Israel

Numismatic
Research
4 | 2009

: Tyrian Sheqels from the ‘Isfiya Hoard, Part One

: The Copper Coins of the Mamlūk Sultan al-

Malik al-Manṣūr Lājīn (r. AH 696–698/1297–1299 CE)

173 REVIEW: C. Foss,

. Washington, D.C. 2008. (Bruno Callegher)

Published by
The Israel Numismatic Society
Israel Numismatic Research
Published by the Israel Numismatic Society

Editorial Board: Donald T. Ariel (Editor), Alla Kushnir-Stein, David Wasserstein,

Danny Syon, Ilan Shachar

Text editor: Miriam Feinberg Vamosh

Typesetting: Michal Semo-Kovetz and Yael Bieber,
Tel Aviv University Graphic Design Studio
Printed at Elinir, Tel Aviv

ISSN 1565-8449

Correspondence, manuscripts for publication and books for review should be

addressed to: Israel Numismatic Research, c/o Haim Gitler, The Israel Museum,
P.O. Box 71117, Jerusalem 91710 ISRAEL, or to dtariel@ins.org.il
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For inquiries regarding subscription to the journal, please e-mail to info@ins.org.il

The editors are not responsible for opinions expressed by the contributors.

© The Israel Numismatic Society, Jerusalem 2009

Israel Numismatic Research
Published by the Israel Numismatic Society
Volume 4 2009
Contents

5 Editors’ Note
9 EvangElinE Markou: Some Cypriot Gold Coins?
21 HaiM gitlEr and orEn tal: More Evidence on the Collective Mint of
Philistia
39 Yigal ronEn: On the Chronology of the Yehud Falcon Coins
47 nicHolas l. WrigHt: Two New Imitative Issues from the Fifth Syrian War
(202–198 BCE)
51 olivEr D. HoovEr: A New Hellenistic Lead Issue from the Southern Levant
57 DaviD HEnDin: A Medallion of Agrippa II
63 cEcilia MEir: Tyrian Sheqels from the ‘Isfiya Hoard, Part One
73 gabriEla bijovskY: A Burning Testimony: Two Bronze Hoards from the
Time of the First Jewish Revolt
83 garY M. FinE: Coins of Bar Kokhba: The Temple Water-Drawing Ceremony
and the Holiday of Sukkot
94 alla kusHnir-stEin: Coins of Tiberias with Asclepius and Hygieia and the
Question of the City’s Colonial Status
109 lionEl HollanD: An Unusual Lead Weight of 22 grammata
113 WolFgang scHulzE: The Byzantine ‘Eagle’ countermark – Re-attributed
from Egypt to Palestine
121 DaviD j. WassErstEin: Islamic Coins and their Catalogues III: The Ikhshidids
135 robErt kool and WarrEn c. scHultz: The Copper Coins of the Mamlūk
Sultan al-Malik al-Manṣūr Lājīn (r. AH 696–698/1297–1299 CE)
145 ariEl bErMan: A Hoard from the First World War from the Area of Beer
Sheva
159 nErYaHu a. sHnEYDor: The Inscriptions on Modern Palestinian and Israeli
Currency
173 REVIEW: C. Foss, Arab-Byzantine Coins. An Introduction, with a
catalogue of the Dumbarton Oaks collection. Washington, D.C. 2008.
(Bruno Callegher)
179 Abbreviations
Editors’ Note
Editors’ Note
In keeping with the editors’ wishes — and those of the membership of Israel
Numismatic Society — that Israel Numismatic Research be in the forefront of
numismatic study of the southern Levant (see Editors’ Note in INR 2), the editors
present here the following note.1 In it, the datings of certain coins given in a key
numismatic work in the region are improved.
In 46 BCE Julius Caesar instituted a new solar calendar of 365¼ days, with
January 1st as its first day.2 This calendar of Caesar, with slight later modifications,
was destined to become the civil calendar of the modern world. Scholars of
antiquity use it — under the name ‘Julian’ and without subsequent modifications
— for dates pertaining to ancient history.
Other calendars of antiquity had their starting points in a variety of seasons.
Therefore, an ancient date — other than pertaining to Rome itself — almost
always overlaps parts of two consecutive Julian years. Consequently, when given
in terms of the Julian calendar, it must be expressed by a double figure. The
earlier figure will correspond to the first part of the local year, from the beginning
of the year to December 31st, and the later figure will correspond to the period
from January 1st (of the next Roman year) to the end of that local year. It is
obvious that indicating only a single Julian year as an equivalent of an ancient
non-Roman date would be both inexact and misleading.
Most modern scholars are aware of the necessity to indicate an ancient date
by a double figure but, unfortunately, equations to a single Roman year are still
frequent. This appears to stem, at least in part, from reference works that have
inexact date-indications. For the southern Levant one important such reference
book is Ya‘akov Meshorer’s A Treasury of Jewish Coins from the Persian Period
to Bar Kochba (Jerusalem and Nyack 2001; abbrev. TJC). Some dates are given
there in double figures, but many are not. Thus, a few dates for the coins of Herod
Antipas, Philip and Agrippa I are in single Julian figures, and so are also most of
the dates for the coins of the early Roman governors (prefects/procurators). The
matter is aggravated further by the fact that many dates that are given in double
figures have an error of one year.
Given the extensive use of TJC in modern research, a table listing the full
double-figure date indications, and in some cases corrections, for the volume is
provided below. It includes all coins of Herod Antipas, Philip, and Agrippa I of
the Herodian family, and all of prefects/procurators. To clarify the fact that not all

1 Provided by editorial board member Alla Kushnir-Stein.

2 The Romans appear to have begun their year on January 1st from quite early in their
history. The system was used from year 153 BCE at the latest: M. Cary and H.H. Scullard,
A History of Rome Down to the Reign of Constantine, 3rd ed., London 1975, p. 181, n. 16.

5
6 EDITORS’ NOTE

dates in these categories in TJC required such treatment, we have indicated those
without change with asterisks. Dates for the dated coins of other rulers in TJC
(Alexander Jannaeus, Herod, Agrippa II) are not dealt with here.

Actual
TJC Cat. Date on Coin TJC Date
Ruler First Year Date
No. (CE)
(CE)
HERODIANS
75–78 Herod Antipas 4/3 BCE KΔ, 24 19/20 20/21
79–82 “ “ ΛΓ, 33 28/29 29/30
83–86 “ “ ΛΔ, 34 29/30 30/31
87–90 “ “ ΛZ, 37 32/33 33/34
91–94 “ “ MΓ, 43 39 39/40

95–96 Philip 4/3 BCE E, 5 1 1/2

97–98* “ “ IB,12 8/9* 8/9
99* “ “ Iς, 16 12/3* 12/3
101* “ “ IΘ, 19 15/6* 15/6
102–103* “ “ Λ, 30 26/7* 26/7
104–105* “ “ ΛΓ, 33 29/30* 29/30
106–109* “ “ ΛΔ, 34 30/31* 30/31
110–111* “ “ ΛZ, 37 33/4* 33/4

112–115 Agrippa I 36/7 CE B, 2 38 37/8

116–119* “ “ E, 5 40/41* 40/41
120* “ “ ς, 6 41/2* 41/2
121–123* “ “ Z, 7 42/3* 42/3
124–126 “ “ H, 8 43 43/4

ROMAN PREFECTS/PROCURATORS
311–312 Under Augustus 31/30 BCE3 Λς, 36 6/7 5/6
313 “ “ ΛΘ, 39 9/10 8/9
314 “ “ M, 40 10/11 9/10
 EDITORS’ NOTE 7

Actual
TJC Cat. Date on Coin TJC Date
Ruler First Year Date
No. (CE)
(CE)
315 “ “ MA, 41 11/12 10/11

316–319 Under Tiberius 14/5 CE B, 2 15 15/6

320–324 “ “ Γ, 3 16 16/7
325–327 “ “ Δ, 4 17 17/8
328 “ “ E, 5 18 18/9
329 “ “ IA, 11 24 24/5
331–332 “ “ Iς, 16 29 29/30
333 “ “ IZ, 17 30 30/31
334 “ “ IH, 18 31 31/2
340–344* Under Claudius 41/2 CE IΔ, 14 54* 544

345 Under Nero 54/5 CE E, 5 59 58/9

34

3 The only era pertaining to the reign of Augustus that is known for the southern Levant
is the so-called ‘Actian era’, which falls in September 31 BCE.
4 Formally speaking, the date is 54/5 CE, but since Claudius died in October 54, the
coin is most likely to have been minted before the end of that year.
 Copper Coins of al-Malik al-Mansūr Lājīn robErt kool anD WarrEn c. scHultz
The Copper Coins of the
Mamlūk Sultan al-Malik al-Manṣūr Lājīn
(r. AH 696–698/1297–1299 CE)
robErt kool WarrEn c. scHultz
Israel Antiquities Authority DePaul University
robert@israntique.org.il wschultz@depaul.edu

Abstract
The typology of the copper coinage of the Mamlūk sultan Lājīn is modified in the light of the
discovery of a new type and the rediscovery of a forgotten type. Archaeologically derived
numismatic data is examined to raise questions about the origin of these coins and their
circulation.

The Mamlūk amir Ḥusām al-Dīn Lājīn briefly ruled the Mamlūk Sultanate of
Egypt and Syria for two years at the end of the seventh/thirteenth century, AH
696–698/1297–1299 CE. He took the throne upon the deposition of the sultan
Kitbughá (AH 694–696 /1295–1297 CE). Lājīn’s reign came to an end with his
murder by other leading amirs, and he was succeeded by the young al-Nāṣir
Muḥammad b. Qalāwūn, who took the throne for the second of his three reigns
(AH 698–708/1299–1309 CE).1 During those two years, as was Lājīn’s right as
ruler, coinage was produced in his name. The basic outlines of the copper coins
of Lājīn are re-examined in this paper in the light of new evidence, and questions
are raised about the contemporary circulation of these coins.

THE EXISTING TYPOLOGY OF LĀJĪN’S COPPER COINS

Paul Balog, who prepared the first systematic typology of Mamlūk coinage,
catalogued 5 distinct types of coinage for this sultan, 1 in gold (dīnār), 3 in silver
(dirham) and 1 in copper (fals, pl. fulūs), and he noted 17 specimens across
these 5 types (CMSES). In his subsequent “Additions and Corrections” article
Balog noted another example of one of the silver types, and other coins of Lājīn
have come to light in the years since these groundbreaking publications (Balog
1970:129). This is particularly true for the copper coins of this sultan, where
recent archaeological finds in Israel allow for a more thorough typology of these
fulūs to be presented. Whereas Balog originally identified only one type of copper

1 Al-Nāṣir Muḥammad’s other reigns were AH 693–694/1294–1295 CE and AH 709–

741/1309–1340 CE.

INR 4 (2009): 135–144 135

136 ROBERT KOOL AND WARREN C. SCHULTZ

coin, it is now clear that there are at least two additional and distinct design
variants of Lājīn’s fulūs, one of which was published before CMSES but that
Balog overlooked, and another recently noted by us that is published for the first
time in this article.
Balog attributed only one copper coin to the short reign of Lājīn, CMSES:131,
No. 166. The type was undated, and was marked on one side by a small circular
fesse of seven to ten millimeters in diameter (at this point the size difference
does not appear to be typologically relevant). The three fields of the fesse are
empty. This small fesse on the first side is unique in Mamlūk copper coinage,
and undoubtedly has served as a primary identification marker for subsequent
specimens of these coins. The fesse itself is surrounded by a marginal inscription,
bordered by a circle of dots within a circular line on the outer margins of the
flan. The counterclockwise legend on this side, according to Balog, read lājīn
ḍuriba bi-dimashq (or “Lājīn, struck in Damascus”). The other side of this copper
type contains the three-line horizontal inscription al-sulṭān al-malik al-manṣūr
(“the sultan, the victorious king”), with the final nūn of al-sulṭān falling to the
beginning of the second line. This inscription is encircled by a line of dots. This
side is the same on all variants found thus far.
Balog was aware of four examples of CMSES No. 166: one in the collection
of the American Numismatic Society; another from his own private collection2;
and two that he cited from Mayer’s Saracenic Heraldry, first published in 1933
(Mayer 1999). In that volume, Mayer drew attention to two copper coins of
Lājīn that featured the fesse. These two coins were part of the coin collection
of the Department of Antiquities established in 1920 under the British Mandate
in Palestine.3 Mayer himself had first published descriptions of these coins in a
small pamphlet accompanying a 1926 exhibition on heraldry at the Antiquities
Department “Way House” prior to the construction of the Palestine Archaeological
(now Rockefeller) Museum.4 An examination of these publications reveals,
however, that the coins Mayer was citing were different from each other in the
marginal legend around the fesse. One coin clearly read lājīn ḍuriba bi-dimashq.5
The other, however, was read by Mayer as ḥusām [al-dunyá wa-al-dīn] lājīn (“the
sword [of the world and of the faith], Lājīn”; Mayer 1999:148). Mayer noted that
another specimen of this type, found at Ajlun and preserved in Amman, confirmed

2 Now in the Israel Museum. Paul Balog bequeathed his large collection of Islamic
coins (roughly 5,000 pieces) together with an extensive numismatic library to the
numismatic department of the Israel Museum in the early 1980s. See Brosh and
Meshorer 1988: ix–x; Baidoun forthcoming.
3 On the activities of the Mandatory Coin Department see Kool 2000–2002.
4 Mayer 1926:5. The objects formed part of a small exhibition. On the early history of
the department see Ibrahim 2006:10–11; Sussman and Reich 1987.
5 Mayer 1999:149. Unfortunately, he did not provide illustrations of these coins.
 COPPER COINS OF AL-MALIK AL-MANSŪR LĀJĪN 137

his reading of the medial words of the title.6 That is to say, while one coin featured
the mint city of Dimashq, the second provided a fuller version of Lājīn’s title
along with his name, but did not provide a mint of origin. Inexplicably, Balog
overlooked this variant. He cited both of the coins used by Mayer as examples of
the ḍuriba bi-dimashq type.
Two further comments about these coins and this second type are warranted.
First, the fate of the two coins cited by Mayer is uncertain. While it is known
that by the mid-1930s Mayer was working on a corpus of Mamlūk coins and
was actively acquiring casts from major museums and collections toward that
end, the 1947–1948 Arab-Israeli War brought his efforts to a halt. During the
early 1990s, the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) Coin Department found a few
hundred miscellaneous Mamlūk copper coins in the wooden cabinets belonging
to the Mandatory period collection, but these coins remained unstudied for many
years. As we embarked on this project, however, we were granted access to this
material.7 In searching through these coins, we found three specimens of Lājīn’s
fesse type, and two of them, based upon their legends, size, and weights, may
very well be the two originally cited by Mayer. They are illustrated in Fig. 1.
Secondly, it should be noted that in 1981, Illisch noted the existence of the ḥusām
al-dunyá wa-al-dīn variety (Illisch 1981). His article did not cite the Mayer
evidence, however.

Fig. 1. The two coins originally cited in Mayer 1926:5(?)

1. IAA 56943 (18 mm, 1.56 g; possibly Mayer 1999:149)
2. IAA 56944 (17 mm, 1.64 g; possibly Mayer 1999:148)

A NEW TYPE
In 2007, during the course of identifying the Islamic coins unearthed during
excavations in the Mamlūk period Harat-al Watta quarter in Zefat in Israel
(Cohen 2008), we noted a new variant (Fig. 2; Table 2, No. 20). Unlike any

6 Mayer 1999:148, n. 2. We have not viewed this coin. Nor is the coin published in Arif
1986.
7 We would like to thank Donald T. Ariel, head of the IAA Coin Department, for his
assistance in this matter.
138 ROBERT KOOL AND WARREN C. SCHULTZ

previously known specimens, it features a dot in both the upper and lower fields
of the fesse, with the central field remaining empty (Fig. 2). Unfortunately, due to
the small size and worn nature of the coin, it is difficult to get a clear reading of
the marginal inscription on the fesse side. The other side has the standard three-
line horizontal inscription of al-sulṭān al-malik al-manṣūr.
While the typological schema provided by Balog provides little room for
expansion, and is made cumbersome by the addition of capital letters following
his numbers, we are for the moment limited to his system. Thus we propose a new
tripartite classification of Lājīn’s copper coins.

Type 166A: This is the lājīn ḍuriba bi-dimashq type, originally known as 166.
Dimashq mint, no date.
Type 166B: This is the ḥusām al-dunyá wa-al-dīn type, originally identified
by Mayer, no mint, no date.
Type 166C: This is the new type with dots in the fesse, published here. The
marginal legends on the dotted-fesse side remain to be determined, so at this
point it must be listed as mint missing and date missing.

Fig. 2. IAA 109724 (15 mm, 1.34 g), Type 166C: two dots in fesse sections

An examination of an additional 32 coppers of this sultan, all preserved in the

IAA (see below), provides a numerical breakdown of this new typology –– 21
coins are type 166B and 11 are uncertain. None were read as the original CMSES
No. 166 (now 166A). In addition, during the course of this research, Schultz had
the opportunity to revisit the Jordanian National Bank Numismatic Museum in
Amman, and double-check the 6 copper coins of Lājīn held there. Five turned
out to be type 166B. At the very least, such results should encourage all holders
of Lājīn’s fulūs to re-examine their collections and look past the fesse to these
marginal legends.

LĀJĪN’S COPPER COINS IN THEIR WIDER CONTEXT

The re-discovery of 166B and the discovery of 166C provide the opportunity to
analyze the copper coins of Lājīn in the wider context of early Mamlūk fulūs.
Lājīn’s fulūs are among the earliest of the Mamlūk copper coins known today.
Balog had attributed all the copper of this sultan to the Dimashq mint, but as
 COPPER COINS OF AL-MALIK AL-MANSŪR LĀJĪN 139

166B is no mint and 166C is mint missing, that must now be open to question.8 In
Egypt, the Mamlūks minted coins in Cairo and Alexandria. As they consolidated
their control over the Syrian provinces, the cities of Damascus, Aleppo, Ḥamah,
and Tripoli eventually became home to mints as well. According to the surviving
numismatic record, the sultan al-Malik al-Ẓāhir Baybars (AH 658–676/1260–
1277 CE) was the first of the Mamlūk rulers to have copper coins minted in his
name, and while these lack a mint name, the leading candidates are either Cairo
or Damascus.9 The first ruler’s copper coins to bear mint names were those of
al-Malik al-Manṣūr Qalāwūn (AH 678–689/1280–1290 CE), whose coins cite
the cities of Cairo, Damascus, Aleppo, and Ḥamah. (There are also coins of this
sultan bearing no mint name.) The first copper coins bearing the name of Tripoli
did not appear until the reign of al-Malik Muẓaffar Baybars II (AH 708–709/1309
CE), and those with the mint of Alexandria did not appear until the reign of al-
Malik al-Ashraf Sha`bān II (AH 764–778/1363–1376 CE). It is not until the
third reign of al-Nāṣir Muḥammad b. Qalāwūn (AH 709–741/1309–1340 CE)
that we see copper coins produced with consistency in all the known mints
except Alexandria. From this reign the copper coins from Cairo and those from
the Syrian mints follow different trajectories, a subject that has been addressed
elsewhere (Schultz 2001b).
Similar to the other known examples of early Mamlūk coppers, these fulūs of
Lājīn are light in weight when compared to later Mamlūk emissions, which often
weigh in the range of three to four g. This is readily apparent from the following
frequency table (Table 1), which plots the weight of 48 specimens of Lājīn.10
The interval with the highest number of specimens is 1.50 to 1.59 g, and the
average of the sample is 1.39 g, no doubt brought lower by the presence of six
coins weighing less than 1.00 g. This low weight has led one modern scholar
to label these coins as half fulūs (Berman 1976:87, No. 237). The designation
is problematic, since there is no evidence to suggest that the terms fals/fulūs
bore any clear denominational sense during the time in question. Moreover, if
these coins circulated by tale and not by weight, as would be expected in light of
evidence to the contrary, then the weight of these coins would not have mattered.

8 The forthcoming volume of the Sylloge Numorum Arabicorum Tübingen, devoted to

Damascus, from the Forsschungstelle für islamische Numismatik, will help shed light
on the early Mamluk coppers of this sultan and city.
9 Of course, it is also possible that they could have been struck in both cities, as the dies
would have been easily transportable. The debate as to whether these coins were struck
in Damascus or Cairo is beyond the scope of this article. See Schultz 2001a:272, No.
24.
10 The information for Table 1 was compiled from the coins in the IAA (see below,
Table 2) as well as from the following: Israel Museum; ANS; Jordan National Bank
Numismatic Museum; one coin from Berman 1976, and four coins from four private
collections, one in the UK, one in Germany, and two in the USA.
140 ROBERT KOOL AND WARREN C. SCHULTZ

Table 1. Frequency table of the weights of 48 specimens of

Lājīn coppers

The general bell shape of the data certainly suggests that the coins were produced
al marco, which would also indicate they circulated by count and not by weight.
Unfortunately, the Mamlūk chronicles provide little help in understanding the
metrology of these early copper coins. We are thus left with only the coins
themselves as evidence of their value.

CIRCULATION: THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE

Specimens of the Lājīn fulūs discovered in excavations offer an important
opportunity to begin to examine aspects of the circulation of these Mamlūk coins.11
To date, almost all scholarship on Mamlūk coins has worked with unprovenanced
coins from public institutions and private collections. In most cases, we have
no precise information on where and when these coins were found. We only
have the data as to when the coins entered the collection in which they were first
catalogued. This material has allowed scholars to do many things, not the least
of which is to establish references for identification. These, in turn, have served
many an archaeologist in his/her efforts to identify their own coin finds. Ironically,
however, for the most part numismatists have been slow to incorporate the findings
of archaeologists into their research, with the exception of hoard analyses. But
with the discovery and systematic study of stratigraphically contextualized coins
such as in the excavations in medieval Zefat in the last decade, it is now possible
to ask new questions about monetary use and circulation (Kool and Berman
forthcoming). Plotting the find sites and the numbers of coins found there, enables
us to determine part of the circulation pattern of the coinage in question. All the

11 The comments that follow are restricted to the field of medieval Islamic numismatic
scholarship in general, and Mamluk numismatic research in particular.
 COPPER COINS OF AL-MALIK AL-MANSŪR LĀJĪN 141

more so for the coins of Lājīn as their copper content and assumed role as petty
coinage would normally suggest circulation in or near the mint of origin only.
Thirty-two fesse coins have been found in excavations in Israel to date, and
all but one are from known archaeological contexts. The coins registered in the
database of the IAA Coin Department are listed below, on Table 2. The data has
been plotted on a map (Fig 3)12.

Table 2. Provenanced Lājīn fulūs in the IAA Coin Department database13

Provenance Type131 Measurements IAA No.
(mm, g)
1 al-Subayba fortress 166B 16, 1.27 67485
2 Baniyas uncertain 15, 1.71 18348
3 Baniyas 166B 15, 0.81 33383
4 Baniyas 166B 16, 1.11 33391
5 Baniyas 166B 17, 1.47 33477
6 Baniyas 166B 16, 1.56 33478
7 Baniyas uncertain 13, 0.57 35405
8 Baniyas 166B 14, 0.86 36256
9 Baniyas uncertain 14, 0.73 36303
10 Baniyas 166B 20, 1.75 60998
11 Baniyas uncertain 16, 1.32 61043
12 Baniyas 166B 15, 0.90 61113
13 Baniyas 166B 15, 1.48 61232
14 Baniyas 166B 12, 1.62 62756
15 Baniyas uncertain 17, 1.40 66973
16 Baniyas uncertain 16, 1.39 82343
17 Baniyas 166B 15, 1.54 94713
18 Baniyas 166B 16, 1.52 94719
19 Baniyas 166B 16, 1.35 94858
20 Zefat 166C 15, 0.83 109724
21 Zefat 166B 15, 1.62 112067

12 Our thanks to the following excavators for permission to cite these coins: Zvi Uri
Ma‘oz and Vasilius Tzaferis (Baniyas); Uzi Ad (Gesher Tanninim); Rafa‘ Abu Riya
(Kafr Yasif); Michael Cohen (Zefat); Gideon Solimany (Mamilla, Jerusalem); and
Moshe Hartal (al-Subayba [Nimrod] fortress). Additional thanks to Ariel Berman and
Nitzan Amitai-Preiss for permission to list coins first identified by them.
13 In most cases, the only portions of the fesse-side margins are preserved on these coins.
The 166B attributions are based upon the appearance of any section of the ḥusām
al-dunyá wa-al-dīn legend, the presence of which is determinative. The uncertain
attributions often have only the name “Lājīn” or a portion thereof legible — not
enough for a precise attribution between the types.
142 ROBERT KOOL AND WARREN C. SCHULTZ

Provenance Type131 Measurements IAA No.

(mm, g)
22 Zefat uncertain (broken) 112083
23 Kafr Yasif 166B 17, 1.25 106186
24 Crocodile River uncertain 15, 1.34 97886
25 Tiberias uncertain 17, 1.02 41843
26 Tiberias 166B 17, 1.45 116576
27 Bet She’an uncertain 17, 1.36 87583
28 Bet She’an 166B 18, 1.35 114680
29 Tell Ghazza 166B 17, 1.50 87421
30 Jerusalem 166B 17, 1.61 111653
31 Jerusalem uncertain 17, 1.26 119449
32 Jerusalem uncertain 17, 1.35
33 Huleh 166B 15, 1.15 58233

Thirty-three coins from excavations is a small but significant sample. Two

observations arise from this data. The first is that these coins were found in
contemporary contexts in northern Israel. This region is part of what was the
Mamlūk territory of southern Bilād al-Shām (south of Damascus and northeast
of Egypt). There is no evidence, however, that the Mamlūk sultanate ever
minted coins in any metal in this region; thus, any coins found in excavations
must have been imported for use. The fact that Mamlūk coins are frequently
encountered in sites in Israel and Jordan would indicate that such contemporary
importation was common and widespread. What is worth noting in this case,
however, is that the coins discussed here were copper. This challenges the easy
assumption that coppers were only local coinages, of use only in their city of
origin. This of course raises a further question of how they were valued in these
wider provincial contexts. It is too early to say. That said, the second observation
stems from the first: The majority of the coins were found in locations in northern
Israel. Particular noteworthy is the very large concentration of excavated coins
(18) from medieval Baniyas, located roughly 70 km southeast of Damascus, on
one of the roads leading from the Syrian capital to Mediterranean coast (Fig. 3).
Given the known Mamlūk mints, this would seem to indicate a Syrian, probably
Damascene, origin for the coins. No doubt, this conclusion needs to be supported
by additional archaeological finds from sites within the entire region of southern
Bilad al-Sham. Such analysis would also need to take into account the absence
of evidence. For example, no specimens of Lājīn’s coppers were found in the
numerous excavations in Ramla. If we are ever to move beyond speculation about
circulation patterns, the data accumulated here indicates the utility of further
studies of this sort.
 COPPER COINS OF AL-MALIK AL-MANSŪR LĀJĪN 143

Fig. 3. Map of findspots of Lājīn fulūs in Israel, based on Table 2

CONCLUSION
The new typology presented here reminds us that there is much to be done in
the field of Mamlūk numismatics. The discovery of new types and the recording
of additional specimens of known types have provided an opportunity to move
beyond questions of identification to questions of circulation. Moreover, in this
context, provenanced coins provide vital information on circulation patterns and
valuation, understudied aspects of the monetary history of the Mamlūk sultanate.
144 ROBERT KOOL AND WARREN C. SCHULTZ

In the case of Lājīn, the days of looking only at the sultan’s fesse symbol have
clearly come to an end.

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