Artuqids of Mardin. Nasir al-Din Artuq Arslan (1201-1239 AD). Dirham Mardin mint, AH 599 (1202/3 AD)

Artuqids of Mardin.
Nasir al-Din Artuq Arslan (1201-1239 AD).
Mardin mint, AH 599 (1202/3 AD).
Dirham (Bronze, 30.8 mm, 6.49 g).

Obv: Crowned centaur advancing right, head facing, drawing bow at the head of a dragon emerging from his tail. Around: بماردين سنة تسع وتسعين وخمس مائة ("At Mardin, year five hundred and ninety-nine").
Rev: الامام / الناصر لدين الله امير / المؤمنين الملك / العادل ابو بكر / بن ايوب ("The Imam al-Nasir li-Din Allah, Commander of the Faithful; al-Malik al-'Adil Abu Bakr ibn Ayyub"). In margin: ناصر الدين ارتق ارسلان (Nasir al-Din Artuq Arslan).

Reference: Album, A Checklist of Islamic Coins, 1830.2; Spengler and Sayles, Turkoman Figural Bronze Coins and Their Iconography, vol. I, 38.

Nasir al-Din Artuq Arslan succeeded his father Yuluq Arslan as Artuqid ruler of Mardin and reigned until 1239, steering his small principality between greater powers. This type names the Abbasid caliph al-Nasir and the Ayyubid sultan al-Adil as his overlords. In 1230 he joined the Ayyubids against the Khwarazmian Jalal al-Din, but around 1234, fearing Ayyubid expansion, he turned to the Seljuks of Rum. Najm al-Din Ghazi I succeeded him at Mardin.

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