Publication Date
649 / 1251
Publication Place
-
The National Museum in Damascus
Subject
Minted gold.
Type
Other
Language
Undetermined
Digital
Yes
Manuscript
No
Physical Dimensions
القطر: 23 مم؛ الوزن: 3.17 غم
Library
Museum With No Frontiers
Library Asset ID
ع ر 5354
Record ID
object;ISL;sy;Mus01;43;ar
Library Location
The National Museum in Damascus
Date
649 / 1251
Notes
This is a Crusader coin worth a dinar made of gold. Although the Crusaders were warriors against Islam, they settled in the country and traded extensively. They minted money similar to the common money in the region, so that it would be accepted and circulated. This piece of money. It is a Crusader dinar in the Fatimid style, meaning that the inscription is engraved in three concentric circles. This dinar was minted in Akka in the year 649 / 1251, during the period when the French King Louis IX was in the East leading the Seventh and Eighth Crusades. The minting of these coins began when a new papal judge arrived in the Latin states in the spring of 1250 AD. He forbade the Franks from minting coins containing the names of the caliphs or the name of the Prophet, and he replaced them with these new coins with Christian phrases and symbols intentionally written in Arabic, but containing linguistic errors. The written texts on this coin were recorded in Naskh script. On the face of the piece appears an inscription located in two bands and in the middle of the piece, which is as follows: The first band: “The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.” The second (outer) band: “He struck with a stick in the year one thousand two hundred and fifty-one, the incarnation of our Lord,” followed by a cross with two dots on either side of it. The middle: The phrase “One God” appears within a circle, and “One God” is written. On the back of the piece an inscription also appears. In two circles and in the middle of the piece, it is as follows: The first collar: A small cross appears, with two dots on each side of it, and it is located above the cross in the middle circle, followed by the phrase “And our resurrection, and through Him, we are saved and we are healed.” The second collar: The shape of a cross (unclear) appears on the circumference dotted on both sides, then the phrase “We boast in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, in which is our peace.” The middle: It appears within a circle in the shape of a dotted cross at the two opposite corners, left from the top, and right from the top. Bottom. Finally, it must be said that many of the words written on this piece are missing some letters, and that there is difficulty in reading the text due to the presence of errors.
Sample Text
Mona al-Moadin “Dinar” in Discover Islamic Art. Museum Without Borders, 2026. https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;ISL;sy;Mus01;43;ar
