Artuqid Bronze Dirham of Najm al-Din Alpi — Seleucid Portrait Type

Own a Medieval Islamic Coin Reusing an Ancient Hellenistic Portrait

The exact bronze dirham of Najm al-Din Alpi shown, struck at Mardin with a portrait type derived from ancient Seleucid coinage.

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🏛 Struck in the 12th century during the Crusades era
⚔ Uses a Hellenistic royal portrait model traditionally associated with Antiochus VII Sidetes
🌍 Combines inherited classical imagery with contemporary Arabic inscriptions

Own This Piece of History

Why This Coin Matters

Najm al-Din Alpi ruled the Artuqid principality centered on Mardin from AD 1152 to 1176. His territory occupied part of Upper Mesopotamia, a region where Islamic, Byzantine, Armenian, local Christian, and Crusader political and artistic traditions overlapped.

Artuqid bronze coinage is famous for its extensive use of figural designs adapted from earlier visual traditions.

This issue employs a Hellenistic royal portrait type generally identified in numismatic catalogues with Antiochus VII Sidetes of the Seleucid dynasty. The important point is not that a medieval engraver necessarily copied a specific surviving coin of Antiochus VII, but that an ancient-style royal portrait was deliberately incorporated into a 12th-century Islamic monetary design.

Arabic inscriptions identify the contemporary political authority, creating a striking combination of inherited imagery and medieval Islamic epigraphy.

The coin should therefore be understood as adaptation rather than simple survival. Artuqid engravers selected and reworked older motifs within their own monetary and political environment, producing some of the most distinctive pictorial coinages of the medieval Near East.

This exact specimen is an unusually direct illustration of how artistic forms could be reused and reinterpreted across many centuries.

Perfect For

• Medieval Islamic coin collectors
• Hellenistic and Seleucid history enthusiasts
• Collectors of unusual portrait coinage
• Students of Crusades-era Upper Mesopotamia
• Anyone interested in the reuse of ancient imagery

What You'll Receive

• The exact bronze dirham pictured
• Civilization: Artuqid Dynasty
• Ruler: Najm al-Din Alpi (AD 1152–1176)
• Mint: Mardin
• Century: 12th Century AD
• Denomination: Bronze Dirham
• Type: Seleucid-derived portrait, traditionally identified with Antiochus VII Sidetes
• Guaranteed authentic

Buy with Confidence

• Guaranteed authentic medieval coin
• Carefully sourced and attributed
• 30-day return policy
• Secure shipping from the U.S.

Learn More

Continue the story in the Kinzer Coins Journal: Artuqid Coins of Mardin: Figural Islamic Coinage Explained.