On April 5, 2024, the Circle for Late Antique and Medieval Studies was pleased to present a panel discussion with three distinguished historians/numismatists: Stuart D. Sears, Independent Scholar Stefan Heidemann, Professor of Islamic Studies, Universität Hamburg, Asien Afrika Institut, and Michael Bates, Curator Emeritus of Islamic Coins, American Numismatic Society.

The panelists discussed these questions: What were the stages through which Islamic coinage was established in 697-698 CE? How did the Byzantine & Sasanian coinage transition during this process of change? What were the new Islamic motifs? And why did old coinage survive in the East?

Stuart Sears is an Arabic translator and independent scholar who writes on numismatics and the social and political thought of the late antique and early medieval Near East. Sears presented on ” The Politics of Believing: The ‘Standing Caliph’ as Righteous Warrior”. Few coin types of the early Muslims have piqued the interest of modern writers more than the tentatively named “Standing Caliph with Symbol on Steps.” The distinctly Muslim coins appear across Syria at the end of the seventh century CE. Nevertheless, they bear little outward resemblance to the all-epigraphic Reformed coins that follow them. Their obverses bear the standing figure of a caliph or war leader girded with sword and whip. Their reverses have a pillar crowned with an orb on top of three or four steps. This paper argues that the type appeals in its iconography to the same themes as the Reformed type does in its legends. It not only invokes the ruler’s duty to impose right authority but also defines this authority as a form of absolute kingship. These motifs draw on late Antique and Qur’ānic tropes. In this context, the type elucidates the socio-religious legitimation of ‘Abd al-Malik’s government in a manner not previously possible.

Stefan Heidemann has served, since 2011, as Professor of Islamic Studies at Universität Hamburg, and director of “RomanIslam Center of Comparative Empire and Transcultural Studies” in Hamburg (2020-2025). Professor Heidemann spoke about ‘Abd al-Malik (r. 685-705) as the architect of the Imperial formula of the Islamic Empire, who gave it its expression. This included the design of the naturally ubiquitous coinage. The transition from the Byzantine cross potent on steps on the gold coinage to a different image or symbol was necessary. The first symbols which were invented to replace the Byzantine cross had only a short-lived success. It was soon replaced by something, which expresses the sovereignty of God in the Empire much more appropriate: the ‘Surat of Pure Faith’ from the Qur’an. To understand this crucial transition at the beginning of the Islamic civilization better this preliminary symbol will be analyzed. Read Professor Heidemann’s 2010 article on this topic.

Michael L. Bates was Curator of Islamic Coins of the American Numismatic Society, retiring in 2005. Bates spoke on “Sasanian-Type Coinages after the Introduction of Muslim Arabic Coinage in Iran”. In 697-98 the caliph Abd al Malik and al-Hajjaj, his governor general for the lands of the former Sasanian empire, introduced a coinage of entirely new design, bearing only Islamic religious inscriptions in Arabic and some simple decorative elements, to replace the former Muslim silver coinage that continued the imperial Sasanian design. At least 42 mints have been recorded on dirhams of 79 Hijri, the first full year of issue, including mints outside Iran where no coins had been produced before, and others in the next few years. The quantity of surviving Islamic dirhams is huge. There can be no doubt that the caliph and the governor were serious in their intent to replace the old coinage, depicting a Sasanian emperor and a Zoroastrian fire altar, with a new inscriptional Islamic issue. And yet, plenty of the old coins, including the last issues, still survive today. More surprisingly, old style coins of the eastern mints dated well after the year of the reform are generally common. How could it happen that old style coins continued to be produced after their intended abolition? A first step toward an answer is to find out when and where these various coins were produced, or pretended by their inscriptions to have been produced, in the postreform years. In a century of serious study of these issues, no one has yet attempted to map and date this production. An accurate picture is only beginning to be delineated; the first results will be shown.