Catalog
Drama - Rusudan I
| Issuer | Kingdom of Georgia |
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| Year | 1230 |
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| Value | 1 Drama |
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| Obverse description | Frontal bust of Christ Pantokrator within a beaded inner circle, depicted in Byzantine iconographic style with a cruciform nimbus. The figure is shown in formal frontal pose with hands raised in a gesture of blessing, wearing ecclesiastical robes with visible folds. The Greek Christogram abbreviation IC - XC (Jesus Christ) flanks the bust to left and right within the inner field. A circular border surrounds the central motif, with a Georgian Nuskhuri inscription in the outer legend recording the date in the Georgian Qoronikon era and invoking the name of God. |
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| Reverse description | Central field features a royal monogram or interlaced calligraphic device enclosed within a cartouche or medallion, rendered in an ornate interlaced style characteristic of Georgian-Islamic coinage of the period. The monogram is generally interpreted as representing the name or title of Queen Rusudan. Surrounding the central device is an inner circular border, with a broad outer legend in Arabic Naskh script carrying the full royal titulature of Rusudan, daughter of Queen Tamar, alongside a Georgian Nuskhuri abbreviation. The overall composition reflects the bilingual and bicultural character of the medieval Georgian royal coinage. |
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| Additional information |
Rusudan I ruled Georgia under extraordinary pressure — the Mongol invasions of the 1220s had already devastated much of the Caucasus, and by 1230 the kingdom she inherited from her brother George IV was fighting for survival on multiple fronts simultaneously. She had relocated the court to Kutaisi after Tbilisi fell to the Mongols in 1226, and coinage struck in her name reflects a monarchy still asserting legitimacy from an increasingly precarious position.
Georgia would formally submit to Mongol suzerainty within two decades of this coin's issue.