Copper coin of Najm al-Din Alpi (1152-1176 AD), Artuqid ruler of Mardin, in present-day NA Turkey. A characteristic example of the rare cases in Muslim coinage where figurative themes are used in contrast to the usual non-pictorial practice of Islam. This phenomenon was observed par excellence in areas where Turkoman tribes had settled (Eastern Asia Minor and Upper Mesopotamia), throughout the 12th century. The iconographic influences that are identified refer to Byzantine, but also Roman, and even Hellenistic monetary standards. The reasons for using these motifs are not easy to explain precisely, but an attempt to combine cultural elements, addressed to recently conquered populations that still maintained their Greco-Roman tradition, is perhaps detectable. On the other hand, the Arabic inscriptions on the coins echo the already established practice of the Islamic dynasties that promoted the authority of the Turkoman emirs. The specific copper coin of Nejmeddin Alpi – one of the heaviest Turkoman coins – is speculated to have represented the nominal value of a silver dirham, although it is more likely that it had this name simply as a monetary designation in general.
Artuqids
A Turkoman tribe (Banu Artuq) named after its ancestor, Emir Artuq bin Eksek, who was a chieftain of the Doger Oghuz Turks originating from the steppes of Hyperoxania (central Asia). Artuk entered the service of the Seljuk sultan Alp Arslan in 1063 and became governor of Jerusalem (1086/7-1091/2). After the capture of Jerusalem by the Crusaders in 1099, Artuk’s sons, Mu’in al-Din Sukman and Najm al-Din Il-Ghazi, established independent principalities in NE Asia Minor. The former founded the Artuqid dynasty in Hisn Kayfa and Amid in 1101, which lasted until 1232; the latter was the founder of the corresponding dynasty of Mardin, which lasted from 1108 to 1409. At the same time, a branch of the Artuqids of Kayfa established another dynasty further northwest, in the fortress city of Khartpert (1185-1234).
Iconographic influences
The copper coin of Najm al-Din Alpi (1152-1176 AD) shows two faces on the obverse youthful busts. The two figures were suggested to denote the Dioscuri, and indeed with a traceable pattern (Gemini) on Greco-Roman coins from Flaviopolis in nearby Cilicia (1st-2nd century AD). The attribution to the constellation of Gemini was considered to document an imprinted astrological reference – not an uncommon practice in Turkoman coinage of the period. A possible connection with this astrological symbolism could support a dating of the minting of the Nejmeddin Alpi at the beginning of the year AH 549 (1154 AD), when the constellation of Gemini was rising according to the Arab chronicler Ibn al-Qalanisi. However, although it is very likely that this particular edition dates from the beginning of the reign of Najm al-Din Alpi, the fact that the two busts wear a chlamys and mainly a diadem, alluding to “hegemonic” figures, should not be overlooked. The similarity with a coin of Husam al-Din Timurtash (1122-1152 AD), father of Najm al-Din Alpi, which bears a diademed head, with the figure of Antiochus Z’ Siditus on silver Seleucid tetradrachms as an obvious model, is characteristic. In fact, the first coin of around 1152-1153 by Najm al-Din Alpi reproduced the paternal edition, depicting an identical head, but with the laqab (=Najm al-Din), i.e. the personal honorary title of Alpi, on the neck of the young “hegemonic” figure, is reproduced. The reverse side is occupied by an imitation of a Byzantine coin theme: an imperial figure (left) is crowned by the Virgin Mary (right). The obvious iconographic model is found in the gold statues of Romanos III Argyros (1028-1034 AD).
Arabic inscriptions
On the obverse of the coin, above the two heads, is inscribed the laqab, an honorary or descriptive title or nickname of the ruler: Najm al-Din. Below the busts is engraved the title Malik Diyarbakr, i.e. ruler of Diyarbakır, while at the end of the inscription on the left is the tamgha, a declarative symbol of the Artuqids. The title Malik Diyarbakr appears for the first time in the field of coinage of Mardis – of course, the notes that Alpi made with this inscription on two coins that precede it chronologically are also known. The invocation of the title of the ruler of Diyarbakir declares sovereignty over the Amida region to the north or at least a claim to these territories by Necmettin Alpi. On the reverse of the coin, the inscription starts from the right and is written counterclockwise, attributing to Alpi the title (kunya) Abu al-Muzaffar “Father of the Conqueror” and then adding his genealogy: “son of Timurtas, son of Il-Gazi, son of Artuk”. The numismatic epigraphs in this particular edition have been written in Nashki, a development rather than a decorative Kufic script.