The Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies presents:

Dinar struck in Damascus in 77/697 AH

Coin Legends and Protocol Texts in the 70s/690s:
Emblematic Identity and Monetization of
Exchange in the Umayyad State

Luke Treadwell (AMES/ St Cross)
AMES Faculty Building, 1 Pusey Lane
Lecture Room 1
Friday, May 3, 2024 (Week 2) | 4:30 pm

ʿAbd al-Malik’s reforms have become a hot topic of debate over the last two decades. The papyrologists’ insistence on granular history has punctured the grand narrative of abrupt state-wide transformation, while historians have pointed out that Muʿawiya’s contribution to state formation was more substantial than current views of ʿAbd al-Malik’s post-fitna changes allow. Agency is the missing link in the ongoing conversation. We often talk of ‘Abd al-Malik’s coinage reforms as if the caliph was personally responsible for planning and implementation on a grand scale. A focus on the role of the Marwanid chancery allows us to glimpse overlooked connections between chancery formularies (in the form of protocol texts) and the legends on the new aniconic coinage. This leads us to the view that it was the scribal class who took control of the institutions of state after the fitna. They crafted a set of texts across media that served as the new emblem of the Umayyad state and opened the way towards rapid monetization of exchange which enabled the caliphal administration to monitor, raise and distribute funds effectively.