Kayqubād I ruled the Seljuk Sultanate of Rûm at its political apex, having captured the Black Sea port of Sinop from the Pontic Trapezuntines in 1214 and expanded toward the Mediterranean coast shortly after. Sivas was one of the sultanate's principal minting cities — a major commercial hub on Anatolian trade routes connecting Iran to the Byzantine frontier — and dirhams struck there circulated through a genuinely cosmopolitan economy.
Album's type 4 designation distinguishes this issue from at least three other dirham configurations produced under Kayqubād, reflecting deliberate administrative choices about format across different mints rather than simple chronological progression.
Kayqubād I ruled the Seljuk Sultanate of Rûm at its political apex, having captured the Black Sea port of Sinop from the Pontic Trapezuntines in 1214 and expanded toward the Mediterranean coast shortly after. Sivas was one of the sultanate's principal minting cities — a major commercial hub on Anatolian trade routes connecting Iran to the Byzantine frontier — and dirhams struck there circulated through a genuinely cosmopolitan economy.
Album's type 4 designation distinguishes this issue from at least three other dirham configurations produced under Kayqubād, reflecting deliberate administrative choices about format across different mints rather than simple chronological progression.