Historical and Numismatic Study for Dinars of Sultan Maḥmūd B. Sabuktakīn at Nishapur

Abstract

This study of historical numismatics will focus on the dinars of Sultan Maḥmūd of Ghazna coined in the mint of Nishapur. Its objective is to provide thorough information about these dinars, in order to contribute to the knowledge of the political and economic circumstances of the government of Sultan Maḥmūd. Thus, after a historical introduction that contextualizes the golden emissions that are studied, a complete description of a selection of pieces will be presented. The authors have selected ten exceptional gold coins, of which nine are unpublished types and, the tenth, has only been briefly cited in a previous study. Among them, it is worth mentioning a posthumous dinar, coined in the year 423/1031-1032. The criterion for the selection has been based on monetary legends and their correlation with historical events. After the description of the specimens, an in-depth analysis of the monetary legends and their ideological implications is carried out, as well as regarding to the ornamental motifs (vegetable, geometric, figurative ...) and the metrology of the dinars of the Sultan Maḥmūd coined in Nishapur.

Keywords

• ghaznavids
• sultan maḥmūd
• ghazni or ghazna
• nishapur
• dinars
• numismatics