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Tremissis / ⅓ Dinar - Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan
| Issuer | Umayyad Caliphate |
|---|---|
| Year | 700-704 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | 1.35 g |
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| Obverse description | Two crowned facing busts side by side, derived from the Byzantine Heraclian prototype depicting Heraclius and Heraclius Constantine, but deliberately modified for Islamic sensibilities: the crosses atop the crowns have been replaced by tripartite ornaments. The effigies are rendered in a stylized, somewhat degenerate manner typical of early Arab-Byzantine transitional coinage. A partially legible Latin legend runs around the periphery of the field. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Central device depicting a modified cross potent on two steps, the crossbar of which has been transformed into a T-shaped or anchor-like form, deliberately stripped of its overtly Christian symbolism in keeping with early Umayyad monetary reform. The cross shaft rises from a two-tiered stepped base rendered in relief. A partially legible Latin legend surrounds the central device in the field. |
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| Additional information |
This coin sits at the precise hinge of monetary history. Abd al-Malik's coinage reform of 696–697 AH abolished the Byzantine-derived gold solidus and its fractions that had circulated across the former Eastern provinces, replacing them with fully epigraphic Islamic types. The tremissis — a third of the solidus — had a direct Islamic counterpart in the thulth, a third of the new dinar, and this piece belongs to the transitional output of that reorganization from the Damascus mint.
The reform was as political as it was financial. Byzantine emperor Justinian II reportedly threatened war over the elimination of his predecessor's imagery from gold coinage circulating in Islamic territory.