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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Sulla80, post: 5184386, member: 99456&quot;]The sun face and lion may represent the constellation of Leo and be a symbol of the ruler&#039;s power. Another story, not necessarily conflicting, is that the sun face represents the Georgian princess Tamar (Gürcü Hatun), the beloved wife of Kayḵosrow II, while the lion symbolizes the Sultan. This interpretation is based on <a href="http://syri.ac/bhchronicles" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://syri.ac/bhchronicles" rel="nofollow">Bar Hebraeus (1226-1286)</a>, a bishop of the Syriac Orthodox Church, who noted that Sultan Ḡīāṯ-al-Dīn Kayḵosrow, the Saljuqid of Rūm, was so much in love with Tamar that he expressed the wish to place an image of her on his dirhams.&nbsp; [There is a <a href="https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=7342711" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=7342711" rel="nofollow">coin with two lions</a> that raises question about the story].</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1213126[/ATTACH]</p><p><b>Seljuks, Rum, Sultan Ḡīāṯ-al-Dīn Kayḵosrow</b>, first reign, AH 634-644 / AD 1237-1246, Dirham, Siwas, AH 639 = AD 1241/2</p><p><b>Obv:</b> Lion advancing right; personification of sun above; in field to left, star; below, star and crescent with pellet; around, <b>الامام المستنصربالله اميرالمؤمنين </b>legend <i>“the Imam al-Mustansir billah, Commander of the Faithful&quot;</i>.</p><p><b>Rev:</b> Legend bearing the name and title of Sultan Ḡīāṯ-al-Dīn Kayḵosrow, the Saljuqid of Rūm; in outer margin, in square design, <b>ضرب هذا الدرهم \ سوس في \ سنة تسع \ وثلثين و ستمائة </b>&quot;<i>This dirham was struck at Sivas in the year 639&quot;</i>.&nbsp; Inside, <b>السلطان \ الاعظم \ كيخشرو \ بن كيقبد </b>on four lines, &quot;<i>The Greatest Sultan Kaykhushraw b. Kayqubad</i>&quot;</p><p><b>Note: </b>not 100% confident in the date, <a href="https://www.forumancientcoins.com/historia/coins/j2/j481.htm" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.forumancientcoins.com/historia/coins/j2/j481.htm" rel="nofollow">reference here</a> and <a href="http://guberman.blogspot.com/2015/02/islamicseljuq-of-rum-kaykhushru-ii-ce.html" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://guberman.blogspot.com/2015/02/islamicseljuq-of-rum-kaykhushru-ii-ce.html" rel="nofollow">here</a>.&nbsp; I also really enjoy that this coin is &quot;Seljuks of Rum&quot; with &quot;Rum&quot; a corruption of Rome, derived from Ῥωμαῖοι (<i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhomaioi" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhomaioi" rel="nofollow">Rhomaioi</a></i>), as they took possession of territory formerly held by the Byzantine or Roman empire.&nbsp; More on the lion and sun symbol <a href="https://iranicaonline.org/articles/flags-i" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://iranicaonline.org/articles/flags-i" rel="nofollow">here</a>. Another version of the love story at the <a href="https://www.davidmus.dk/en/collections/islamic/dynasties/seljuks-of-rum/coins/c74?show=comment" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.davidmus.dk/en/collections/islamic/dynasties/seljuks-of-rum/coins/c74?show=comment" rel="nofollow">David Collection</a>.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>Next: </b>another coin with love story associated[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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