A dirham coined in Damascus by Caliph ʿAbd al-Malik about 700 C.E.
After a long period of experimentation with the making of money in the course of which the caliphs contented themselves with reproducing coins with images of Byzantine emperors and modified inscriptions (Arabo-Byzantine coins), or coins with images of Persian rulers (Arabo-Sassanid coins), came the final adoption of systematic coinage. This occurred about 700 C.E. under the ʾUmayyād Caliph ʿAbd al-Malik. Each coin carried the date and the name of the maker, together with an inscription. They were made in various denominations and metals: the dinar in gold, the dirham in silver, the fils فلس in bronze.
Jacques Ghislain de Maussion de Favières. Damascus, Baghdad: Capitals and lands of the caliphs. Translation to English by Edward J. Banks. Librairie orientale (Dar el-Mashreq), Beirut, Lebanon. 1972.
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