Dirham - Qutb al-Din il-Ghazi II

The Artuqid rulers of Mardin operated in a perpetually contested borderland between the Seljuk Turks, the Zengids, and the ambitions of Saladin to the south. Qutb al-Din il-Ghazi II navigated this with persistent diplomatic maneuvering, at times nominally acknowledging Zengid suzerainty while maintaining effective independence. His copper issues were the workhorses of local trade across the upper Jazira.

Artuqid copper coinage of this period is noted for its iconographic eclecticism, drawing on Byzantine, Seljuk, and ancient sources — a product of the multicultural workshop traditions in Mardin. The A#1828.2 variety falls within a series whose die production appears to have been ongoing across the full reign rather than minted in discrete campaigns.