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⅙ 'Sudaysi' Dirham - al-Muti'
| Issuer | Abbasid Caliphate |
|---|---|
| Year | 946-974 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | ⅙ Dirham (7⁄60) |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Central field displays multiple horizontal registers of Kufic Arabic inscription enclosed within a plain inner circle and an outer beaded border. The legends, likely containing Quranic verses and the caliph's name or titles, are arranged in stacked horizontal bands filling the entire field. The strike is characteristic of a hand-hammered fractional silver coin, resulting in slight misalignment and uneven flan edges. No decorative marginal ornaments or figural elements are present, adhering strictly to Abbasid aniconic numismatic convention. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
Al-Muti' became caliph in 946 under circumstances that stripped the office of nearly all executive power — the Buyid amir Ahmad ibn Buya (Mu'izz al-Dawla) entered Baghdad that same year and reduced the caliph to a ceremonial figurehead, the first time an Abbasid ruler had been so openly subordinated to a temporal power. Coinage continued in the caliph's name as a matter of religious legitimacy, since the Buyids, being Shia, still required Sunni caliphal authority on coin and in the khutba to maintain broader acceptance.
The sudaysi fraction — one-sixth of a dirham — reflects the fragmented small-denomination silver economy of mid-tenth-century Iraq, where full dirhams had become too valuable for everyday transactions in a contracting monetary environment.