overs the entire history of world gold coinage form the 5th century B.C. through the modern coin issues of today. Part I, the section on ancient coins covers, in order, Ancient Greece, the Roman Republic and Empire and the Byzantine Empire. Part II lists the coins of the world in alphabetical order by country from approximately AD 600 to date. With current market valuations usually in the two most commonly encountered states of preservation. Tables of weight and precious metal content included with coins of each country.

A complete history of the Fatimids, showing the significance of the empire to Islam and the wider worldThe Fatimid empire in North Africa, Egypt and Syria was at the centre of the political and religious history of the Islamic world in the Middle Ages, from the breakdown of the aAbbasid empire in the tenth century, to the invasions of the Seljuqs in the eleventh and the Crusaders in the twelfth, leading up to its extinction by Saladin. As Imam and Caliph, the Fatimid sovereign claimed to inherit the religious and political authority of the Prophet, a claim which inspired the conquest of North Africa and Egypt and a following of believers as far away as India. The reaction this provoked was crucial to the political and religious evolution of mediaeval Islam. This book combines the separate histories of Isma'ilism, North Africa and Egypt with that of the dynasty into a coherent account. It then relates this account to the wider history of Islam to provide a narrative that establishes the historical significance of the empire.Key FeaturesThe first complete history of the Fatimid empire in English, establishing its central contribution to medieval Islamic historyCovers the relationship of tribal to civilian economy and society, the formation and evolution of the dynastic state, and the relationship of that state to economy and societyExplores the question of cultural change, specifically Arabisation and IslamisationGoes beyond the history of Islam, not only to introduce the Crusades, but to compare and contrast the dynasty with the counterparts of its theocracy in Byzantium and Western Europe

Part 1 of a detailed reference work on Islamic coins. This first volume focuses on the coins of the mediaeval period from the beginnings of Islam up to the 10th century AH/16th century AD.

The Grove Encyclopedia of Islamic Art and Architecture is the most comprehensive reference work in this complex and diverse area of art history. Built on the acclaimed scholarship of the Grove Dictionary of Art, this work offers over 1,600 up-to-date entries on Islamic art and architecture ranging from the Middle East to Central and South Asia, Africa, and Europe and spans over a thousand years of history. Recent changes in Islamic art in areas such as Afghanistan, Iran, and Iraq are elucidated here by distinguished scholars. Entries provide in-depth art historical and cultural information about dynasties, art forms, artists, architecture, rulers, monuments, archaeological sites and stylistic developments. In addition, over 500 illustrations of sculpture, mosaic, painting, ceramics, architecture, metalwork and calligraphy illuminate the rich artistic tradition of the Islamic world. With the fundamental understanding that Islamic art is not limited to a particular region, or to a defined period of time, The Grove Encyclopedia of Islamic Art and Architecture offers pathways into Islamic culture through its art.

The tenth edition of Gold Coins of the World expands on its predecessor, digging more deeply into new areas of collector interest, and expanding many sections. From the coins of Ancient Greece, Rome, and the Byzantine Empire, and from Afghanistan through Zanzibar, it includes the addition of many new discoveries for dozens of countries. From the 384 pages of the 1958 edition, the work has expanded to 852 pages, which have been completely revised and updated. The authors have listed more than 22,000 coin types, which are illustrated with more than 8,500 photos—now, for the first time, each one of them in color. Each country’s section includes tables of weight and fineness. The market valuations are extensively revised to reflect both the higher price of gold as well as the skyrocketing demand for numismatic rarities. Valuations are now provided, for the first time, in up to three states of preservation. Many of the prices, especially for great rarities and coins in higher grades, have at least doubled. In fact, as collectors recognize the scarcity of coins in the highest states of preservation, the premium for such coins relative to lower-graded ones is escalating beyond traditional proportions. The coinage of India and the Islamic world, long dismissed by western collectors as difficult to decipher, unimportant, and lacking in value, is now the subject of intense interest, and has shown some of the most dramatic increases of all. The reader will also find a useful directory of the world’s leading gold-coin dealers and auction houses. For the numismatist, banker, economist, historian, or institution of higher learning, the tenth edition of Gold Coins of the World is a book for every library, public and private.

