Morton & Eden Ltd
Auction 69 10 April 2014
View prices realized
► Sale information
Find similar lots
ABBASID, AL-MU'TAMID (256-279h)
Dinar, Madinat al-Muwaffaqiya 269h
OBVERSE: In field: la ilaha illa | Allah wahdahu | la sharik lahu | al-Muwaffaq billah
REVERSE: In field: lillah | Muhammad | rasul | Allah | al-Mu'tamid 'ala-'llah | letter sad
WEIGHT: 4.60g
REFERENCE: Bernardi 177Ep (date not listed)
CONDITION: Very fine and extremely rare
NOTE: Madinat al-Muwaffaqiya was a military camp built by and named after al-Muwaffaq, brother of the caliph al-Mu'tamid, as a base for his operations against the Zanj rebellion, a slave revolt which embroiled Southern Iraq for fifteen years from 255h-270h. The Zanj took advantage of the caliph's preoccupation with events elsewhere, notably the threat from the Saffarids under Ya'qub b. al-Layth, to sack Basra and to harass the lands further north, even threatening Wasit. After the death of Ya'qub, al-Muwaffaq was finally able to bring the main caliphal army to bear against the Zanj who were finally defeated, and their capital destroyed, in 270h.
Describing Madinat al-Muwaffaqiya, the historian al-Tabari reports that al-Muwaffaq '...built a Friday mosque and ordered the people to worship there...then he established mints that issued dinars and dirhams.' (quoted in Kennedy, H., The Armies of the Caliphs: Military and Society in the Early Islamic State, London, 2013).
Estimate: £4000 - 6000
Dinar, Madinat al-Muwaffaqiya 269h
OBVERSE: In field: la ilaha illa | Allah wahdahu | la sharik lahu | al-Muwaffaq billah
REVERSE: In field: lillah | Muhammad | rasul | Allah | al-Mu'tamid 'ala-'llah | letter sad
WEIGHT: 4.60g
REFERENCE: Bernardi 177Ep (date not listed)
CONDITION: Very fine and extremely rare
NOTE: Madinat al-Muwaffaqiya was a military camp built by and named after al-Muwaffaq, brother of the caliph al-Mu'tamid, as a base for his operations against the Zanj rebellion, a slave revolt which embroiled Southern Iraq for fifteen years from 255h-270h. The Zanj took advantage of the caliph's preoccupation with events elsewhere, notably the threat from the Saffarids under Ya'qub b. al-Layth, to sack Basra and to harass the lands further north, even threatening Wasit. After the death of Ya'qub, al-Muwaffaq was finally able to bring the main caliphal army to bear against the Zanj who were finally defeated, and their capital destroyed, in 270h.
Describing Madinat al-Muwaffaqiya, the historian al-Tabari reports that al-Muwaffaq '...built a Friday mosque and ordered the people to worship there...then he established mints that issued dinars and dirhams.' (quoted in Kennedy, H., The Armies of the Caliphs: Military and Society in the Early Islamic State, London, 2013).
Estimate: £4000 - 6000