Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
Dirham - Alp Arslan Muhammad
| Issuer | Great Seljuq |
|---|---|
| Year | 1069 |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| 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 |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Arabic |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Central field displaying a five-line Arabic Kufic legend reading: 'God / Muhammad is the Messenger of God / al-Qa'im bi-amr Allah (the Abbasid Caliph) / al-Sultan al-Mu'azzam (the Exalted Sultan) / Alp Arslan.' The inscriptions are arranged horizontally in the field in raised relief, enclosed within a plain inner circle and a toothed outer border. A marginal Quranic verse inscription runs along the periphery but is mostly off-flan. The titulature acknowledges both Abbasid suzerainty and Seljuq temporal authority, consistent with standard Great Seljuq coinage conventions. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
Alp Arslan's reign reached its peak just three years before this coin's issue date, when his forces annihilated the Byzantine army at Manzikert in 1071 and captured Emperor Romanos IV — an event that opened Anatolia to Turkic settlement and permanently altered the region's demographic composition. The billon fabric of this dirham reflects the monetary degradation that plagued Seljuq coinage through the mid-eleventh century, as silver supplies struggled to keep pace with an expanding empire administered across fragmented iqta holdings.