Classical Numismatic Group, LLC
Islamic Auction 2 27 Oct 2022
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Pre-reform issues, Arab-Sasanian. Abdallah b. Umayya. fl. AH 75-77 / AD 695-697. AR Drachm (31mm, 3.60 g, 3h). MRW (Marw) mint. Dated YE 65 = AH 77 (AD 696/7). Obverse: 'Abdallah / b. 'Umayya, in Arabic, in two lines before bust / Reverse: Bactrian word ambēro in first quadrant of margin. Malek, Arab-Sasanian p. 401, fig. 14.1.4 (this piece). Hephthalite countermarks in first and fourth obverse marginal quadrants. Good VF. Toned. Of the highest rarity and believed the only published specimen.
'Abdallah b. Umayya was the son of Umayya b. 'Abdallah, appointed by his father to the governorship of Sistan in AH 75. Captured by the local Zunbil ruler of Bust, he was reportedly ransomed at a cost of 300,000 dirhams. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the caliph 'Abd al-Malik b. Marwan took a dim view of this debacle, ordering that 'Abdallah b. Umayya should be stripped of his governorship. 'Abdallah then joined the rebellion of 'Abd al-Rahman b. Muhammad against al-Hajjaj b. Yusuf, but was defeated once again by the Zunbil and killed in battle during AH 77.
'Abdallah b. Umayya was the son of Umayya b. 'Abdallah, appointed by his father to the governorship of Sistan in AH 75. Captured by the local Zunbil ruler of Bust, he was reportedly ransomed at a cost of 300,000 dirhams. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the caliph 'Abd al-Malik b. Marwan took a dim view of this debacle, ordering that 'Abdallah b. Umayya should be stripped of his governorship. 'Abdallah then joined the rebellion of 'Abd al-Rahman b. Muhammad against al-Hajjaj b. Yusuf, but was defeated once again by the Zunbil and killed in battle during AH 77.