134 / 166
TYRANT COLLECTION
132
293
‘Abbasid Caliphate
Gold Dinar (11.07g), AH 640
al-Musta’sim, ‘Abbasid Caliph, AH 640-656/AD 1242-1258
SICA-4, 1295; A 275. Extremely Fine.
Madinat al-Salam (Baghdad) mint (11.07gm). Fancy quatrefoil containing Kalima, name and titles of
al-Mustansir, Qur’an 30:4 vertically in lobes right and left, mint and date in margin. Reverse, Fancy
quatrefoil with continuation of Kalima. In reverse margin, Qur’an 9:33, continuing into right and left
lobes of quatrefoil.
In 1258, the Mongols overran Baghdad and al-Musta’sim was executed by Hulagu Khan. Though the
details may be apocryphal we are told that the Mongols had a tradition that no drop of royal blood should
ever touch the earth. To that end, al-Musta’sim was rolled in a carpet, beaten with clubs and trampled
by horses. Another tradition, recounted by the famous traveler Marco Polo, told that upon discovering
al-Musta’sim’s great stores of treasure which might have been spent in defense of Baghdad, Hulagu
locked the caliph in his treasure room without food or water, saying “eat of thy treasure as much as thou
wilt, since thou art so fond of it”.
294
Ilkhans
Gold Dinar (4.62g), No Date
Hulagu, Mongol Ilkhan of Persia, AH 654-663/AD 1256-1265
Diler H-19; A 2121.1. Extremely Fine.
Type of Baghdad mint, citing the Great Qa’an Möngke as overlord and Hulagu as Ilkhan whose titles
include
malka ruqab al-ummam
, “posssessor of the necks of the people”. Same dies as Morton and Eden
Auction 52, lot 1095, on which the mint name Baghdad is fully legible.
Hulagu Khan (AH 654-663/ AD 1256-1265) was a grandson of Ghengis Khan. Hulagu conquered much
of Western Asia and founded the Mongol Ilkhanate of Persia. The title Ilkhan means “subordinate khan”
in deference to the Great Khan of the Mongols. Hulagu’s brother Möngke Khan had been installed as
Great Khan in 1251. In 1255, Möngke charged Hulagu with leading a massive army to subjugate or
destroy the remaining Muslim states in southwestern Asia. Hulagu’s instructions were to treat those who
submitted with kindness and to utterly destroy those who resisted. Following the destruction of the Lurs
in southern Persia and the surrender of the Assassins at Alamut, Hulagu set out for Baghdad. Hulagu de-
manded surrender but the ‘Abbasid Caliph al-Musta’sim refused. In response, the Mongols laid siege to
Baghdad. Within two weeks, the city surrendered. The Mongols swept into the city on February 13, 1258
and began a week of unparalleled destruction. The Grand Library of Baghdad, one of the great libraries
of the medieval world, was destroyed and the Tigris is said to have run black from the ink of countless
books. 200,000 inhabitants or more may have been killed. The Mongols first looted and then destroyed.
Mosques, palaces and hospitals were razed.