Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 17.djvu/718

Rh 660 NUMISMATICS [AEABIAJST. followers of All in Persia and Africa add &quot; All is the friend of God.&quot; The Moorish coins give long formula and religious citations and ejaculations, and they, like the money of the Pathans of Delhi of the Indian class, have occasionally admonitions urging or suggest ing the purer use of wealth. As Arab and other dynasties arose from the dismemberment of the caliphate, the names of kings occur, but for centuries they continued to respect the authority of their religious chief by coining in his name, even in the case of the shadowy Abbasids of Egypt, adding their own names even when at war with the caliph, as though they were mere provincial governors. After the fall of the caliphate some new denominations came in, chiefly of heavier weight than the dirhem and dinar, but the influence of the commercial states of Italy made the later Egyptian Mamelukes, the Turks, and the later Moors adopt the gold sequin. In more modern times the dollar found its way into the Moslem coinage of the states bordering on the Mediterranean. It can be readily seen that Arab coins have no art in the same sense as those of the Greeks. The beautiful inscriptions and the arabesque devices of the pieces of the close of the Middle Ages have, however, a distinct artistic merit. Omay- The Omayyad coins owe their only historical value to the evidence yads. which the silver affords of the extent of the empire at different times. The first separation of that empire dates from the overthrow of this Abba- dynasty by the Abbasids, speedily followed by the formation of the sids. rival Omayyad caliphate of the West with its capital at Cordova. The Abbasid money has the same interest as that which it suc ceeded, but its information is fuller. Towards the fall of the line it becomes very handsome in the great coins, which are multiples of the dinar. The Spanish Omayyads struck silver almost exclu sively. Their rise was followed by that of various lesser lines the Edrisids (At) and Aghlabids (A 7 &quot; chiefly) in western Africa, the Bern Tuliin (A 7 ), and, after a short interval, the Ikhshidids (A 7 ), both of Turkish origin, in Egypt. Meanwhile a new caliphate arose in western Africa which subdued Egypt, the Fatimite of the line of Ali, and for a while the allegiance of the Moslems was divided between three rival lines, the Omayyads of Spain, the Fatimites of Africa, and the Abbasids of Baghdad. The Fatimites introduced a new type of dinar, with the inscriptions in concentric circles, a-nd struck little but gold. In the interim the Persians, who had long exercised a growing influence at the court of Baghdad, revived their power in a succession of dynasties which acknowledged the supremacy of the caliphate of Baghdad, but were virtually inde pendent. These were the Tahirids, Saffarids, Samanids, Ziyarids, and Buweyhids, who mostly struck silver, but the last gold also. As the Persians had supplanted the Arabs, so they were in turn forced to give place to the Turks. The Ghaznawids formed a powerful kingdom in Afghanistan (A 7 &quot;, At), and the Seljuks estab lished an empire (A 1 ), which divided into several kingdoms, occupy ing the best part of the East. Of these dynasties the Seljuks of Rum or Asia Minor first strike a modern type of Arab coinage (At). The Seljiik dominions separated into many small states, the central ruled by atabegs or generals, and the similar Turkoman Urtukees. The atabeg money and that of the Turks of the house of Urtuk are mainly large copper pieces bearing on one side a figure borrowed from Greek, Roman, Byzantine, and other sources. They form a most remarkable innovation. In the same age the great but short-lived empire of Kharezm arose in the far East. The first caliphate to disappear was that of Spain, which broke up into small dynasties, some claiming the prerogative of the caliphates. They chiefly struck base silver (billon) coins. The Christian kings gradually overthrew most of these lines. In the meantime various Berber families had gained power in western Africa and the Murabits (Almoravids) and Muwahhids (Almohadis) crossed the straits and restored the Moslem power in Spain. They struck gold money of fine work, and that of the later Muwahhids is remarkable for its size and thinness. At the fall of the Muwahhids the only powerful kingdom remaining was the Arab house of Granada, which, sup ported by the Berbers of Africa, lingered on until the days of Fer dinand and Isabella. The Fatimite dynasty was supplanted by the Kurdish line of the Eiyubis, the family of Saladin, who ruled Egypt, Syria, and Mesopotamia, with a number of vassal states, some governed by princes of their own family, some by the older lines of the atabeg class which they allowed to survive. In Egypt the Eiyubi coinage is of gold, elsewhere of silver and copper. The caliphate of Baghdad, which latterly was almost limited to that town, though its abundant heavy gold coinage at this very time indicates great wealth, was overthrown by the new power of the Mongols (1263 A.D.), who established a group of empires and kingdoms, comprising the whole Eastern world eastward of the Euphrates and thence extending northward and reaching into Europe. The most important of these states for their money are that of the Mongols of Persia, founded by Hulagu, the conqueror of Baghdad, and that of the khans of the Golden Horde. Both struck silver, but there is also gold coinage of the Mongols of Persia, who more frequently use the Mongol character for their names and titles than is done under the kindred line. The power of the Mongols was