A Colloquium in Memory of George Carpenter Miles (1904-1975)

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A Colloquium
iirMemory of
GEORGE CARPENTER MILES
(1904-1975)
The American Numismatic Society
New York 1976
The Spring Meeting of
THE AMERICAN NUMISMATIC SOCIETY
April 10, 1976
Margaret Thompson, American Numismatic Society, presiding
Reminiscences
Homer A. Thompson, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton
Some Invaders of Athens in Late Antiquity
Alison Frantz, American School of Classical Studies, Athens, Greece
The "Arab-Byzantine" Bronze Coinage of Syria: An Innovation by 'Abd
al Malik
Michael L. Bates, American Numismatic Society
Kufesque in Byzantine Greece, the Latin West and the Muslim World
Richard Ettinghausen, Institute of Fine Arts, NYU and Metropolitan
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Museum of Art
Margaret Thompson
The American Numismatic Society is proud that George Miles's
longest and strongest professional ties were here, with us, but we
cannot claim him exclusively. His towering stature as a numisma-
tist tends to obscure the fact that he was also a distinguished
linguist, archaeologist, epigraphist and connoisseur of Islamic art
in all its manifestations. It seemed fitting, therefore, that our pro-
gram this afternoon go beyond numismatics to stress the catholic-
ity of George's interests and achievements, and we are most
grateful to the eminent scholars in other fields who have come

today to take part in this colloquium.
The memorial service in Irvington, New York shortly after George's death included a per-
sonal tribute by Homer Thompson of the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, for
many years director of the Agora Excavations in Athens, and one of George's cherished
friends. Homer's words expressed so eloquently what we all felt on that sad occasion that
we asked him to share once more his reminiscences of association with George.
Reminiscences
Homer Thompson
We have gathered here today to honor the memory of a great scholar:
an historian, an orientalist, above all a numismatist. Many of you, I
suspect, will share my subconscious feeling that in this place, on such an
occasion, George Miles must surely be present, not just in our memories
but in his own flesh and blood, in tweed jacket and pullover, pipe in
hand. This house had been for so long, a full quarter century, his
scholarly home, and he had come to be the presiding spirit of the place.
It is not my purpose to give a biographical sketch of George, nor yet to
attempt an assessment of his scholarly achievement. This has been done
admirably by Margaret Thompson in the foreword to the Festschrift of
George that appeared a couple of years ago (Near Eastern Numismatics,
Iconography, Epigraphy and History, Studies in Honor of George C.
Miles. Dikram K. Kouymjian, Editor, American University of Beirut,
1974). That same volume contains a list of his writings published
between 1926 and 1974. What I shall try to do today is to convey to you
some personal impressions of George, the scholar and the person, as I
knew him over the last 20 years or so of his life.
Already before our first meeting I was vaguely aw; re of some of
George's earlier writings, especially his massive volumes n the coinage
of Spain in the Visigothic and Arab periods. But I knew that he had also

undertaken the publication of the Islamic coins found in controlled
excavations such as Antioch-on-the-Orontes and Herodian Jericho. In
the early 1950s, as Field Director of the Excavations of the Athenian
Agora, I was concerned with organizing the publication program, and
with the assignment of blocks of material to suitable scholars. One of the
most difficult lots to provide for was the great mass of Islamic coins,
chiefly Turkish, that had accumulated in the course of 15 seasons of
excavating. Our mutual friend, Professor John L. Caskey of the
University of Cincinnati, suggested that George Miles might be induced
to take on this assignment. I approached George, and to my great relief
he agreed to do so. He began his study in the spring of 1954, and the
results appeared in book form in 1962. (The Athenian Agora, IX: The
Islamic Coins, 1962). It is a slim volume, but it made accessible to the
scholarly world some 6,500 Islamic coins chiefly from the four centuries
of the Turkish occupation of Athens (1458-1831). George was able to
recognize the marks of some 25 different mints scattered over the
Turkish Empire in Asia, Europe and Africa. This was the first systematic
publication of Islamic coins from any excavation in Greece, and it filled a
large gap in the numismatic record of that country.
As director of the Agora Excavations I was enormously grateful to
George for his help in this particularly difficult part of our publication
program. I was also greatly impressed by the spirit in which he worked.
Anyone familiar with Islamic coins from excavations knows that they are
among the least glamorous and most intractable of all products of the
mint. Yet George worked very hard over those wretched bits of copper
and debased silver, bringing to bear upon them his long experience and
his splendid linguistic skills. I now came to realize how much the
scholarly world owes to him for his publication of this and a half dozen
other lots of Islamic coins which might otherwise have languished
indefinitely in excavation storerooms.
I have said that George worked hard on the Agora coins. But his task
would have been still harder had it not been for the help of his
daughter, Marian, who received her reward by coming to know at this
time her future husband, James R. McCredie.
Pouring over Turkish coins hour after hour is hard on the eyes. One
day in May of 1954 I suggested to George that he look, by the way of
change, at an inscription carved in bold, beautiful Arabic script on a
fragmentary marble slab found some years before in the Agora
excavations. Before long, with the help of Alison Frantz, he recognized
other fragments of the same text in the Byzantine Museum in Athens.

He was now able to show that this document attested to the existence of
a mosque in Athens in the years around A.D. 1000. Although the
circumstances are obscure, this was in itself a startling and important
addition to our knowledge of mediaeval Athens.
But the discovery was significant for George's own professional career
since it opened up two avenues of research which were to occupy him for
much of his later life. Those were (1) the Arabs in Crete and (2) Islamic
influence on Byzantine art. His subsequent investigations in these two
areas illustrate admirably, I think, George's spirit of enterprise, his
dogged determination and his zest qualities that seldom occur toge-
ther in one scholar.
First, a word about George's work in Crete. The discovery of the Arab
settlement suggested to George the possibility of finding Arabic
inscriptions on the island of Crete, for Crete was known to have been
under Arab occupation for about 135 years in the ninth and tenth
centuries. A modest grant from the American Philosophical Society
enabled him to carry out a search of the island in the spring of 1956. In
his formal report to the Society he frankly admitted that, insofar as
inscriptions were concerned, the results of the expedition were
completely negative. But he went on to list other results, particularly the
discovery of a number of Arab coins of the relevant period. Nor did he
fail to stress the excellence of the many local wines which he and his
travelling companion had sampled. The report, unlike most specimens
of that literary genre, is a little gem. Twelve years later, when George
applied again to the Philosophical Society for aid in his search for Arab
remains in Crete, he was rewarded with a second grant, and that on a
much larger scale. The total result of his two expeditions to the island is
impressive. He accumulated enough Arab coins to enable him to
reconstruct at least in outline the succession of Arab governors in the
period of occupation. No less important his enthusiasm for the pursuit
of Arab remains had infected scholars, government officials and citizens
of the island to the point where they were all eager to join in the chase.
And, despite his known Turkish affiliations, he made many friends
among the Cretans.
In those years, in the time that he could be free from his duties at the
American Numismatic Society, George also worked tirelessly on his
other field of research, viz. the influence of Islamic art on the brickwork,
marble carving, wall painting and ceramics of Byzantine Greece. This
subject, of course, had been studied before, but never before by a
trained Orientalist. The result is a much clearer and more precise
picture of the impact of the one art on the other. In the course of
searching for examples George visited scores of churches and
monasteries throughout Greece, many of them in remote and beautiful

parts of the country. This in itself was a great joy to him, as also to his
audiences when he reported on his travels using his own splendid slides.
Monastery country in Greece is likely also to be good bird country, and
this added further to the pleasure of the project, for George loved birds
at least as much as he loved people. I feel sorry for any among you who
have never heard his lecture on a numismatist looking at birds.
If I were asked to name the most characteristic quality of George's
scholarship I would say it was his humanism. He was always concerned
with the human aspect of the ancient material on which he was working.
In his articles you can sense his excitement on learning a little more from
the coins about some obscure Visigothic prince or some Arab amir of
Crete. His publications, even the most formal, are never mere
catalogues. He makes the coins talk, telling of ancient commerce, the
effects of war, the rise and fall of dynasties. And this he does with a very
sensitive command of English. His writing is completely free of jargon.
His style is fresh and direct, encouraging an easy rapport between
writer and reader.
Humanism marked not only the substance of George's scholarship but
also the way he went about it. I have known few scholars who have
worked with so much zest and who have gotten so much sheer
enjoyment out of their work. He loved to share his thoughts with
colleagues. He believed in and practiced mutual aid, giving freely of his
own very special skills and eliciting the cheerful help of others. Such
help was always generously acknowledged in his publications.
For those of us who were privileged to know George personally this
warm human quality in our scholarly relations heightens the sorrow of
parting. But we must now learn to live with memories, and we shall
indeed cherish the memory of one who was such a happy combination of

man and scholar.
Although George's basic concern was always the world of Islam, he became in later years
increasingly fascinated by the art and coinage of a sister civilization, that of Byzantium.
This led to a rewarding association and friendship with Alison Frantz, research fellow of
the Agora Excavations, an internationally known Byzantinist, and a superb photographer
of archaeological sites and artifacts. She has chosen as her topic today, ''Some Invaders of
Athens in Late Antiquity."
Some Invaders of Athens
in Late Antiquity
Alison Frantz
George Miles's interests were wide-ranging and sometimes interlock-
ing. Coins, Arabs and Byzantine architecture all claimed his attention,
sometimes singly, sometimes in combination; for instance, his study of
the ornamental Arabic lettering known as Kufic (or Kufesque, when it is
only an imitation) used as a form of decoration in the masonry of Byzan-
tine churches. It was such a combination of elements that suggested my
present topic.
Some years ago in the Athenian Agora George's attention was caught
by a fragment of an Arabic inscription. It was a tantalizing document
because it took him on a path that stopped just short of a solution. But
his investigation showed that it belonged, along with three other small
pieces found long ago in Athens, to an inscription the rest of which is
lost. It related to a mosque, evidently erected in Athens in the late tenth
or early eleventh century. This, for historical reasons, happened to be
the most inconvenient date possible. Under what circumstances, then,
was the mosque built? Did it betoken an Arab invasion and occupation,
which all the evidence is against? Or an encounter in which the Arabs
were on the losing side and were settled in Athens as prisoners; which is

