Mangir - Selim I Damascus, AH 923

Selim I took Damascus in 1516 following his decisive victory over the Mamluk Sultanate at Marj Dabiq, and the subsequent establishment of Ottoman mints in former Mamluk cities was as much a political act as an administrative one. Damascus had been a major mint city under the Mamluks for over two centuries; striking copper coinage there under Selim's name within months of conquest was a direct assertion of legitimacy over the Arab heartland. The mangir is among the earliest physical evidence of Ottoman monetary authority in Syria.