A Byzantine Weight Validated by Al-Walīd, c. 90 AH / 708-709 CE
Islamic Awareness
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First Composed: 1st June 2019
Last Updated: 1st June 2019
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Assalamu ʿalaykum wa rahamatullahi wa barakatuhu:
(a)
(b)
(a) Picture of the coin weight issued by Al-Walid with obverse (left) and reverse (right) fields. (b) The epigraphic content in the reverse field around the margin and middle.
Date
c. 90 AH / 708-709 CE.
Contents
Obverse field: Within a border consisting of recurrent semicircles bearing dots within and at the points of junction of the semicircles. There is a Greek cross, and to its left and right respectively, the Greek letters Γ and B (i.e., two ounces).
Reverse Margin / Centre: In the name of God. Muḥammad is the Messenger of God. Equity is God's. This is [a weight] of two ounces which Servant of God al-Walīd has established / Commander of the Faithful.
Comments
The weight is a circular disk of diameter 35.5 mm and thickness 7 mm with a two-grooved tooled profile, the piece having been turned on a lathe, the traces of the live and dead centers of which are evident in slight depressions at the exact center of the obverse and reverse.
Location
Private Collection.
References
[1] G. C. Miles, "A Byzantine Weight Validated By Al-Walīd", Numismatic Notes And Monographs, 1939, No. 87, pp. 1-11.
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