Identified: Islamic, Artuqids Of Mardin, Solar Eclipse Coin

It's not technically "ancient". It's Islamic, from around the time of the Crusades. The Turkmen states of what is now Turkey, northern Iraq and western Iran were peculiar (for Islamic coins) in showing pictures of people and animals - something normally frowned upon as being dangerously close to "making graven images".

This one looks to me like a "lion and sun" dirham of Seljuq sultan Kaykhusraw II, circa 1240 AD. Only problem is, those are supposed to be silver - yours looks distinctly coppery in those photos.

I've found some more accurate information on this coin. Apologies for the delay, but "better late than never"...

This coin is actually a very interesting one - it's an astrological coin, commemorating a specific astronomical event. The issuer was Nasir al-Din Artuq Arslan (ruled 1201-1239 AD), the Artuqid prince of Mardin, a city in what is now south-eastern Turkey.

The coin depicts a centaur (half-human, half-horse) shooting an arrow at a dragon-head growing out of the centaur's tail. If you're having trouble picturing it, this one on Zeno.ru is clearer.

The symbolism was apparently clear to anyone with Arab astrological training: the centaur-archer stands for the constellation Sagittarius, the dragon-head stands for a solar eclipse. History shows that in AH 598 (= AD 1201), the same year that Nasir al-Din came to power, there was indeed a solar eclipse, while the Sun was in the constellation Sagittarius. According to NASA's map of the route of this eclipse, the path of totality passed right over the Middle East, well south of Mardin but just to the north of Mecca. The prince obviously took an eclipse happening just after he became ruler as a good omen, and put reminders of the event on his coins. The coin is apparently dated AH 599 (= 1202/3 AD).

It's listed in the Album catalogue of Islamic coins as A# 1830.2, rated as "scarce" - not rare, but not common, either.