held in check by the Mameluke kings of Egypt, slave-princes, who struck money in the three metals. The Mongol power waned, but was revived by Timur, who during his rule (1397) recovered all that had been lost. He and his successors struck silver, copper, and brass money. The Turks, whose power had been gradually growing, after a desperate struggle with Timur, gradually absorbed the whole Mohammedan world west of the Tigris, except only Morocco, where they had but a momentary dominion. Their money, of gold, silver, base metal, and bronze, is devoid of historical interest. In Tunis and Morocco a group of Berber lines long maintained themselves, but at length only one survived, that of the sherifs of Morocco, claiming Arab descent, now ruling as the sole independent Moslem dynasty of northern Africa. Its recent coinage is singularly barbarous. It may be remarked that Tunis and Egypt have long coined Turkish money in their own mints, the more western state latterly adding the name of its hereditary prince to that of the sultan. The coins of the shahs of Persia have their origin with Isma il Persia. (1502). They are struck in the three metals, and are remarkable for the elegance of their inscriptions, sometimes in flowing Arabic, sometimes in the still more fiexuous native character. The in scriptions are at first Arabic ; after a time the religious formulas are in this language and the royal legend in Persian, usually as a poetical distich. The Persian series is also remarkable for the autonomous issues of its cities in copper, the obverse bearing some type, usually an animal. The coins of the Afghans form a class resembling in inscriptions those of the Persians, and equally using Persian distichs. They commence with Ahmad Shah Durani. The Indian series begins with the money of the Greek kings of India, western India, commonly known as Bactrian, a misnomer, only the earlier sovereigns having ruled Bactria. Between Alexander s money and the Graco-Indian series there is a curious class, the very rare gold and silver of Andragoras, dynast of Parthia, and the silver of an Indian prince, Sophytes. The Grseco-Indian weight is at first Attic ; coins are struck of gold, silver, bronze, and rarely nickel. The gold stater is limited to the earlier kings ; the silver tetradrachm is struck at first with divisions ; the Persic didrachm and drachm ultimately supersede it ; the bronze is either round or of the square form peculiar to India. The types are Greek and very various. The inscriptions are at first Greek, but at an early time a native Indian inscription appears as a concession ; it occupies the reverse of bronze, and in time of silver money, and gives a translation of the Greek inscription. The character used is of two Indian alphabets, the common one being styled Bactrian Pali. Diodotus, the first Grseco-Indian king, revolted against the Syrian ruler about 250 B.C. ; his money is Greek in its art. Under Euthydemus I., the next king, begins that peculiar style which gives these coins their special interest. It is realistic and vigorous, in portraiture reminding us of the best Italian medals. This is in part due to the leading away of the artists from Greek models to portray another race, for the heads are unmistakably Indian ; but it is also significant of an innate strength not to be traced in the portraits of the Ptolemies and the Seleucids. Here we plainly see the first impulse of Greece in the formation of Indian art, after it had been influenced by working in a new atmosphere. The portrait of Demetrius in an elephant s skin is very remarkable, and should be compared with the wholly ideal treatment of that of Alexander on the coins of Alexander IV. struck in Egypt. After one reign later the order of kings becomes obscure, but the style gives the relative ages of groups, which must be the money of con temporary lines. Agathocles is noticeable for having struck com memorative coins of Alexander the Great, Diodotus, and Euthy demus I. Another characteristic portrait is that of Antimachus in the petasus or Greek hat. Eucratides struck the only Greek gold medal known to us, the great piece weighing twenty staters, now in the French cabinet. The later Greek money is of less interest ; it ends with Hermaeus, perhaps about 50 B. c. Then follows a group of dynasts with barbarous names, who adhere more or less closely to Greek originals. A Parthian class breaks in in consequence of the conquests of Mithradates I. The Indo-Scythian class, which is of much interest, is fixed approximately to periods by finds in which aurei occur ranging from the earlier Roman emperors to the Antonines. This coinage is of gold and bronze, silver being almost unknown. The weights are Roman. The types are usually the figure or the bust of the king, and on the reverse a divinity. The inscriptions are first Greek and the ordinary Indian of the Gra?co- Indian coins, then, strangely, Greek only, barbarous enough. Cad- phises strikes the double aureus and the aureus. Under Canerces and his successors we notice aurei with an uncommon variety of divini ties of Indian, Persian, Greek, and Roman mythology, as well as Buddha. The Gupta series is contemporary with the Indo-Scythian. It was struck in Kanauj, in the centre of northern India. It is a remarkable gold coinage, good and debased, as well as bronze. The mythological types are Indian alone, interesting and in good native style, which now first appears on coins in a pure form. The inscriptions are in Sanskrit letters. There is a series of silver coins struck in Cacch (Cutch) by the Sah kings of Saurastran ; they are derived from the later money of the Gra-co - Indian class. The