Abbasid Caliphate. Armenia mint. AR dirham. 145 AH (762/3 AD), time of Caliph al-Mansur (136-158 AH/ 754-775 AD). Anonymous type, inscriptions in Arabic written in Kufic lettering. Obverse: in center first half of Kalima "la ilah illa/ Allah wahdadu/ la shark lahu" (There is no god but God/ He is alone/ no partner to Him), legend around "bismillah zuribu haza ed-dirham bi-Arminiyat fi sanat khans wa arba'in wa miat" (in the name of God was struck this dirham in Armenia in year five and forty and one hundred). Reverse: in center second half of Kalima "Muhammad/ rasul/ Allah" (Muhammad is the messenger of God), legend around from the Quran, Sura 9:33 "Muhammad rasul Allah arsalahu bi-'l-huda wa din el-haqq li-yuzhirahu 'ala ed-din kollihi walau kariha el-mushrikun" (Muhammad is the messenger of God, He sent him with the guidance and a religion of the truth in order that he might cause it to be bright over the religion, all of it, although polytheists dislike it). Album 213.1. This coin: Auctions Sale 367 (NBJ Numismatics), lot 305 (2021). Although this coin is anonymous, it was struck during the rule of the second Abbasid caliph, Abu Ja'far Abdallah ibn Muhammad al-Mansur (reigned 136-158 AH/ 754-775 AD), usually known as just al-Mansur. His brother as-Saffah founded the Abbasid Caliphate in 132/ 749 after defeating the Umayyad Caliphate. As-Saffah moved his capital from Damascus to Kufa in Iraq, and began policies of including non-Arabs and even non-Muslims in important government positions. However, he died after a short reign, leaving his brother al-Mansur to truly establish the Abbasids. Al-Mansur built a new capital city of Madinat as-Salam (City of Peace), which became Baghdad, and encouraged scholarship, both original works and translations from Persian, Sanskrit, and other languages, including works by Euclid, Galen, and Hippocrates. He reportedly worked constantly and demanded integrity and frugality among his subordinates; upon his death the treasury held 600 million silver dirhams and 14 million gold dinars. He maintained relations with both Tang dynasty China and the Carolingians in Europe. He even seems to have agreed to an alliance with Pippin III against their common enemy, the Emirate of Cordoba in Spain (founded by a surviving Umayyad branch), though nothing concrete happened during his lifetime. Al-Mansur died in 158/ 775, leaving the Abbasid Caliphate to his son Al-Mahdi. Coins of al-Mansur are generally common, though this one, from the mint of Armenia, is a scarcer variety. This was struck in 145 AH, which is one of the last years for fully anonymous Abbasid dirham coinage; later issues usually list the caliph, the caliph's designated successor, a local official, or some combination. The overall style is pleasant, maintaining the clear, well-formed Kufic lettering that was started by the Umayyads. Please post your coins of al-Mansur, or other Abbasids, or whatever else is related.
That is a very cool mint! And an excellent brief writeup, as usual... permission to steal? Here are a few related coins. ^ This dirham was issued by 'Abd Allah b. Mu'awiya during the Abbasid revolution, in Jayy. He was Ali's great grand-nephew and the leader of the Aliids, who were also disaffected from the Umayyads. He ended up controlling large portions of Persia while the Abbasids were rebelling in Khorasan. Just after this coin was issued, though, Marwan II sent an army against him and crushed him. He fled to the Abbasids but they executed him, not wanting any rivals. He had done them a big favour though by presenting a major distraction to the Umayyad government, enabling the Abbasids to triumph in the end. ^ This dirham was issued by al-Saffah in the year the Abbasid caliphate was founded, 132H, in the new capital you mentioned, Kufa. ^ And here's my al-Mansur. It's a bit beat up, but I haven't found a replacement yet, which would be an earlier issue from Baghdad. This is from 148h, the third year of the mint's operation. I'd like to get one from 146. (147 is very rare - so this is the earliest cheap one you can get. I paid 10 bucks. )
