DOI article:
Malarczyk, Dorota: Sāmānid dirhams from Rās̆t
DOI Page / Citation link: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21230#0292
literaturę we find a description in Frehn4 of five specimens from 357,
360, 361, 364, and 366 AH, which were subseąuently listed by Tie-
zengauzen5. Four specimens listed by Markov6 from the years 359, 361,
and 364 AH are found in the Hermitage; one, struck in 364 and de-
scribed by 0strup7, is among the holdings of the Copenhagen Museum;
one specimen, from the year 360 AH, is listed by O. Blau in the collec-
tion of the museum in Odessa8; and one specimen from the year 366
AH possesses the British Museum9. Rast dirhams are not catalogued,
however, in Swedish hoards10.
Arab sources locate the city of Rast in the province of the same name, to
the east of Ma wara al-Nahr (Transoxiana)11. According to Le Strange12,
the Rast district was found in the upper basin of the Wahśab River (a tri-
butary of the Arnu Daria): The Wahśab Rwer (Wahś) flows out of Turkish
lands and through Pamir (Fornir), Rast, and Kumid15. The district or prov-
ince of Rast, also known as Qaratigin14, stretched between two moun-
tains, and as a border region of Islam became a gateway for the Turks,
who along this route made their incursions into the Caliphate15. As
a result, as early as the 8lh century the Chorasan viceroy al-Fadl ibn Yahya
ibn Halid ibn Barmak fortified the city, surrounding it with walls16. The
1 C. M. Frehn, Recensio numorum Muhammedanorum (Petropoli 1826), p. 581, no. 291b;
p. 583, no. 317a; p. 584, no. 321a; and p. 585, no. 322d.
5 V. V. Tiezengauzen, O samanidskikh monetakh, Zapiski Imperatorskago Arkheologiche-
skago Obshchestva, Vol. 6 (St. Petersburg 1853), pp. 219-220, 224-26, 228.
6 A. Markov, Inventarnyy Katalog Musulmanskikh Monet Imperatorskago Ermitazha (St. Pe-
tersburg 1896), p. 158, no. 1063; p. 159, nos. 1075-1076; p. 160, no. 1107.
7 J. 0strup, Catalogue des monnaies arabes et turąues du Cabinet Royal des Medailles du Musee
National de Copenhague (Copenhagen 1938), pp. 101-102, no. 1162.
K O. Blau, Die orientalischen Munzen des Museums der kaiserlichen historisch-archaologischen
Gesellschaft zu Odessa (Odessa 1876), p. 14, no. 177.
9 I am very grateful to Venetia Porter from the British Museum for particulars.
10 Corpus Nummorum Saeculorum IX—XI ąui in Suecia reperti sunt (Stockholm 1975-1987).
11 Al-Istahri, Kitab masalik al-mamalik, BGA Vol. II, ed. M. J. de Goeje (Leyden 1927),
p. 286.
12 G. Le Strange, The Lands of theEastern Caliphate (London 1966), p. 439.
18 V. V. Barthold, Sochinienya, Vol. I (Moscow 1963), p. 120.
14 V. Barthold, Karatigin, in Encyclopedie de 1'Islam, Vol. IV, new edition (Leiden-Paris
1976), pp. 656-57.
15 Ibn Hurradadbih, in Hudud alJAlam, The Regions of the World: A Persian Geography, 372
AH - 982 AD, translated and explained by V. Minorsky (London 1937), p. 361.
16 Yaąut, Mucgam al-bulddn, Vol. II, ed. F. Wiistenfeld (Leipzig 1924), p. 733.
292
360, 361, 364, and 366 AH, which were subseąuently listed by Tie-
zengauzen5. Four specimens listed by Markov6 from the years 359, 361,
and 364 AH are found in the Hermitage; one, struck in 364 and de-
scribed by 0strup7, is among the holdings of the Copenhagen Museum;
one specimen, from the year 360 AH, is listed by O. Blau in the collec-
tion of the museum in Odessa8; and one specimen from the year 366
AH possesses the British Museum9. Rast dirhams are not catalogued,
however, in Swedish hoards10.
Arab sources locate the city of Rast in the province of the same name, to
the east of Ma wara al-Nahr (Transoxiana)11. According to Le Strange12,
the Rast district was found in the upper basin of the Wahśab River (a tri-
butary of the Arnu Daria): The Wahśab Rwer (Wahś) flows out of Turkish
lands and through Pamir (Fornir), Rast, and Kumid15. The district or prov-
ince of Rast, also known as Qaratigin14, stretched between two moun-
tains, and as a border region of Islam became a gateway for the Turks,
who along this route made their incursions into the Caliphate15. As
a result, as early as the 8lh century the Chorasan viceroy al-Fadl ibn Yahya
ibn Halid ibn Barmak fortified the city, surrounding it with walls16. The
1 C. M. Frehn, Recensio numorum Muhammedanorum (Petropoli 1826), p. 581, no. 291b;
p. 583, no. 317a; p. 584, no. 321a; and p. 585, no. 322d.
5 V. V. Tiezengauzen, O samanidskikh monetakh, Zapiski Imperatorskago Arkheologiche-
skago Obshchestva, Vol. 6 (St. Petersburg 1853), pp. 219-220, 224-26, 228.
6 A. Markov, Inventarnyy Katalog Musulmanskikh Monet Imperatorskago Ermitazha (St. Pe-
tersburg 1896), p. 158, no. 1063; p. 159, nos. 1075-1076; p. 160, no. 1107.
7 J. 0strup, Catalogue des monnaies arabes et turąues du Cabinet Royal des Medailles du Musee
National de Copenhague (Copenhagen 1938), pp. 101-102, no. 1162.
K O. Blau, Die orientalischen Munzen des Museums der kaiserlichen historisch-archaologischen
Gesellschaft zu Odessa (Odessa 1876), p. 14, no. 177.
9 I am very grateful to Venetia Porter from the British Museum for particulars.
10 Corpus Nummorum Saeculorum IX—XI ąui in Suecia reperti sunt (Stockholm 1975-1987).
11 Al-Istahri, Kitab masalik al-mamalik, BGA Vol. II, ed. M. J. de Goeje (Leyden 1927),
p. 286.
12 G. Le Strange, The Lands of theEastern Caliphate (London 1966), p. 439.
18 V. V. Barthold, Sochinienya, Vol. I (Moscow 1963), p. 120.
14 V. Barthold, Karatigin, in Encyclopedie de 1'Islam, Vol. IV, new edition (Leiden-Paris
1976), pp. 656-57.
15 Ibn Hurradadbih, in Hudud alJAlam, The Regions of the World: A Persian Geography, 372
AH - 982 AD, translated and explained by V. Minorsky (London 1937), p. 361.
16 Yaąut, Mucgam al-bulddn, Vol. II, ed. F. Wiistenfeld (Leipzig 1924), p. 733.
292