Well my wife told me to go on the computer and pick out my Christmas present and I grudgingly accepted
I really wanted to add to my collection of famous military commanders and destroyed civilizations. With a little wit and a lot of hunting I was able to kill two birds with one...ugh well two stones
.
I came up with some not so ancient coins but still old and significant enough that I can post them here and will be at least mildly appreciated.
The first coin is not your run of the mill medieval Islamic coin, but rather a glimpse into the past and rather complicated geopolitical environment of the 13th century AD.
These coins I could not wait to show you guys!
The first coin as I said before is not a run of the mill 13th century Islamic Coins but rather a coin that names a governor of a town in Afghanistan and its over lord.
The coin is a Billon Jital (AH 602-624 / AD 1206-1227) that reads Al-Nasir Ud-din Allah amir al-muminin / Adl Khaqan al-Azam (coin of the Great Khan)
In arabic on reverse.
17mm, 4.28 grams. Ghazna mint.
Tye 329; SICA 9, 1008; Nyamaa 5; Album 1969.
It does not take much explaining as to who "The Great Khan" is he went by a few names... Chingiz, Temujin but we know him as Genghis Khan. Ruler of all the Mongol tribes and Master of all of Asia. Highly trained nomadic horseman from the steppes of Mongolia, set here eyes on the prize, the brought mighty China to its knees and stretched their Empire across Asia right to the European doorstep. Genghis Khan controlled possibly the largest Empire that ever existed. He was able to defeat armies with use of vast numbers of highly trained and highly loyal horse archers, able to attack and withdrawal and cover vast amounts of territory in a short period of time. He carried a policy of religious and cultural tolerance to all people..to all people who did not oppose him.
This coin was struck in the remnants of the once might Khwarezm Empire. (Located in dark green on your map)
I would like to include an excerpt from my sellers listing..and my other coin
The largest of this rare type...
Al-Sultan in the center, Mohamed and additional inscriptions (al-Sultan al-azam... the rest unread) in the margins / Mohamed Bin Takesh in a monogram in the center, additional inscriptions (presumably mint and date) in the margins. 31mm, 7.45 grams. Mint of Balkh. MWOI 910.
This rare type is poorly studied - the inscriptions were never read completely, and because this type is always very weakly struck, they are hard to read. Still, a very interesting and rare huge silver coin of this infamous ruler!
Mohamed Khwarezmshah was the most famous and powerful of the rulers of Khwarezm, though he is most known for his downfall and the story of the great expansion of the Empire of Genghis Khan. In 1218, Genghis Khan sent some emissaries to the Shah, but when he executed the Mongol diplomats in defiance of the emerging great power, Genghis retaliated with a force of 200,000 men. In February 1220 the Mongolian army crossed the Syr Darya and launched the Mongol invasion of Central Asia. The Mongols stormed Bukhara, Samarkand, and the Khwarezmid capital Urgench. The Shah fled and died some weeks later on an island in the Caspian Sea.
He sent 200,000 troops against Khwarezm- the Shah divided up his forces each section defending one city, Genghis on the other hand divided his forces in three and attacked from three sides sweeping city after city and finally defeating the whole of the empire, and destroying their most magestic capitol city.
It is said that Genghis Khan put the entire population to the sword. Each man in Genghis army is said to have had a 24 person killing quota...it is thought millions died in the fields outside the cities. The Particular governor whom so disrespected by not recieving his trade of silver and killing his diplomats sent by the Khan on peaceful terms faced the worst fate. Contrary to Mongol tradition that a political entity should die a bloodless death by breaking the back-this man faced a mouthful of molten silver....
I hope you enjoyed the coins as much as I have.
Posted 12/08/2012 12:33 am
