137 / 166
Tyrants of the Tigris & euphrates
300
Ilkhans
Gold Dinar (6.98g), AH 698
Ghazan Mahmud, Mongol Ilkhan of Persia, AH 694-703/AD 1295-1304
SICA-9, 501 (date); A 2170. Choice Very Fine.
Tabriz mint, post-reform dinar of two mithqals (8.72gm). Ghazan’s name in Uighur, Arabic and verti-
cally at left, in Pagspa script; at right and left, date in Arabic. Reverse, within elaborate pentafoil, the
Kalima, mint name at center, date in margin segments. Pagspa script was devised by the Tibetan lama
Drogon Chogyal Pagspa for Kublai Khan as a unified script for use by the Mongol Yuan dynasty in Chi-
na. Most Ilkhanid gold coins from this point forward are struck at somewhat random weights, clustering
around 4.3gm (one mithqal) and 8.6gm (two mithqals). In the trade, these are sometimes described as
single and double dinars but this is not accurate. Gold was traded by weight rather than denomination.
There is also a silver dinar, not to be confused with the gold, which was a fixed unit equal to six dirhams.
301
Ilkhans
Gold Dinar (8.98g), AH 710
Uljaytu, Mongol Ilkhan of Persia, AH 703-716/AD 1304-1316
SICA-9, 921 var (same obverse die but mint name Shiraz below reverse field); A 2182.
Mint State.
Shiraz mint. Within quatrefoil,
duriba fi / ‘ayam dawla al-malawi / al-sultan al-a’zam malik ruqab
/ al-ummam Auljaitu sultan ghiyath / al-dunya wa al-din Khudabanda Muhammad / khallad Allah /
mulkahu;
in upper right margin, name of Uljaytu in Uighur; upper left, Qur’an 30:4; lower right and left,
mint and date. Reverse, Shi’ite Kalima with
bism allah al-karim
around; in margin, the Twelve Imams.
Mint clear, date confirmed by die link.
Uljaytu (AH 703-716/ AD 1304-1316) was the eight ruler of the Ilkhans of Persia. He received vari-
ous embassies from Europe who established consulates in his capital Tabriz in northwestern Iran. The
Byzantines, out of fear of the Ottoman Turks, pursued an alliance with Uljaytu. His mausoleum in the
province of Zanjan, Iran is an architectural masterpiece. The ribbing system for the dome’s construction
remains a testimony to the skill and knowledge of the architects and builders. The Florence Cathedral’s
dome designed and built by Filippo Brunelleschi almost a century later bears many similarities in design
and execution to this dome. Like other dynasties in the region, the Ilkhanate faced challenges from
competing warlords and eventually fragmented into smaller kingdoms.