incompatible with the lordly tone of the inscription? Or a peaceful
colony of traders, purveying textiles of the kind reflected in the
sculptured plaques later built into the walls of the Little Metropolis
church in Athens? Although the problem remains unsolved, all the
evidence has been presented by George Miles and that in itself is no
small gain.
This one inscription illustrates some of the difficulties inherent in the
study of the more practical aspects of invasions, and I thought to
consider here the kinds of evidence available to determine their date and
sometimes even their actuality.
In this connection four invasions come to mind, one in each century
from the third to the sixth. The brief resume of each which follows is
based on the findings of the Agora Excavations, where the archaeologi-
cal evidence is the most secure because of the large number of coins
found there in controlled circumstances. In the 45 years since the
excavations began a great deal of progress has been made toward more
precise dating of the coins of late antiquity; and here it is appropiate to
acknowledge an enormous debt to the American Numismatic Society: to
its officials, and I am thinking especially of George Miles and Margaret
Thompson, and also to a number of younger numismatists who have
received their training at the Museum's Summer Seminar.
In assessing the relative degree of truth and fiction in any account of
an invasion several factors present themselves in kaleidoscopic patterns.
In the simplest, and also rarest pattern, literary reports square nicely
with coins, pottery and other archaeological findings to produce an un-
equivocal answer. But more complex patterns raise questions; How
much credence is to be given written narrative, however circumstantial,
without corroborative evidence? How trustworthy are archaeological
indications in the total absence of written records? And how is one to
reconcile the literary and archaeological testimonies when both are
present but in conflict? The patterns are numerous.
The earliest of our four invasions follows the simplest pattern, with
Fig. 1. Athens after A.D. 267

10
Fig. 2. Coins found in the Post-Herulian Wall
archaeological evidence corroborating and supplementing the literary
account. This is the raid on Athens in A.D. 267 by the barbarian tribe,
the Heruli, which resulted in wide-scale destruction in lower Athens,
especially the Agora. Much has been said and written about it and here
we need concern ourselves only with the defensive wall erected by the
Athenians to prevent similar events in the future. The city in its original
extent was now impossible to defend, so the new wall enclosed only a
much circumscribed area north of the Acropolis. Material for its con-
struction was readily available from the ruined buildings outside the
new enceinte. For 75 years after the discovery of the first short stretches
the wall was assigned dates ranging all the way from the third century to
the fifteenth. But in the course of the Agora excavations, which exposed
the whole west flank, a little pocket was found in the masonry which
yielded 16 coins, conveniently dropped by a mason into the wet mortar.
All were struck between the years 270 and 282, the latest being of the
Emperor Probus, so we may safely assume that the wall was built during
his six year reign or only slightly later. (I should point out here that for
all illustrations of coins I am using fine specimens in this museum. In

11
appearance they are a far cry from the ill-preserved bronze coins which
are the norm in excavations, but they were minted under the same
emperors and the evidence is equally valid whether the metal is noble or
base.)
The importance of this discovery goes far beyond the mere tidiness of
pinning an accurate date on one more monument. Not only does it fix the
relationship between invasion and wall as cause and effect, but it sheds
light on the next attack, as we shall see.
A little more than a century after the Herulians (in 396 to be exact), a
new danger threatened, this time from the Visigoths under Alaric. Here
we have a conflict not only between the literary and archaeological
testimonies but also among the written accounts themselves. The most
detailed and also the most picturesque description is that of the historian
Zosimos, writing a century later. Alaric, he says, thought that he could
easily capture Athens because of its great size, and because by first
taking the Piraeus he could cut off supplies from the defenders and so
force a quick surrender. But he reckoned without Athena Promachos,
the defender of the city since it was founded, and still its champion even
in these impious days, says the good pagan Zosimos. For when Alaric
had drawn up his army before the walls he saw Athena "armed, just as
she appears in her statues, walking around the ramparts, and Achilles
standing before them." The sight so terrified Alaric that he called off
the attack and entered into negotiations. After he had bathed, and
banqueted with the high city officials, he "accepted gifts and departed,
leaving Athens and all Attica unharmed."
The essence of Zosimos's account, that is, that he left Athens unharm-
ed, has generally been accepted as true for lack of any evidence to the

contrary, although the statement that he "accepted gifts" is frequently
interpreted as a euphemism for "demanded and received ransom." But
several writers living closer to the actual event include Athens along
with Corinth, Sparta and "other cities" as under Alaric's domination.
Now archaeological evidence is building up to reconcile the extremes.
For some time it has been clear that at the very end of the fourth century
the area of the Dipylon Gate, the main entrance to the city, suffered
heavy damage, and recent discoveries have shown that this damage
continued along the Panathenaic Way and on into the Agora. The most
telling manifestation is a small pit cut through the floor of one of the
buildings lining the street. In it was carefully laid for safe-keeping a
marble head of Hermes, and with it eight coins of which the five latest
were struck between 383 and 395, that is, the year before Alaric's attack.
The pit and its surroundings bore signs of heavy burning and the coins
found outside the pit had the same cut-off date of 395.
Now a clearer picture begins to emerge which might resolve the
apparent contradiction: Alaric leads his forces through the Dipylon Gate
12
and along the Panathenaic Way, causing terror among the inhabitants
who take hasty measures to conceal their valuables. He then goes on
into the Agora where he causes the destruction, either partial or total, of
a number of buildings which had survived the Herulian raid, especially
on the west side, for example, the Stoa of Zeus and the Tholos. Only
after this was the army stopped by supernatural or other means. With
the date of the inner city wall now fixed at the end of the third century it
Fig. 3. The "University" in the Agora
may be suggested with some confidence that it was here, rather than at
the outer circuit, that Athena, in fact or fancy, performed her miracle.
The discrepancy in the accounts is perhaps only in the interpretation of
the word "city." To Zosimos it meant only the Acropolis and the area
protected by the inner wall (and, in fact, the word "city" Tt6Ai< was
often used at this time to mean simply the Acropolis). To others the
fresh destruction caused by Alaric in the outer city on top of the still
visible Herulian mess would be sufficient to give the impression of utter
and recent devastation.
The next invasion is still in the realm of hypothesis, but showing
promise of substance. During the long reign of Leo I (457-74) the

13
Fig. 4. The Agora in
the Fifth Century A.D.
Vandals raided at least the west coast of Greece and probably more. This
much we know from the historians. At just about the same time
extensive repairs had to be made to the fortifications of Megara, a single
day's journey from Athens (this from an inscription). And coins and
pottery show damage to several buildings in the agora. But whatever the
cause of this interruption (to use a cautious word), its importance lies in
its aftermath because it marked the turning point toward industrializa-
tion in Athens. Alaric's depredations had been followed by a period of
recovery, illustrated by the large complex occupying the central area of
the Agora and known, probably with good reason, as the University of
Athens. With its dominating position and imposing buildings and
gardens it had been able up to then to resist encroachment of the small
and untidy industrial establishments, especially metal foundries, which
were found scattered just outside its precincts, still battening on the
remains left by the Herulians. But immediately after the "Vandal" raid
the pressure became acute. A compromise was now reached between
the needs of industry and the desires of philosophy by the construction
of a wall and an aqueduct along the Panathenaic Way; the wall to protect
the University from undesirable neighbors and the aqueduct to carry
water to a series of flour mills.
But there was worse in store. In the year 582/83, according to
contemporary historians, Greece as a whole was devastated by bands of

14
Fig. 5. Late Roman
Mill in the Agora
Slavs. Signs of destruction by fire in widely separated parts of Athens
combine with coins and pottery to make an invasion at that time a virtual
certainty. I cite only one example: one of the mills on the Panathenaic
Way, whose wooden floors, water wheel and gears furnished ample fuel
for its destruction. The numismatic evidence for this invasion is
spectacular: 1,038 legible coins in all, of which some 400 were found in
the ruins of the mill; and none of the coins found here or in the other
undisturbed areas of destruction were later than the reign of Tiberius II
(578-82). They thus coincide exactly with the literary accounts, and the
conclusion is inescapable that Athens, though not mentioned by the
authors, was not spared by the Slavs.
Among the finer buildings still standing at the time of the Slavic
invasion was a group on the slopes of the Areopagus probably to be
identified as philosophical schools. Their end was sudden and violent,
and the thick layer of ashes covering their floors provides a fitting
curtain to what was left of prosperity, both intellectual and material, in
Athens. The battle for enlightenment had obviously been lost, and small
industries had the last word.

