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Dirham - al-Mu'tasim
| Issuer | Abbasid Caliphate |
|---|---|
| Year | 833-842 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 1 Dirham (0.7) |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
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| Technique | Log in to see details |
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| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Central field displays a three-line Arabic Kufic inscription arranged in horizontal registers, proclaiming the name of Allah and the prophetic mission, consistent with standard Abbasid reverse typology. The text is enclosed within a rectangular frame formed by concentric linear borders. A circular marginal legend in Kufic script surrounds the central panel between dotted borders, recording the caliph's name, mint, and Hijri regnal year. The entire design is purely epigraphic in the Abbasid tradition, with no figural or symbolic imagery, the calligraphy rendered in a bold, angular Kufic style characteristic of the period of al-Mu'tasim (218–227 AH). |
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| Reverse lettering | الله احد الله الصمد لم يلد ولم يولد |
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| Additional information |
Al-Mu'tasim's reign marked the point at which Turkish slave soldiers — the ghulam — became the effective military backbone of the Abbasid state, a shift that would ultimately reduce his successors to figureheads within a generation. The dirhams struck under his authority circulated through an empire already fracturing at its administrative edges, funded in part by the silver revenues of Khurasan and the eastern provinces.
Album 226 encompasses issues from multiple mints across Iraq, Iran, and Central Asia. Mint attribution is the primary variable separating common from genuinely scarce examples within this type.