IFAO

The article identifies and interprets significant changes in the designs, script and other visual elements on gold and occasionally silver Islamic coins stuck in Egypt and when appropriate Syria beginning with those minted from the Fatimid era to the end of Ottoman suzerainty in 1914 C.E. For each chronological period interpretations that, in most cases, are not dependent on the ability of the user of the coin to read the engraved text in Arabic script. In all these cases the market or monetary role of the currency was far more important, initially, then their specific political messages, which, while inscribed on the coins were not signaled by visual clues. Over time a new style of coinage in terms of its visual appearance was created by the ruling sultans and it became the new standard.

Keywords: ʿAzīz ʿUṯmān – Abbasid – Aḥmad III – al-ʿĀdil I – al-Malik al-Kāmil – al-Mu’ayyad Šayḫ – al-Muʿizz li-Dīn Allāh – al-Mustaʿlī billāh –al-Qā’im bi-Amr Allāh – ašrafī – Barqūq – Barsbāy – Baybars – fatimid – ismāʿīlī – kufic – mamluk – Mehmet II Fātiḥ – Muṣṭafā II – nasḫ – Nūr al-Dīn – ottoman – Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn (Saladin) – sulṭānī.