15
It was just about this time, six years ago, that the Society was looking for an assistant
curator of Islamic coins to train under George Miles and eventually take his place. One of
the applicants was Michael Bates, a graduate student at the University of Chicago, whose
knowledge of coinage was admittedly slim but whose background in history and languages
was excellent to the extent that George's reaction was: "I think he may be too good for
us." There I could not agree; it seemed to me that we had quite a little to offer including
the challenge of succeeding George Miles. Fortunately, Mike shared my view, and I might
say that we are all delighted by the way in which he has responded to that challenge. His
contribution this afternoon deals with "The 'Arab-Byzantine' Bronze Coinage of Syria: An
Innovation by 'Abd al-Malik."
The "Arab-Byzantine"
Bronze Coinage of Syria:
An Innovation by 'Abd al-Malik
Michael L. Bates
Anyone who knew George Miles well soon realized that his personal
attachment to Greece and its heritage was at least as deep as his
professional interest in the Islamic world. The previous speakers have
mentioned Miles's work on the Arab presence in the Greek world. On
the other side of the coin was his equally intense concern with the Greek
influence on the Arab world. It was natural therefore that he took a
special and persistent interest in the remarkable Muslim coinage of the
last decade of the seventh century A.D., when the Arabs, through a
series of "experiments in Muslim iconography," to use his own phrase,
freed themselves from monetary dependence on their Byzantine (and,
of course, Sasanian) predecessors by developing their own original and
distinctively Islamic coinage (note 1).
It is with that transitional period, specifically with the beginning of the

evolution from Byzantine Greek types to purely Islamic coinage, that I
will deal today. The topic is especially appropriate as my ideas were
largely inspired by Miles's writing and by discussions with him;
although I must say that at the time of our conversations neither of us
had surmised the solution of the problem which I shall try to defend.
The designation "Arab-Byzantine" is generally used, as in Walker's
magisterial British Museum catalogue, to cover a diverse assemblage of
early coinages from Spain, North Africa, Egypt, Syria and the Jazira,
and even some Iranian issues, from the beginning up to the adoption of
inscriptional types in each region (note 2). The only common feature of
these issues is that their images or inscriptions were derived in some
way from the coinage of the late Roman Empire. This classification is
paralleled by that of the Arab-Sasanian coinage, including coins of
16
Sasanian inspiration struck under the early caliphs, the Umayyads, and
even the 'Abbasids, whatever their geographical origin; and by that of
the post-reform coinage, including all purely inscriptional Umayyad
issues and those copper coins which have images drawn from neither
Byzantine nor Sasanian sources.
I have become more and more convinced of the uselessness of these
three traditional categories, which I believe ought to be replaced with an
organization of early Islamic coinage based only on the great regional
subdivisions of the empire, bringing together all the coins of each mint
within each region in chronological order without respect to type. In
each region, Muslim coinage began with imitative or derivative types,
but the nature of the imitations and the pace of evolution toward purely
Islamic coinage was different. Even after the adoption of the new Islamic
type, the organization of minting and even the weight standards and
fineness of the various denominations varied from region to region. The
coinage of the early caliphs and the Umayyads, like the coinage of any
large Islamic empire, ought to be studied first mint by mint, then
province by province and region by region, before we can think about
wide generalized categories encompassing the whole.
Within this methodological framework, my limited aim today is to
show that the copper coinage of early Muslim Syria with Byzantine
images is not in reality a continuation of Byzantine coinage, but is in fact
an innovation, one among those which began the transition to a purely
Islamic coinage; or, put more concretely, that the Syrian Arab copper
coinage of Byzantine type did not, as commonly supposed, originate
soon after the conquest of Syria in A.D. 633-36, but rather appeared
60 years later, in the last decade of the seventh century, at the same

time that gold and silver coinage was introduced in Syria as part of 'Abd
al-Malik's new monetary policy (note 3).
The chronology of the "Arab-Byzantine" Syrian copper coinage has
always been problematic because these coins have no dates. But the
validity of Walker's ascription of the earliest of these coins to circa 635,
immediately after the conquest, was for me put acutely into question by
Grierson's and Miles's redating of the latest coins in the series, the
standing caliph issues. Some of these coppers have 'Abd al-Malik's
name, but others are anomynous. These latter were assigned by Walker
to the reign of Mu'awiya, specifically to A.D. 670-85 (note 4). As
Grierson recognized in 1963 (note 5), and Miles reiterated in 1967 (note
6), the standing caliph image, which appears on silver and gold as well
as copper, is nearly always found on copper with the modified cross on
steps reverse (note 7), and this reverse is known only with the standing
caliph obverse. On Byzantine coins, the cross on steps is used
exclusively on gold solidi, never on copper folles. It stands to reason
therefore that the type was adopted by the Muslims for gold coins and
17
consequently for copper; not as Walker's dating would imply, that the
images on Byzantine gold were first adapted for use on copper and then
later used on Muslim gold solidi also. Moreover, it seems far more
plausible to assume that gold and copper coins with a similar and
distinctive image were issued simultaneously. Since the gold and silver
standing caliph coins are all dated, from A.H. 74 to 77, or A.D. 693-97, a
terminus post quern is provided for the copper which is about 23 years
after that suggested by Walker.
If one follows Grierson and Miles in this very reasonable
reassignment of all the standing caliph varieties to the middle of the last
decade of the century, we are left with very few imperial style varieties,
at most six, to cover the 60 years from the conquest to the initiation of
Arab types. This does not really seem to be enough for a copper coinage,
especially in view of the rather slight degree of evolution in epigraphical
style. One would expect a great deal more complexity in a coinage which
was purportedly issued under nine caliphs and a host of local governors.
One might also expect a coinage issued over such an eventful six
decades to reflect some of the great divisions which stirred the Muslim
community so deeply during that period: especially the contests for the
caliphate between 'Ali and Mu'awiya and between the Umayyads and
'Abd Allah b. al-Zubayr, not to mention the lesser sectarian rebellions
and the so-called "tribal" feuding of the Syrian Arabs.
If Walker's chronology seems therefore untenable, what is to replace
it? The solution to this problem has been obscured, it seems to me, by
the long held but never examined assumption that the earliest Arab
Syrian coinage was nothing more than an unoriginal perpetuation of the
Byzantine coinage already in Syria. If this assumption is abandoned, and

the Arab Syrian coppers examined anew, it becomes evident that there
is in fact no continuity between them and the coinage of Byzantium. To
show why this is so, I would draw your attention to three facts which
previous scholars have noted indeed, they are rather obvious but
which have not been given their rightful importance in the face of
traditional preconceptions.
The first fact is that there were no Byzantine mints in Syria at the time
of the Arab conquest. The situation there is in contrast to that of Egypt,
where a Byzantine mint operated in Alexandria until the taking of the
city by the Arabs (note 8), and was evidently kept going by them to
strike close but increasingly barbarous imitations of its Byzantine
emissions (note 9); and also contrasts with that of Iran, where the Arabs
found a number of mints operating and where they struck dated coins
from the earliest years of their rule closely imitating the most prevalent
type in circulation. In Syria, the only mint in late Roman or Byzantine
times was at Antioch, but that mint was closed just before the Persian
conquest of Syria in 611 and never reopened by the Byzantines. Besides,
18
Antioch was not an early Muslim mint.
The absence of minting activity in Byzantine Syria on the eve of the
Muslim conquest is well known, although it was perhaps not so clearly
perceived at the time Walker wrote. He himself did not explicitly
mention it. Instead, he created a smoke screen which obscured the issue
by his insistence on what he called the "truly remarkable phenomenon"
that many of the "freshly created mints were really ancient, pre-Byzan-
tine, mints of Classical times resuscitated" (note 10). To the contrary:
what is remarkable is that anyone would speak of "reopening" mints
which had ceased to function at least three centuries earlier, as if the
structures and equipment had been locked up gathering dust. It is in fact
only to be expected that the Arabs, when they adopted a decentralized
mint administration, would locate their mints in the same district
centers and market towns which had had mints in the fragmented
polities of late Hellenistic and Roman times; the urban topography of
Syria has been much the same for at least three millenia. In as much as
over 50 places in Syria are recorded as mints in classical times, it is
only surprising, although not very significant, that some of the Arab
mint towns had never had a mint before.
The absence of a recent precedent for striking coins in Syria is to be
stressed, for the continuation of mints already in operation is quite a
different thing from the foundation of new mints where none had been.
It is a commonplace that, in the period immediately following their new
conquests, the Arabs were very conservative in their administration of
the new territories; this is to be expected when one considers that not
only did Mecca and Medina have no coinage of their own but also that
the Arabs had absolutely no experience in administering large empires

with a diverse subject tax paying population. In these respects, the
Arabs at first followed the practices of the old empires, with only such
modifications as their own interests made necessary, and using what
remained of the imperial bureaucracies. If mints had already existed in
Syria, as they did in Egypt and Iran, one could imagine that the Arabs
would have kept them in operation. But it is difficult to imagine the
Arabs in the time of the early caliphs initiating minting operations where
none had previously existed; nor is Mu'awiya known as an administra-
tive innovator; nor is it likely that a major new initiative would have been
taken by his immediate successors during the conflicts which followed
his death.
The second fact I lay before you is the marked dissimilarity of the
fabric of the Syrian and of the Byzantine coppers. The Byzantine folles of
Constantinople under Heraclius and his successors, the coins which
presumably would have been the prototypes for Arab imitations of the
period following the conquests, are atrociously struck. They are irregu-
lar not only in weight but also in shape and diameter. Many, apparently,
19
were struck cold, producing deep marginal cracks. Restrikes are
common, and when the weight standard was reduced, older coins were
reduced to the new weight by arbitrarily chiseling off a portion of the
coin (note 11). There are, it is true, imitations of these coins which are
similarly irregular in fabric, and some of these have been tentatively
assigned to the Arabs, but typical early Syrian coppers are quite
different: they are almost uniformly round, with fairly even and well
centered striking. Little technical research has been done on the method
of manufacture of the Syrian copper coinage, but it looks as if the flans
were cast for the purpose, and struck with as much care as one would
expect for a minor denomination. At any rate, it is certain that the Arabs
did not derive their mint technology from that of seventh century
Constantinople.
The third fact to be kept in mind is that none of the varieties of Muslim
Byzantine style copper has any specific Byzantine prototype. Although
Walker heads his catalogue of the issues of each classification with a
description of a possible prototype, he himself points out that the
identification of the prototype is always uncertain and the correspond-
ence never exact. I would suggest that the search for the "prototype"
which was "imitated" by the Arabs in each instance is futile, for these
coppers are simply not imitations in the strictest sense of the word. The
series is imitative only in a general way, in that it is patterned after early
and middle seventh century Byzantine copper coinage as a whole: the
imperial portraits are there; there are the large M's on the reverse (the
Byzantine symbol for the denomination 40); there are Graeco-Latin in-
scriptions in the right places, sometimes reproducing commonplace
words such as ANNO, but more often isolated words without analogues

on Byzantine coins (there are no instances of even barbarous attempts to
reproduce the imperial nomenclature on copper); and there are marks
resembling the monograms, the officinae letters, and other auxiliary
symbols of the Byzantine issues, although it is not likely these marks
had any meaning for the Arab die cutters. In other words, the die cutters
do not appear to have tried to achieve a close imitation of any particular
Byzantine coin, but only to strike coins with the familiar attributes of
Byzantine money. Since there no doubt were already many varieties of
Byzantine copper coins in circulation in Syria, most of them ill-struck
and largely illegible as to inscriptions and images, it seems likely that
the new Arab-Byzantine coppers passed unnoticed by those who did not
know of their introduction.
If, then, there is no direct connection between the coinage of
Byzantium and the early imperial type Arab bronze coinage, making its
ascription to the early conquest period unlikely, the problem remains of
finding a plausible date for the introduction of the new Syrian coinage.
To do so, we should examine the coinage itself, concentrating on the
20
issues of Damascus, on the assumption that if the coinage of the capital
can be assigned to an appropriate date, the coins of the remaining
Syrian mints can easily be dated. Among the coppers in Walker's
catalogue with the mint name Damascus, there are, excluding the stand-
ing caliph issues, only three obverse types and two notably different
reverses. Among the obverse types is the enthroned emperor, which
appeared only at Damascus; it is rather scarce, with only two examples
in the British Museum catalogue (note 12) and four in the American
Numismatic Society (Figs. 1-2). Another is the standing emperor, by far
the most common Damascene obverse, with 26 examples in Walker
(note 13) and 35 in our own collection. This obverse type was used also at
Baalbek, Hims, and Tiberias. It has a number of variants: some have the
inscription AEO (Fig. 3), also found on the enthroned emperor type;
others have, in Greek, AAMACKOC (Fig. 4); others have garbled Greek
inscriptions. To the left, above the letter T, are found variously a bird, a
palm branch, a star and crescent, or no symbol at all. Finally, there is an
obverse type with two standing imperial figures; this is very rare, known
to Walker by only three specimens (note 14) and represented in the
American Numismatic Society by only one (Fig. 5).
The reverse of all the Damascus imperial types has a large uncial M as
the central feature. The major distinction to be drawn among the reverse
varieties is between those with Greek legends (specifically the word
ANNO, "year," or a debased form of it, on the left; the ciphers XIII,
"seventeen," on the right; and the mint abbreviation AAM in the
exergue; Figs. 2-4) and those with Arabic legends, most commonly darb
DimashqjU'iz, which may be translated as "current issue of Damascus"
(note 15; Figs. 1, 5-7). All of these imperial issues are placed among the
21

very earliest by Walker.
He is probably right in assuming that the reverses with Greek
inscriptions precede those with Arabic; he is therefore also probably
right in assuming that the enthroned emperor obverse precedes the
standing emperor obverse, for the former was known to him exclusively
with the Greek reverse while the majority of the latter have the Arabic
reverse. There is nevertheless no great separation between the two
obverse types. The standing emperor obverse is well known in fair
numbers with the earlier Greek legend reverse, while recently the
American Numismatic Society acquired by gift from Paul Bedoukian an
enthroned emperor copper with the Arabic legend reverse, a
combination not previously recorded (Fig. 1). These two obverses are
linked even more closely by a reverse die, distinctive because of the
abbreviation AO for ANNO, which is found on two coppers in our
collection with the enthroned emperor obverse and with the standing
emperor (Figs. 2,3). Yet another interesting example, from an Israeli
hoard, has the standing emperor obverse variety with the Greek mint-
name AAMACKOC combined with a Greek reverse with the abbrevia-
tion A AM (note 16). Aside from this coin, the AAMACKOC obverse has
been found only with the Arabic legend reverse and was very probably
cut especially for it, to produce a semi-bilingual coin of the sort known
from other mints (note 17); but the Israeli hoard coin shows that the
older Greek reverse dies were still being used along with the new
Greek-Arabic die combination. The third obverse type, with two
standing figures, seems also to have been used in close conjunction with
the standing emperor obverse. There are no known die links as yet, but
the reverse of the American Numismatic Society specimen of the two
figure obverse has very marked affinities with the reverses of two Amer-

ican Numismatic Society standing emperor coins, including the unusual
placement of the dal of Dimashq to the right of the M and the peculiar
form of the -wordja'iz (see Figs. 5-7).
22
These linkages and affinities, which would probably be increased by a
rigorous die study, indicate that the three Damascus obverse types,
enthroned emperor, standing emperor, and two imperial figures, are not
to be regarded as three separate and distinct classifications, but rather
as variant stages of a single series which must have been struck over a
short period of time, a few years at the most. Let me reiterate, these
three types make up the entire body of Arab-Byzantine imperial style
coinage with the Damascus mint-name (note 18). Is it possible to
imagine that this coinage was issued continuously over most of the 60
years from the Arab conquest to the introduction of the standing caliph
type in A.H. 74/A.D. 693-94? Or even from the reign of Mu'awiya
(661-80) to 693? I think certainly not. Nor is it reasonable to believe that
these coins were issued during a short period in the early years of Arab
rule, after which minting ceased until the appearance of standing caliph
issues. The only sensible view is to regard these coins as the immediate
predecessors of the standing caliph coins, issued in the same short span
of years as that assigned by Miles to the early gold coins with purely
Byzantine images.
One last argument. These copper issues are far from the zenith of coin
design, but they do represent a certain extent of development away from
Byzantine practice. No substantive Byzantine inscription seems to have
been reproduced, even in barbaric form, on any Arab Syrian copper.
Then, too, the introduction of Arabic legends must be regarded as a
certain step away from the pure imitation of Byzantine issues. At its
furthest development the coinage becomes completely bilingual, as on
the well known imperial bust issue of Hims (note 19). In contrast, there
are four varieties of Arab imitation solidi, all with identifiable imperial

images and quite good renderings of imperial Greek inscriptions, before
the appearance of the first Arab solidus with Arabic inscriptions (note
20).
Is it possible that the Arabs, having departed so far from Byzantine
precedents in the development of their copper coinage, should then have
reverted to an attempt at close imitation of Byzantine images and
legends on their earliest gold coins? I do not think so. The Arab copper
coinage of Byzantine inspiration must, it seems to me, be regarded as
contemporary with or even slightly subsequent to the introduction of
imitative gold issues by 'Abd al-Malik.
It seems plausible that if Damascus began striking copper only under
'Abd al-Malik, no other Syrian mint is likely to have preceeded it. In the
absence of studies of the six other imperial style mints, one can only say
that the number of issues at each was small and it looks as if the
sequence was generally parallel to that at Damascus. As an example, let
us examine one special situation, the issues of Baysan, Greek
Scythopolis, in northern Palestine. This mint struck unusual coppers
23
closely imitating the Nikomedia issues of Justin II and Sophia of A.D.
565-78 (note 21). These coins are large and relatively heavy, ranging
from 5 to 15 grams. Most have only Greek inscriptions; some have
Arabic as well. This mint is also alone in having struck imitation half-
folles; one was donated to the American Numismatic Society last year by
John Slocum (note 22; Fig. 8). Because of the similarity of these Scytho-
polis issues to their presumed prototype in appearance, diameter and
weight, and because this town was the Byzantine military headquarters
in southern Syria, these have been regarded as the earliest Arab-Byzan-
tine issues, perhaps struck almost immediately after the first Arab
victories; they are placed at the beginning of Walker's catalogue. There
is also in Walker another issue similar to these in diameter and weight,
but with two Arab figures, similar to the standing caliph, in place of the
Byzantine figures, and with 'Abd al-Malik's name on the reverse (note
23). Although this latter issue has no mint-name, Walker very plausibly
assigns it to Baysan on the basis of its analogous distinctive fabric. Now,
to believe that the Arabs opened a mint at Baysan soon after the
conquest, it is necessary to believe either that only two minor varieties
were struck there over the course of the 60 years before the coinage of
'Abd al Malik, or that the Arabs minted there briefly and then ceased,
only to resume minting much later using the same distinctive fabric and
a design very reminiscent of that employed at least a half century
earlier. Neither alternative makes good sense. The Scythopolis imperial
types should be identified as the immediate precursors of 'Abd
al-Malik's presumed Baysan issues (note 24), and one can go so far as to
see the purely Greek and the bilingual issues of BaysSn as the contemp-
oraries of the Greek and bilingual issues of Damascus and other mints.

The program today unfortunately does not provide for questions and
discussion after the paper, but I think I can anticipate some of the
queries which might be raised. One might well be: If the Byzantine
imperial types were issued only under 'Abd al-Malik, why were these
coins patterned after the much earlier issues of Heraclius and Constans
II? My reply would be that the issues of Heraclius and Constans II were
evoked on the copper coinage for the same reason that the earliest Arab
gold coinage imitated the issues of Phocas and Heraclius: the Arabs, in
response to the objectionable new solidus of Justinian II with their
24
portrayal of Christ, reacted at first by issuing for themselves coinage of
the old familiar types of the early and middle seventh century. This
would be especially true for the copper, because Byzantine copper
coinage seems to have decreased considerably in quantity after the reign
of Constans and it is not likely that the Arabs of Syria saw much of the
copper of his successors.
A second obvious question is, what did the Arabs of Syria do for coin-
age in the 60 years between the conquest and the introduction of coinage
by 'Abd al-Malik? There was presumably a body of coinage in circula-
tion in Syria when the Arabs arrived. This coinage could have remained
in circulation more or less indefinitely, except for accidental loss, for it
was no longer subject to recall for reminting by the Byzantines. Probably
also there was some coinage in government and church treasuries which
was seized by the Arabs and placed in circulation. Afterwards, there
would have been little drain on Syria's coinage, for in the pre-Umayyad
period that province sent no part of its tax revenues to Medina (note 25),
and after it became the metropolitan province of the empire under
Mu'awiya the flow of government revenues would have been into Syria,
not away from it. Moreover, and leaving aside mere presumption, hoard
evidence shows indisputably that Byzantine gold and copper as well as
Sasanian and Arab-Sasanian silver were imported into Syria in the
middle and late seventh century (note 26). How and why these monies
came there are problems not relevant to the present question.
A reascription as radical as the one proposed here is likely to arouse
controversy. Whether or not my new dating will stand up against its
critics remains to be seen, but it is to be hoped that it will at least inspire
the rigorous study which the early Arab coinage of Syria has long
Notes

needed.
1. George C. Miles, "The Earliest Arab Gold Coinage," ANSMN 13
(1967), p. 205; see his "The Iconography of Umayyad Coinage," (a
review of Walker's catalogues) Ars Orientalis 3 (1959), p. 209.
2. John Walker, A Catalogue of the Muhammadan Coins in the British
Museum II. A Catalogue of the Arab-Byzantine and Post-Reform
Umayyad Coins (London, 1956).
3. Walker, pp. xvi, xxii, xxvi.
25
4. Walker, pp. xxxi-xxxii, 22, 30.
5. Philip Grierson, "The Monetary Reforms of 'Abd al-Malik: Their
Metrological Basis and Their Financial Repercussions," JESHO 3
(1960), pp. 246-47.
6. Miles, "Gold Coinage," p. 215.
7. Only in Palestine was the older reverse used, at Jerusalem continu-
ously and at 'Amman initially.
8. Issues of Constans II are attributed to this mint, even though he came
to power in September 641 and the city fell to the Arabs in 642. The coins
could also have been issued during the brief reconquest in 645-46, but in
any case the fact that the mint operated up to the end of Byzantine rule
is confirmed.
9. See Henry Amin Awad, "Seventh Century Arab Imitations of
Alexandrian Dodecanummia," ANSMN 18 (1972), pp. 113-17.
10. Walker, p. xciii and his notes on individual mints.
11. Philip Grierson, Catalogue of the Byzantine Coins in the Dumbarton
Oaks Collection and in the Whittemore Collection, II: Phocas to
Theodosius III, 602-717, (Washington, 1968), Pt. 1, p. 22.
12. Walker, pp. 3-4, nos. 4-5.
13. Walker, pp. 5-9, nos. 7-26.
14. Walker, p. 14, nos. 42 and P. 6, and note to no. 42.
15. There are a few specimens with a somewhat varying Arabic legend,
not completely read; these are exemplified by Walker, p. 8, nos. ANS
1-3. Incidentally, ANS 2 has the same reverse die as Walker, p. 9 no. 26,
the latter a variant with the letters gamma-kappa on the obverse which
Walker would like to interpret as the Greek numeral 23 (H.). The die link
thus disposes of another variant as constituting a separate issue.

16. The cast was among others sent to Miles in October, 1967 by the
owner of the hoard, Mr. Shraga Qedar.
17. Tiberias (Walker, p. 11, no. P. 4, pp. 15-16, nos. 43-51); Baalbek
26
(Walker, pp. 12-14, nos. 35-41); Tartus (Walker, p. 19, nos. 55-56); and
Hims (Walker, pp. 20-22, nos. 57-72).
18. It is possible that some of the coppers with no mint-name, notably
the emperor and two sons with M (Walker, pp. 16-17, nos. 52-53, J.I)
and the emperor and son with transformed cross (Walker, p. 14, no. Kh.
1) may be from Damascus. These might correspond to the two and three
standing figures gold coins (Miles, "Gold Coinage," pp. 207-10, nos.
2-5).
19. Walker, pp. 20-22, nos. 57-72.
20. Miles, "GoldCoinage," pp. 207-9, nos. 1-4, PI. XLV, nos. 2, 4, 6, 8.
21. With Greek inscriptions only, Walker, pp. 1-2, nos. l-3ff.; with
Arabic mint-name as well, Walker, p. 2, no. Bel. 2.
22. Another, Nicholas M. Lowick, "Early Arab Figure Types,'' NCirc 78
(1970), p. 90, no. 1, is the first of these to be published.
23. Walker, p. 43, nos. A.5-6.
24. This point was also suggested by Lowick, p. 90, but he does not go
as far in revising their date as I do, suggesting rather ca. 660-85.
25. M.A. Shaban, Islamic History, A.D. 600-750 (A.M. 132); A New
Interpretation ( Cambridge, 1971), pp. 43-44.
26. The most recently published gold hoard is described by Cecile
Morrisson, "Le tresor byzantin de Nikertai," RBN118 (1972), pp. 29-91,
where other hoards are mentioned, especially p. 62 (this article also
contains important data and comments on the economic context of 'Abd
al-Malik's coinage reform which might be overlooked by specialists in
Islamic numismatics). Two important silver hoards containing both
Sasanian and Arab-Sasanian coins have been published by Muhammad
Abu'l-Faraj al-'Ush, The Silver Hoard of Damascus (Damascus, 1972),

and Kanz Umm Hajara al-Fiddi (Damascus, 1972). Seven bronze hoards
containing folles of Constans II as well as Arab issues have been
acquired by the American Numismatic Society in recent years.
27
In the 1960s George travelled over the highways, byways and goat trails of Greece, looking
for evidence of Arab influence in the form of Kufesque ornamentation on Byzantine
buildings. That he found and much more besides. Those of us privileged to see and hear
the enthralling travelogues that emerged from his trips will remember most vividly
perhaps George's enthusiasm and obvious affection for the land and its people. For
George, the search for Kufesque in the East brought rich rewards. The West, too, has its
Kufesque and that is the theme of our final paper by Richard Ettinghausen, art historian of
great distinction, who holds the Kevorkian chair of Islamic art at New York University and
serves as Consultative Chairman of the Islamic Department at the Metropolitan Museum
of Art.
Kufesque in Byzantine Greece,
the Latin West and the Muslim World
Richard Ettinghausen
George Miles, whose all-too-early passing deprived the learned world
of an incomparable scholar and many persons of a kind and loyal friend,
was generally known as the outstanding specialist in the field of Islamic
numismatics, though he was an equally distinguished Arabic epigra-
phist and archaeologist as well as an expert on Muslim history and a
student of East-West cultural relations. His achievements were many,
too many, indeed, even to list in the short time and space available. One
aspect of his research will be considered here and the starting point will
be "Kufesque," a word which Miles coined for the English language
(note 1).
As the structure of the term indicates, it is a combination of Kufic, the
angular monumental script used in the Muslim world for inscriptions in
stone, terracotta, clay, mosaic, wood, and ivory of the seventh century
and later, and arabesque, the graceful continuous ornament employed

throughout the Muslim world for almost all media (note 2). Miles used
the term as a synonym for pseudo-Kufic. It should be understood,
however, that the indicated quality of "falseness" or "pretention"
implied by the first part of this compound word refers primarily to the
inscriptions, which are no longer readable, and not necessarily to the
letters themselves, which can often still be recognized in short combina-
tions. Miles collected specific examples from the Byzantine period in
Greece, where he found Kufesque carved in stone or terracotta in the
architectural decoration of many ecclesiastical buildings, in the form
either of isolated letter groups or of continuous friezes. This type of
ornamentation, however, also occurred in painting, mosaics, and even in
ivories. All these decorative forms "were popular only during a relative-
28
ly limited period, starting in the first quarter of the eleventh century and
ending about the middle of the twelfth," although there is one example,
a slab from a stone sarcophogus, which dates from about 1276 (note 3).
Miles's special endeavor was to bring together a large body of Kufic-
derived ornaments in the various media of the Byzantine world, but he
also raised wider historical questions when he asked: "What were the
actual Islamic prototypes of all these motifs, what were the media, and
how were they transmitted to Greece?" Although he adds in his usual
modesty: "obviously these are questions for another paper and doubt-
less for another author," he nevertheless concluded his wide-ranging
article with important clues in answer to the issues which he raised. In
pursuing these questions further, I intend to take up at least one aspect
of Kufesque and investigate a problem posed by George Miles.
Among the many examples from Greece, there is one group, which al-
though not numerous, is always consistent in its formation (note 4). It is
generally composed of two framing uprights set to the right and left,
which may have as decorative additions the wedges or hooks of ornate
Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Kufic placed at their upper ends, while between them a lower, more ex-
uberant unit usually rests on an arched or hollowed-out base. A marble
fragment discovered near the Tower of Winds in Athens is a typical
example (Fig. 1, after Miles). There are other stone carvings of this
character in the local Byzantine Museum. In other pieces, the motif is
painted, or carved in ivory. In reviewing these finds, it becomes clear
that it is the central unit which is variable from case to case; it can differ
even in the different units of the same frieze as in this marble border in

the Byzantine Museum (Fig. 2, after Miles), although the basic struc-
ture is always preserved. This persistent identity established these
pieces as a definite group, which, for brevity's sake we may call the
"tall-short-tall syndrome."
29

14
HSil
39a
39c
66
113a
132a
18
UWtf
22
28
34
113b
Fig. 3
39b
uuur
39d
74
113c
122
30
The unity of this body of ornaments is further underlined by the
occurrence of the same motif in the art of mediaeval Europe where it is
found in France, Germany, England and Italy. The fact that Arabic
characters have been used in the ornamentation of Christian people of
the Latin West had been observed in a pioneer article of de Longperier
published as early as 1845 (note 5) and much material has since been
added; this happened especially in a systematic survey by Erdmann,
who collected over 145 examples, many of them with more or less
variable secondary features (note 6; Fig. 3). He showed that after a
single case in the eleventh century, this Kufic-derived type of ornamen-
tation became quite common in the twelfth century, flourished in the
thirteenth, and then decreased markedly in the fourteenth century, part-
ly due to the influence of the more recent Arabic writing in Naskhf
characters. A cursory investigation of the published material makes it
clear that in contrast to the examples adduced by Miles, the European
material consists overwhelmingly of playful variants of the tall-short-tall
syndrome. This persistent preference makes it imperative to establish
the origin and possibly the meaning of this ubiquitous motif.
Erdmann had already refuted the assumption of Marquet de Vasselot
that this combination had been created in Europe by reducing a certain
group of Arabic characters to form this combination (note 7). Instead, he
asserted that the motif must have been taken over from Near Eastern
examples because it had occurred in the very earliest European ex-
ample, a frame from the Apocalypse of St. Sever sur 1'Adour (note 8;
Fig. 4). He also pointed to its use in the Near East, although he was able
to quote only a single case where it appears as one of two markings on
Fig. 4

Fig. 5
the load carried by a camel in a wall painting in Temple IV in Bazaklik,
in the oasis of Turf an in Chinese Turkestan, which belongs to the
Uighur period and should be dated to about the tenth century (note 9;
Fig. 5).
With the material adduced by George Miles, it can also be stated that
the motif occurred in eleventh-century Greece, so that the contemporary
Latin and Byzantine examples must go back to the same source, which in
the nature of things must be looked for in the Muslim East. Nor is the
near-contemporary appearance of the motif in eleventh-century France
31
and the Byzantine world fortuitous, because both areas bordered
Muslim territory, in one case Spain, in the other Syria and the Jazfrah, a
fact which would have facilitated its import. In the case of Greece,
George Miles has further proven that, on the basis of evidence of three
stone fragments with Kufic inscriptions, there must have been a
settlement of Muslim Arabs, probably artisans or traders, who were
resident in Athens at the end of the tenth century (note 10).
Erdmann's assumption is fully supported by the fact that our
syndrome occurs in many other instances that belong to different
periods and countries of the Islamic world. Of these, I want to quote just
a few examples which will suffice to demonstrate the ubiquity and great
variety of the motif. Our earliest example comes from tenth-century
Iran, being the simplest form of the design and here applied to the edge
of a piece of slip-painted pottery from Nishapur (note 11; Fig. 6). The
next illustrations are more evolved, if not "baroque" versions of the
motif, but once their basic nature is identified, one easily recognizes that
they, too, in spite of their more complex nature, fit into the series. First
there is the version in the angular cavetto of the mihrab of the Bey
Hakfm Mosque of the second half of the thirteenth century from Konya,
the capital of Seljuk Anatolia, which is now in the Islamic Museum in
East Berlin (note 12). In this case, all elements come from the world of
the arabesque, that is, two tall units consist of a forked half leaf while
the now-much-enlarged central part is a stylized floral form which rests
on a hollowed-out base like the Byzantine examples of Figs. 1 and 2 (Fig.
7). Our next example is an enamelled glass mosque lamp of the Mamluk
period from fourteenth-century Egypt with the name of Sultan Hasan
(1347-51, 1354-61). Here the uprights have been given a slanting

position on account of the interspersed suspension loops; in addition,
their straight character has been nearly lost under the wealth of floral
forms and knots while the otherwise usually low intermediary element
has grown to the fullest possible size and been made into a complex
braided design (note 13; Fig. 8). Finally, the main border of sixteenth-
century Anatolian "small-patterned Holbein rugs" usually consists of a
series of our tall-short-tall syndrome, although, in these instances, the
design is enriched first by interspersed little hexagons and second by
having it combined with its mirror image placed upside down (Fig. 9).
The custom of using Kufesque for carpet borders is actually much older.
The earliest example is found in a representation of a carpet in a four-
teenth-century Persian miniature in a Bidpai manuscript in the Univers-
ity Library of Istanbul. Interestingly enough, it uses our syndrome in two
versions which are placed in two different directions and are combined
with a third motif of garbled Kufesque (note 14; Fig. 10). Kufesque
writing occurs again, and not uncommonly, in carpets shown in
Persian miniatures of the fifteenth century (note 15). It will be noted
32

Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
33
that two of the examples given the mihrab and the mosque
lamp come from a sacred setting, while the others, the bowl and the
various carpets, are secular, utilitarian objects.
At this point in our investigation, the question naturally arises
whether the motif under discussion is a purely ornamental device,
perhaps born of its rythmic qualitylong, short, longand its balanced
inner harmony, or whether it can be proven that it had a significance or
even a meaning. The first person to offer an answer was Eustache de
Lorey who stated in 1938 in connection with the two marks on the load
carried by a camel in the wall painting of Bazaklik (of which the left is
the motif under consideration here):
Ces deux groupes de lettres sont des abreviations ne comprenant
que des lettres centrales de mots, dont 1'un (celui de gauche) est le
mot baraka (benediction), 1'autre le mot Allah. II s'agit evidemment
ici de ces simplifications et deformations executees par des artisans
analphabetes qui, en depit de leur ignorance, tenaient a consacrer
1'objet qu'ils decoraient parune benediction d'Allah. Si on compare
par exemple, le style de cette ecriture a une inscription bien connue
du IXe siecle a la mosquee de Kairoan [sic], nous y voyons les deux
caracteres centraux du mot Allah relies par un trace arrondi sur-
monte d'un fleuron trilobe, identiques a ceux de Bazaklik. Ces
abreviations de "benediction d'Allah," employees dans un sens
magique et stylisees par des artisans illettres etaient tres re-
pandues dans 1'Orient musulman (note 16).
De Lorey does not give any clue to where the "well-known" example
from ninth-century Kairouan could be found and I have to admit that I
have not been able to track it down. Nor does he give any reference

whatsoever to the other widely-distributed occurrences in the Islamic
world of this "abbreviation," although he speaks of the similar use of
the motif in the West, for instance in the thirteenth-century ciborium of
Alpais in the Musee du Louvre. Independently of this interpretation,
Erdmann came to the same conclusion in 1953 as he states: "Ich habe
unabhangig von de Lorey in der Grundform (des Motifs) das Wort Allah
erkannt" (note 17). It is somewhat difficult to follow him here, as the
tall-short-tall syndrome hardly looks like or reminds one of the word
Allah. Besides the quotation of the passage by de Lorey and a reference
to the Bazaklik example, Erdmann gives no further references which
would help to explain how a usage in a painting in distant Chinese
Turkestan could eventually have influenced mediaeval European art.
In spite of their distinguished achievements in many fields neither de
Lorey nor Erdmann was an experienced Arabist, and certainly not an
epigraphist. Their interpretation has, to my knowledge, not entered the
main stream of Islamic or mediaeval research and was in any case,
ignored by George Miles, though he knew and referred to the publica-
34
tion by Erdmann. Independently of de Lorey and Erdmann, I, too, have
come to the conclusion first formulated by de Lorey in 1938 and I can
now support it with the necessary epigraphic evidence.
The best source for this proof is provided by tombstones from various
sites in Egypt which exist in great profusion. Numerous examples from
the Museum of Islamic Art in Cairo can be found in the six volumes
published by Hassan Hawary, Hussein Rached and Gaston Wiet
between 1932 and 1939. This catalogue comprises the dates from 31 to
712 H. and, as the tombstones are nearly all dated, one can read the
epigraphic changes from decade to decade and can easily establish
special elaborations. To these belong the use of a conspicuous rounded
arch in the middle of the word Allah which breaks up the straight
connecting line between the lams, particularly in the introductory
basmala formula. It occurred first in a marble tombstone of 191 H./A.D.
807 (note 18; Fig. 11) and is then found in other stelae of the ninth cen-
Fig. 11
tury. The first further elaboration of the motif is found in a tombstone of
208 H./A.D. 823, where a small star is fixed to the top of the rounded
arch (note 19). More elaborate is the example of 224 H./A.D. 839, where
the medial section is a tripartite arch, the center of which is pointed and
topped by a small circle, while the side units are round (note 20; Fig.
12). A stone of 243 H./A.D. 857 has not only beautiful raised Kufic with
arabesque endings for the tall letters but also shows a high, polylobed
arch for the central section (note 21; Fig. 13). On the other hand, in two
other stelae of the same year the center of the word Allah is rendered
several times by a high, pointed, horseshoe arch in double outline while
the crest is decorated with a small fleur-de-lys (note 22; Fig. 14). The

two most elaborate versions of the ninth century are found in yet another
stone of the year 243 H./A.D. 858 showing a high polylobed arch which
is filled with a flower, and in one of 245 H./A.D. 860, where the fleuron
above the pointed arch is higher than the framing lams (note 23; Fig.
15). After the middle of the ninth century, the arched intersection
becomes rarer and is then again of a simpler form (note 24); however,
the element is still found on tombstones which date as late as 484
35

Fig.12
Fig. 13
Fig. 14
Fig. 15
36
H./A.D. 1091, 495/1102 and 539/1144 (note 25).
When we compare the data from this Arabic material with the chart on
the composition of Kufesque characters based on the mediaeval
European examples as it was prepared by Erdmann (Fig. 16), we realize
that the same basic features occur in Islam and the Latin West and, as
we have shown, in Byzantine Greece as well. Even the ordinary form of
s t/j bu
5 UJ tAJ U~U U-U
s LJ tAJ tfU LHJ
Fig. 16
only two uprights which closely reproduce the unadorned center of the
word Allah is correctly rendered by first presenting the initial lam, while
in the case of the second lam, the connecting line to the final ha has been
omitted, so that it looks like an alif (see Fig. 16, la). This form of a
quasi-alif is then consistently preserved in the West and Byzantine
Greece just as it is done in the formalized patterns in the Muslim world.
What does change is the secondary ornamental feature, which, as in the
Islamic examples, usually has a curved, triangular or two-cornered
connecting line that is open at the bottom and carries a decorative
feature above it varying from case to case.
Erdmann has pointed out that the Kufic-derived motif found wide
currency in Europe in the twelfth century after a very restricted start in
the eleventh, and Miles, too, has stressed that his Greek examples are
from the eleventh and early twelfth centuries. This makes the eleventh
and twelfth centuries a critical period for the Muslim world. It can be
shown that they, particularly in the twelfth century, were apparently the
high point in the development of the medial elaboration. This is borne

out by the various examples found in the recent publication on Islamic
calligraphy by Annemarie Schimmel which include an eleventh-century
specimen from Saragossa in Spain (note 26) and two splendid versions of
37
the twelfth century hailing from the other end of the Muslim world,
found by A.D.H. Bivar in the sanctuary of Imam Khurd in Sar-i Pul in
Afghanistan (Fig. 17; Schimmel, p. 12, n) as well as a rendition from the
Qut;ub Minar in Delhi of the early thirteenth century (Schimmel, p. 18,
c). As it might be desirable to point to a representative case from the
heartland of Islam, I can refer to an undated tombstone now placed in
the mihrab of the Jami' al-'Omariyya in Mosul. Ernst Herzfeld, the
great teacher of George Miles, and mine too, placed it in the eighth
H./fourteenth century A.D. on account of the Turkish name Bilghe-i
mulk Khatun of the person buried, but it may very well be earlier (note
27). There is, however, no doubt about the date of our next example, the
glazed terracotta frame from the Mausoleum of Buyan Qulf Khan in
Bukhara of about A.D. 1357 in the East Berlin Museum; it presents a
Fig. 18
Kufic inscription in white glaze on a carved turquoise glazed background
which states: al-mulk lillah ("the kingdom belongs to God"). While the
inscription itself is written in a straightforward fashion and shows only
the usual interlaces in the upper parts of the tall letters, the word lillah is
interrupted in the center by a pointed arch in the usual fashion (Fig. 18).
This example demonstrates the persistence of an epigraphic idiosyncra-
sy which had started in the early ninth century. As a matter of fact, the
importance accrued to the middle portion of the word Allah and the
tendency to decorate it, become evident even when no actual ornamen-
tation is physically applied to the Kufic letters. This is brought out by a
brick mosaic in the Sircah Medrese of 640 H./A.D. 1242 in Konya where

38
a knot motif floats in an unattached fashion over the medial section of
the word (Fig. 19). Obviously, the Islamic custom was to stress and
beautify the word Allah in one way or another in building inscriptions,
just as in some early Koran manuscripts the word Allah was rendered in
gold, while the rest of the text was written in black ink. The tall-short-
tall syndrome in East and West is the ornamental distillate of this
decorative custom.
Fig. 19
Four questions remain which need to be answered in order to gain a
fuller understanding of the phenomenon here discussed. First, while the
.use of the center-decorated form of the word Allah in the Muslim world
is best demonstrated by tombstones and building inscriptions, it is its
use on transportable objects which is the more likely link with Latin and
Greek Europe. Here the examples from the various Islamic decorative
arts to which I have referred are of some significance (Figs. 6, 8, 9). Still,
the first example given, a tenth-century piece of Persian pottery,
belonged to a category which was rarely, if ever, brought to Europe,
while the other examples, an Egyptian lamp and the renditions of
carpets in Persian miniatures of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries,
are too late to explain the phenomenon in eleventh- and twelfth-century
Europe, and this applies even more to the Turkish carpet of the
sixteenth century. To prove the transfer from East to West more
convincingly, it is necessary to produce a movable Islamic object of an
early period which represents merchandise often brought to mediaeval
Europe. George Miles, like others before him, has pointed to textiles as
carriers of various Near Eastern ideas and this is indeed the medium
which provides a telling example of the phenomenon here investigated.

It is an Egyptian wool and linen tapestry of the ninth century in which
the word Allah is in its center clearly marked with a rounded unit which
is also stressed by color (note 28; Fig. 20).
39
Fig. 20
The second question to be posed pertains to the first occurrence of the
tall-short-tall syndrome so far observed in Europe, the Apocalypse of St.
Sever from eleventh-century France (Fig. 4). Erdmann had already
pointed out Spanish features in this manuscript, naming in particular
the decorative forms of the Kufesque letters, and it is indeed to Spain,
as the closest Muslim country, that one has to look for further evidence.
This is provided by a carved ivory box in the Victoria and Albert
Museum, which, according to Ernst Kuhnel, was made in the caliphal
residence of Madfnat al-Zahra' about 962 (note 29; Fig. 21). Here the
center of the word Allah is marked by a trilobed arch, which implies an
already developed decorative form.
Fig. 21
At this point I should digress briefly because, while in a second use of
Allah the center is not marked (which is not unusual), trilobed arches do
occur in two other words, namely rahmat (between mtm and the ta
marbtita) and in 'alaihi (between ya and ha). This indicates that the
arched feature was not understood as an exclusively distinguishing mark
of the word Allah, as is usually the case, but rather as a means of
lengthening words to fill the given space. Kuhnel had certain doubts
about the authenticity of the piece, partly on account of this epigraphic
peculiarity. But its inclusion in his corpus with a tenth-century date
seems to point to the fact that he finally accepted it as genuine, just as
Grohmann did in an appended footnote. In any case, the use of the arch

40
as a medium to lengthen other words had already occurred in the
tombstone of 191 H./A.D. 807 in Cairo (Fig. 11), so that the occurrence
of the phenomenon on the Spanish box would not be objectionable but
would represent an archaism. There must have been other Spanish-
Islamic instances with medial extensions, as the phenomenon is still
present in the eleventh-century example from Saragossa (see note 26),
although it presents itself in the most complex fashion.
The third question, more difficult to answer, may be formulated in
this manner: to what extent was the tall-short-tall syndrome still
understood in its original form as an abbreviation of the word Allah, or
had this awareness been lost, in Islam or later in the Greek and Latin
West? The clue to an answer for the Islamic world is provided by the
various carpet borders which contain the Allah-derived motif in either a
simple or a more ornate form (e.g., Fig. 9). These pieces should be
considered in conjunction with the legal opinion which the well-known
Shafi'ite jurist Taqf al-Dfh al-Subkhf rendered in 1351 which has been
published and commented on by Franz Rosenthal (note 30). Here
al-Subkhfs reply to a question is reproduced or given as paraphrased by
Rosenthal:
What is your opinion concerning a man's placing his foot upon a
carpet into which there are woven some letters of the alphabet
arranged in meaningful words such as "blessing," "bliss,"
"enduring strength?'' Is it permissible for a man to step on the por-
tion of the carpets where these words are found?
In his reply, al-Subkfis inclined to consider it forbidden for a man
to step on such a carpet, although he says he is unable to offer
sufficiently strong proof for his opinionLetters...were created in

order to produce, by means of their proper arrangement, the word
God and Muhammad and of the other prophets and the angels as
well as other necessary, desirable, or permissible utterances. There
can be no doubt as to the correctness of the assumption that the fact
that the letters are used for the production of something necessary
or desirable makes it obligatory upon human beings to honor and
reverence them. In the opinion of lawyers, a piece of paper contain-
ing the name of God cannot be used for writing on it secular stories
or the like. In this case, of course, the situation is clear since the
name of God is involved. But what if it is a case of ordinary letters
that could be used for producing any word in the world? In this case
it is still possible to make a case for similar prohibition....
...Paper can be used for writing down either good words or evil
words. However, the true purpose for which it was created and for
which it must be reverenced is for writing on it the Koran, the Pro-
phetic traditions, and all other useful kinds of knowledge. Were a
man to step upon a piece upon which nothing had as yet been
41
written, intentionally and in full knowledge of the fact that all paper
must be reverenced, his action could be classified as a forbidden
one. The same applies to the letters of the alphabet. Those who
know the purpose for which the letters were created are not per-
mitted to step on them. This admits making an exception for per-
sons ignorant of the purpose of writing, in conformity with the wide-
ly accepted legal view that only knowledge of the fact that an action
is forbidden makes its commission a crime.
Therefore, al-Subkf concludes, only those who are aware of the
facts concerning the true purpose of writing as stated here commit
a crime when they step on such letters as are found on the carpet.
However, though it may not always be a crime, it could in any case
be considered as forbidden, and the person ignorant of the situation
should be taught to know better.
Perusal of this opinion makes it evident that the stepping on a carpet
on which an essential part of the word Allah was rendered would
certainly have been forbidden and regarded as a crime, had the origin
and true meaning of the motif been known. It might even be questioned
whether these carpet borders were still understood to be derived from
Kufic letters, because, if that were the case, they, too, would have been
forbidden.
It seems that in the Muslim East the true nature of the carpet borders
with their Kufesque elements was not recognized, not even the fact that
they were composed of letters, although it is fairly evident to a Western
observer. The reason for this non-recognition must remain mere specu-
lation. Possibly, the applied mirror images and insertions in the borders
appeared so greatly changed from regular script that their character was

no longer apparent. The fact that these letters were found on carpets did
not create the right mental association. The phenomenon can perhaps be
best compared with the case of mispronounced words, when different
sounds and rhythms are no longer understood by the listener.
While the true nature of the Kufesque syndrome was thus no longer
recognized, the letter combination still retained a religious aura, or even
magic power. This becomes clear from a blue-glazed object of possibly
Persian origin of the late eleventh or twelfth century and now part of a
private collection in New York. Apparently it is an amulet with two loops
which indicate that it was originally suspended from a person's neck or
above the bed of a sick person or a woman in labor (Fig. 22). The raised
Kufic lettering is very simple and could be of the ninth century, but the
technical nature of the piece does not allow such an early dating and one
would have to regard the writing as an archaizing inscription. It contains
our syndrome but it is preceded by the word ya, which is the common
Arabic invocation "oh" as used before Allah. Hence, there was an
awareness that the tall-short-tall syndrome was a symbol like Allah and
42
had a powerful effect for a person in need. Having such a status, the
motif was also a suitable decoration for a mosque lamp, although its
form was now nearly dissolved by knotted and vegetal elements (Fig. 8).
As such, it was somehow thought to be appropriate to replace the
Koranic quotation (XXIV, 35) which is usually found on such lamps. This
is also the reason why one finds the syndrome on women's glass bangles
from Egypt, where they serve as the sole decoration, with a possible
imputed protective power (note 31; Fig. 23). Finally, this is the reason
why the syndrome was applied to the load of a camel in a Central Asiatic
oasis (see Fig. 5). It was supposed to guard the shipment during the long
voyage through the desert, just as the blue "donkey beads" of Iran are
supposed to have a protective effect for horses and donkeys. That all this
is not a far-fetched supposition is indicated by a twelfth-century
Byzantine ivory carving in Leningrad in which a Christian matyr carries
a shield with a long Kufesque inscription which consists of no less than
four varied units of our syndrome (Fig. 24, after Miles). In connection
with this and similar inscriptions, George Miles rightly asked whether
they might not have had an apotropaic meaning which, to my mind, they
undoubtedly had. However, in many instances, the original significance
was at best only dimly sensed as in the case of the tenth-century bowl
illustrated in Fig. 6 and probably in that of the thirteenth-century
mihrab from Konya (Fig. 7). Here the esthetic factor of the simple
rhythm and the balanced harmony of the motif might have been the
primary factor for its application. In certain instances, it is, however,
quite clear that the syndrome was not understood. This is, for instance,
borne out by a stamp for printing textiles from about twelfth-century
Egypt, now in the East Berlin Museum, which has in its central band a

