The meaning of personal names on coins of the Abbasid caliphate was different in two phases, separated by a brief transitional period. Phase I: All the persons named on coins in the first Abbasid period, from the advent of the dynasty...
moreThe meaning of personal names on coins of the Abbasid caliphate was different in two phases, separated by a brief transitional period.
Phase I: All the persons named on coins in the first Abbasid period, from the advent of the dynasty in 132 (750) until the reign of al-Ma'mun, can be considered as governors over the places where coins with their name were minted. No one, not the wazirs, not the sworn successors (wali al-`ahd), not even the caliphs themselves, was named because of his or her status or rank. For example, the successors, such as al-Amin, al-Ma'mun, and al-Mu'taman under the caliph al-Rashid, were named only in territories where they had been appointed governor. Had they been named as successors or "heirs," they would have been named everywhere. The same is true of the wazirs, such as Ja`far and Khalid the Barmakids. Even the caliph is not always named on coins; perhaps roughly half of the time, and often with different nomenclature in different cities. The rule for the caliph is not clearly understood, but it seems possible that the caliphs were named in provinces that they held directly, administering them through `amils, agents, while they were not named in provinces that they had assigned to a wali, who was "attached," as the administrative designation implies, to a province as his personal possession (at the caliph's pleasure, of course). The result of this nomenclature is to make Abbasid coins of the period, whether gold, silver, or copper, into little administrative documents showing who was in charge in each city in a specific year.
Transitional period:Al-Ma'mun began introducing significant changes to the coinage even before he controlled the entire caliphate. In 206 (821-22), he introduced in Baghdad new gold and silver coinages, with the same religious inscriptions as before but with no personal names at all--they were completely anonymous with uniform inscriptions. This new pattern was extended to most other provinces during his reign, except that in the northern frontier provinces governed by the caliph's son, the old system ran on until the latter’s death in 223 (838).
Phase 2: Beginning with his first full year of rule, 219 (834-35) al-Ma’mun’s successor put his title al-Mu`tasim billah on gold and silver coins. In contrast to the old practice, he was named at all mints in the caliphate and always in the same way. In sum, all precious metal coins throughout his realm had exactly the same inscriptions, except for the words dinar, gold coin, or dirham, silver coin. His immediate successors followed the same practice. In 236 (851-52), however, a favored successor was named for the first time on the uniform caliphate coinage; in 269 (881-82) a wazir was named, and in 329 (940-41) the warlord of Bagdad itself. More significantly for the long term, in 277 (891) a provincial governor was allowed to have his name on the coins of his city. When the Buyid warlords seized control of the caliph and his government, the process was completed: almost all Abbasid coins named one or more provincial secular authorities in addition to the caliph and his sworn successor if there was one. Until the end of the caliphate in 656 (1258), its coins document the hierarchy of power in each city. Thenceforth, only the names of secular rulers appear on Islamic coins.
