Posted 09/22/2011 09:20 am
It's not ancient, though it is modelled on ancient coins. It's actually mediaeval Islamic. It doesn't look "Islamic", because Islamic coins rarely have portraits on them - apparently, the Turkish dynasties that ruled mediaeval Iraq didn't think that the prohibition on "graven images" extended to the making of coins with portraits on them, and so this series of "Islamic figural bronzes" was made. This particular type was issued by the Zangids, a dynasty that ruled from Mosul in the 1100s-1200s - around the time of the Crusades. The ruler that issued this particular design, copying an ancient Greek or Roman crested helmet, was Sayf al-Din Ghazi II (1169-1180). See this zeno.ru page for more coins of this ruler.
Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis
