ARABIC COIN WITH SCRIPT
Coins are another form of evidence that historians use to understand the past. As we saw in the first week, the images and words found on money can tell us a great deal about a society. The marginal inscription of this coin reveals that the coin was minted in Damascus, a city near the western end of the Silk Road, in year 78 of the Islamic calendar (697-698 CE).
-- Can you tell what metal this coin is made from?
-- What purpose did coins serve, as opposed to just trading goods directly?
-- Do you think that a Chinese trader in, say, Samarkand might be interested in the Arabic script that is on this coin?
-- Do you think this coin would be accepted outside of Arabic-speaking areas? Why?
Source:The Al Sabah Collection Dar Al Athar Al Islamiyyah, Kuwait National Muesum in The March of Islam (Time Life Books, 1987): 119.