Ayyubids of Mayyafariqin, 1190 AD., citing Salah ad-Din Yusuf I ("Saladin"), probably struck at Mayafariqin or Nisibin in Mesopotamia, Balog 182.

Ayyubids of Mayyafariqin ? (596-658 AH, 1200-1259 AD) / Ayyubid Rulers of Egypt and Syria (AH 564-652 / 1169-1254 AD.), citing Ayyubids of Egypt, Al-Nasir Salah ad-Din Yusuf I ("Saladin", AH 564-589 / 1169-1193 AD.), no mint (Mesopotamian style, probably struck at Mayafariqin or Nisibin), dated AH 586 (1190 AD.),
Æ Dirham (27-28 mm / 11,57 g), copper, axes irregular alignment ↑↗ (ca. 40°),
Obv.: ﺏﻮﻳﺍ ﻦﺑ ﻒﺳﻮﻳ ﻦﻳﺪﻟﺍﻭﺎﻴﻧﺪﻟﺍ ﺡﻼﺻ ﺮﺻﺎﻨﻟﺍ ﻚﻠﻤﻟﺍ , "El-Melik el-Nasır Salaheddünya veddin Yusuf bin Eyyub" , from 5:00 to 7:00: "al-malik al-nasir salah (al-dunya wa’l-din) yusuf ibn ayyub" - “the Victorious King, Righteousness of the World and the Faith, Yusuf ibn Ayyub” , male figure facing, seated cross-legged on a low square-backed throne surmounted by two pinnacles at the upper corners, wearing a turban, left hand holding an orb and right hand resting on his thigh, legend citing Al-Nasir Salah ad-Din Yusuf I (Saladin).
Rev.: ﻦﻴﻨﻣﺆﻤﻟﺍﺮﻴﻣﺍ ﻪﻠﻟﺍﻦﻳﺪﻟﺮﺻﺎﻨﻟﺍ ﻡﺎﻣﻻﺍ / ﺔﺋﺎﻤﺴﻤﺧﻭ ﻦﻴﻨﻤﺛﻭ ﻪﺘﺳ ﺔﻨﺳ ﻢﻫﺭﺪﻟﺍﺍﺰﻫ ﺏﺮﺿ , "El-imam el-Nasır lidinillah emir'ül müminin / duribe haza el-dirhem sene 586" , legend in centre across field with caliph's name Al Nasir and date formula in margin (date 586). Field within a beaded circle: "al-imam al-na / sir li-din allah / amir al-mu’minin" with curved ornaments above and below - “the Imam al-Nasir li-Din Allah, Commander of the Faithful”. Margin: "duriba hadha’l-dirham sana sitt wa thamanin khamsmi‘a" - “this dirham was struck the year six and eighty and five hundred”.
Balog 182 ; Butak 113 ; Album 791 .



This was a period when the Ayyubid coinage in the east underwent a predictable modification. Instead of the usual small copper fals found in Aleppo, a new denomination, the much larger and heavier copper dirham, was adapted from the neighbouring Artuqid and Zangid states to serve the needs of the new Ayyubid territories in northern Jazira. At that time in Egypt the fals had probably been displaced by glass jetons which had originally started as coin weights, but gradually came to serve as the small change which was widely used by the Fatimids in the markets of Cairo.

While this coin still bears the names of the Abbasid caliph al-Nasir li-Din Allah and Saladin, it goes against strict Islamic tradition by bearing a human figure that harks back to the coinage of the Byzantines. It may, at first sight, seem strange that Saladin, the great warrior against the Crusaders, would tolerate such coins being struck in his name.

Although this piece does not bear a mint name it is likely that Saladin’s figural copper was struck in the Ayyubid territory centred on the town of Mayyafariqin, because by the time it was struck such coinage had been in common use there for nearly fifty years and the astrological symbols were both well understood and accepted.

The seated figure on this coin has been prosaically described as a “turbaned sultan”, but it has also been viewed as the personification of Jupiter, the brightest of the planets, named after the chief of the Roman gods, which was frequently used to depict royalty. The different dynasties of the region had no hesitation in copying one another’s copper dirhams, for this coin, among others, is the prototype for one that was struck by the Artuqid ruler of Mardin, in south-eastern Turkey, Nasir al-Din Artuq Arslan in the years 634, 635 and 637 H, which was identical to it in design.