A unique and indispensable reference work Unsurpassed in content and scope When the first edition of Gold Coins of the World made its debut in 1958, it forever changed the way gold coins were collected, cataloged, traded, and priced. For the first time, one book provided a reliable guide for a subject which previously required an often expensive investment in multiple volumes of literature, some of it rare and antique, and much of it badly out-of-date. With the publication of this pioneering work, Robert Friedberg (1912-1963) established himself as an international icon in the field of numismatic literature. This book, and the 'Friedberg Numbering System' he developed became then, and is still today, the internationally-recognized standard for systematically identifying any gold coin ever made. From just 384 pages in 1958, Gold Coins of the World has expanded to the extent that it now contains more than triple the information of its ancestor. It still stands alone as the first and only book to describe, catalog and price two millennia of gold, platinum, and palladium coin issues from across the globe. From the first coins of the ancient Greeks to the most recently-issued modern commemoratives, they are all here, an astonishing compilation of more than 21,000 individual coin listings accompanied by over 8,000 actual-size photographs. The prices have been completely updated, for the most part raised substantially, to reflect the current market. Entire sections have been expanded, many illustrations have been added or improved, and hundreds of new discoveries and recent issues have been included for the first time. Arthur Friedberg, president of the International Association of Professional Numismatists from 2001 to 2007 and now its Honorary President, and Ira Friedberg, have completely revised and expanded their late father's work. They have had the valuable assistance and cooperation of a who's who of the leading numismatists on every continent in bringing this edition to fruition. For the numismatist, banker, economist, historian, institution of higher learning, or a fancier of the noble metal in all its forms, Gold Coins of the World is a book for every library, public and private.

What can one discover through the study of medieval Islamic coins? It appears that the regular gold dinars and silver dirhams issued by the Ikhshidid rulers of Egypt and Palestine (935-69) followed a series of understood but unwritten rules. As the first part of this book reveals, these norms involved whose names could appear on the regular currency, where the names could be placed (based upon a strict hierarchical order), and even which parts of a Muslim name could be included. The founder of the dynasty, Muhammad ibn Tughj, could use the honorific al-Ikhshid; his eldest son and successor could use his teknonym Abu al-Qasim; his brother, the third ruler, could use only his name Ali; and the eunuch Kafur, effective ruler of Egypt for over twenty years, could never inscribe his name on the regular coinage. At the same time, each one of these rulers was named in the Friday sermon and most had their teknonym inscribed on textiles. Presentation coins, the equivalent of modern commemorative pieces, could break all these rules, and a wide variety of titles appeared, as well as a series of coins with human representation. The second half of the book is a catalogue of over 1,200 specimens, enabling curators, collectors, and dealers to identify coins in their own collections and their relative rarity. Throughout the book numismatic pieces are illustrated, along with commentary on their inscriptions, layout, and metallic content.

A riveting exploration of how the Fatimid dynasty carefully orchestrated an architectural program that proclaimed their legitimacy This groundbreaking study investigates the early architecture of the Fatimids, an Ismaili Shi‘i Muslim dynasty that dominated the Mediterranean world from the 10th to the 12th century. This period, considered a golden age of multicultural and interfaith tolerance, witnessed the construction of iconic structures, including Cairo’s al-Azhar and al-Hakim mosques and crucial renovations to Jerusalem’s Dome of the Rock and Aqsa Mosque. However, it also featured large-scale destruction of churches under the notorious reign of al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, most notably the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem. Jennifer A. Pruitt offers a new interpretation of these and other key moments in the history of Islamic architecture, using newly available medieval primary sources by Ismaili writers and rarely considered Arabic Christian sources. Building the Caliphate contextualizes early Fatimid architecture within the wider Mediterranean and Islamic world and demonstrates how rulers manipulated architectural form and urban topographies to express political legitimacy on a global stage.

Bierman considers how the Fatimid rulers used public writing to present their own ideology to different members of society in Cairo in the 10th to 12th centuries and the ways in which it was received.