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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Parthicus, post: 24900308, member: 81887&quot;][ATTACH=full]1600057[/ATTACH] </p><p>Hungary.&nbsp; AE follis.&nbsp; Bela III (1172-1196).&nbsp; Loosely imitating an Almoravid dinar.&nbsp; Obverse: Pseudo-Arabic inscription.&nbsp; Reverse: Pseudo-Arabic inscription.&nbsp; This coin: Dirty Old Coins (via Agora Auctions) Sale 2, lot 577 (December 20, 2023).</p><p><br /></p><p>Bela III (reigned 1172-1196) was born around 1148, a son of the Hungarian king Geza II.&nbsp; In 1161, Geza granted Bela a duchy including territory in Croatia, Dalmatia, and Sirmium.&nbsp; Geza died the following year and was succeeded by his eldest son Stephen III, and Bela was sent to live in Constantinople.&nbsp; There, he was betrothed to Byzantine Emperor Manuel I Komnenos&#039; daughter, Maria.&nbsp; Stephen fought several battles to try and prevent the Byzantines from taking control of Bela&#039;s duchy, but unsuccessfully.&nbsp; Bela was designated as Manuel&#039;s heir in 1165; but when Manuel had a son, Alexios, born in 1169, the Hungarian was no longer necessary and the betrothal and heirship were dissolved.&nbsp; Stephen died in 1172 and Bela returned to Hungary to take up the throne, after swearing that he would never wage war against the Byzantines.&nbsp; However, after Manuel died in 1180, Bela would reclaim his territories in Croatia, Dalmatia and Sirmium for Hungary.&nbsp; Other notable features of his reign were his bringing organized record-keeping to the royal court, and the introduction of Gothic-style architecture.&nbsp; Bela died in 1196 and was succeeded by his son Emeric.</p><p><br /></p><p>Notably, this coin type has a pseudo-Arabic inscription as the sole design, and the format is (roughly) based on contemporary gold dinars of the Almoravids, who ruled in North Africa and Spain.&nbsp; The reason for using an Arabic-imitative design in this case is not clear.&nbsp; I&#039;ve seen speculation that the coins were meant for Hungarian soldiers being sent on the Third Crusade in 1189 to spend in the Levant, but there doesn&#039;t seem to be any evidence for this idea.&nbsp; There also doesn&#039;t seem to have been a significant Muslim or Arabic-speaking population in Hungary that Bela would have wanted to appeal to with familiar-looking coins.&nbsp; This seems like it could be a fruitful question for further research by numismatic scholars.&nbsp; Regardless, it&#039;s an interesting coin from an area that I know very little about.&nbsp; Please post your related coins.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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