strokes and consistent interlinear spacing. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | لا الـه لا الله وحــــده لا شريك له محہد بسم الله ضرب هذا الدرهم بمدينه الزهرا سنة خمس وأربعين وثلثمئة (Translation: There is no God God alone He Has no partner Mahdi In the name of God, this dirham was struck in Madinat al-Zahra in the year three hundred and forty five) |
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| Additional information |
'Abd al-Rahman III began striking coins at Madinat al-Zahra — his vast palace-city west of Córdoba — shortly after its mint opened, a deliberate political act positioning the new facility as the prestige production center of his caliphate. He had only proclaimed himself Caliph in 929, breaking decisively from nominal Abbasid authority, and the coinage from this mint carried that assertion forward in metal for the next three decades.
KM# 146.1 distinguishes this emission from the Córdoba city mint output of the same years. The Madinat al-Zahra mint was ultimately destroyed in the civil wars of 1010–1013.