Naskhf inscription: an-na$r ("Victory") (Fig. 25). This word is usually
followed by another good wish or the word lisahibihi ("to its owner"),
but here one finds our motif, which was used only as a space filler,
without an awareness of the original meaning of the symbol (note 32).
There remains the fourth and final question: how the true meaning of
such a pregnant motif could be so easily forgotten. Here I can only state
that the oblivion shrouding this Kufesque motif is not a unique case.
There are others where the content of an incipient symbol became lost
while the outer form remained either to become devoid of meaning or to
be combined with other concepts of a different nature (note 33). The
mosque lamps suspended in the mihrab-like arches of prayer carpets are
perhaps the best-known examples (note 34). They originally reflected
Verse 35 of Sura XXIV which states:
Allah is the light of the heaven and the earth; a likeness of his light
is as a niche in which there is a lamp, the lamp is in a glass and the
glass is as it were a brightly shining star...
Later on the light-carrying lamp became a flower vase and it was even-
43

Fig. 22
Fig. 23
Fig. 24
Fig. 25
44
tually placed on a saucer at the bottom of the arch. What is remarkable
about the Allah-derived motif is the fact that it preserved a certain
innate power which gave it a magic, apotropaic quality. This assured it a
long life not only in the civilization of its origin, but in many countries of
mediaeval Europe which otherwise knew little of Islam and certainly
would have been unwilling to apply the divine name used in a rival
religion to many sacred buildings and holy objects.
Notes
1. George C. Miles, "Byzantium and the Arabs: Relations in Crete and
the Aegean Area," OOP 18 (1964), p. 20.
2. Ernst Runnel, Die Arabeske. Wiesbaden, 1949. An English trans-
lation of this publication is forthcoming.
3. Miles, "Byzantium," pp. 22, 26.
4. The examples given in Miles, "Byzantium," are his figures G, I, 19,
43, 44, 48, 50, 53, 57, 63, 64, and 66.
5. Adrien de Longperier, "De 1'emploi des caracteres arabes dans
1'ornementation chez les peuples Chretiens de 1'Occident," RevArch
(1845-46), pp. 696-706.
6. Kurt Erdmann, Arabische Schriftzeichen als Ornamente in der
abendlandischen Kunst des Mittelalters (Mainz, Akademie der
Wissenschaften und der Literatur. Abhandlungen der Geistes-und
Sozialwissenschaftlischen Klasse, Jahrgang 1953, Nr. 9). (Mainz-
Wiesbaden, 1954), pp. 467-513; the given numbers are those of the
Erdmann listing. The last publication to deal with the subject is Walter
Cahn, The Romanesque Wooden Doors of Auvergne (New York, 1974),
pp. 16-19, bibliographical references on pp. 31-32.
7. J.J. Marquet de Vasselot, Les Crosses limousines du XHIe siecle.

(Paris, 1941), p. 124; Erdmann, Arabische Schriftzeichen, p. 512.
8. Paris, BN lat. 8878, eleventh century. (After Ahmed Fikry, L'Art
roman dupuy et les influences islamiques (Paris, 1934), p. 266, fig. 333a
9. Erdmann, Arabische Schriftzeichen, pp. 512-13, fig. 1, detail after
Eustache de Lorey, "Peinture musulmane ou peinture iraniene," Revue
45
de Arts Asiatiques (1938), p. 24, pl. XVIII, no. 7.
10. The inscription, known from these three fragments, refers to the
local mosque. Miles, "Byzantium," pp. 19-20, figs. 15-17.
11. After Arthur Upham Pope, "The Ceramic Art in Islamic Times," A
Survey of Persian Art V. ed. A.U. Pope (London/New York, 1938), pl.
566B after Maurice Pezard, La Ceramique archaique de I'Islam et ses
origines II (Paris, 1920), pl. XCVI, upper right.
12. I owe the photograph of this monument and of Figs. 9, 18, 25 to the
kindness of Dr. Volkmar Enderlein, Acting Director of the Islamic
Museum.
13. Photograph courtesy of Smithsonian Institution, Freer Gallery of
Art.
14. Figure 10 is detail after Armenag Bey Sakisian, La Miniature
persane du Xlle au XVIIe siecle (Paris/Brussels, 1929), pl. VI. The
twelfth-century date given there is too early.
15. All pertinent information with proper illustrations has been collect-
ed by Amy Briggs, "Timurid Carpets I," Ars Islamica (1940), figs. 9, 15,
16. 18, 19, 21-25, 33, 34, 37, 38, 40, 41, 42, 46, 47, 49, 53-56, 64-69, and
71-74, and "Timurid Carpets II," Ars Islamica (1946), figs. 8, 10, and
11.
16. See note 9 above.
17. Erdmann, Arabische Schriftzeichen, p. 513, note 1.
18. After Hassan Hawary and Hussein Rached, Steles funeraires I
(Catalogue general du Musee Arabe du Caire). (Cairo, 1932), pl. VI, no.
1193.
19. Hawary and Rached, Steles funeraires I, pl. XIX, no. 2721/45.
20. Hawary and Rached, Steles funeraires I, pl. XXXVI, no. 2721/4.
4288.

21. After Gaston Wiet, Steles funeraires II (Cairo, 1936), pl. IX, no.
22. After Wiet, Steles funeraires II, pls. X, no. 9820 and XII, no. 1271.
46
23. After Wiet, Steles funeraires II, pls. XVI, no. 3904 and XXIV, no.
10838.
24. Tombstones with a medial decoration besides the ones here quoted
are to be found in Hawary and Rached, Steles funeraires I, pls. XXI, no.
1197; XXVII, no. 2721/20; XXVIII, no. 1267; XXXII, no. 2721/6; XXXIII,
no. 2721/1; XLI, no. 1454; XLV, no. 1268; L, no. 1506/360; LXIII, no.
3150/49; Wiet, Steles funeraires II, pls. I, no. 2820; XXIII, no. 10883;
XXX, no. 3380/5; LIII, no. 8321; Hassan Hawary and Hussein Rached,
Steles funeraires III (Cairo, 1939), pls. LV, no. 3150/92; LXXVI, no.
9822; Gaston Wiet, Steles funeraires IV (Cairo, 1936), pl. XVIII, no.
8612; Wiet, Steles funeraires V (Cairo, 1937), pls. XIII, no. 2721/461;
XXIV, no. 2842.
25. Gaston Wiet, Steles funeraires VI (Cairo, 1939), pls. XXIX, no.
6718; XXX, no. 6716; XXXVI, no. 12336/1.
26. Annemarie Schimmel, Islamic Calligraphy (Leiden, 1970), pl. I.
27. Friedrich Sarre and Ernst Herzfeld, Archaologische Reise im
Euphrat-und Tigris-Gebiet (Berlin, 1911-20), pp. 285-86, fig. 275.
28. Metropolitan Museum of Art, Rogers Fund, no. 27.170.79.
29. Detail after Ernst Kuhnel, Die Islamischen Elfenbeinskulpturen.
Vin.-XIII. Jahrunderts (Berlin, 1971), p. 33, no. 21, pl. IX, no. 21c.
30. Frani Rosenthal, "Significant Uses of Arabic Writing," Ars
Orientalis (1961), pp. 15-16; reprinted in his Four Essays on Art and
Literature in Islam (L.A. Mayer Memorial Studies in Islamic Art and
Archaeology II). (Leiden, 1971), pp. 51-52.
31. Eleventh/twelfth century, Jerusalem. L.A. Mayer Memorial No.
G14-69.
32. Published by Ernst Kuhnel, Islamische Stoffe aus agyptischen

Grabern in der Islamischen Kunstabteilung und in der Staff-Sammlung
des Schlossmuseums (Berlin, 1927), p. 85, where they are attributed to
the Fatimid period.
33. Richard Ettinghausen, "The 'Wade Cup' in the Cleveland Museum
of Art, its Origin and Decoration," Ars Orientalis (1957), p. 356.
34. Richard Ettinghausen, Maurice S. Dimand, Louise W. Mackie and
Charles Grand Ellis, Prayer Rugs (Washington, D.C., 1974), pp. 19-23,
pls. XIV, XV, and XXVII.
47

A Colloquium in Memory of George Carpenter Miles (1904-1975)

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A Colloquium in Memory of George Carpenter Miles (1904-1975)

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Generated for anonymous on 2015-02-15 19:36 GMT / http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.

GEORGE CARPENTER MILES

The American Numismatic Society

New York 1976

The Spring Meeting of

THE AMERICAN NUMISMATIC SOCIETY

April 10, 1976

Margaret Thompson, American Numismatic Society, presiding

Homer A. Thompson, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton

Some Invaders of Athens in Late Antiquity

Alison Frantz, American School of Classical Studies, Athens, Greece

The "Arab-Byzantine" Bronze Coinage of Syria: An Innovation by 'Abd

Michael L. Bates, American Numismatic Society

Richard Ettinghausen, Institute of Fine Arts, NYU and Metropolitan

Generated for anonymous on 2015-02-15 19:36 GMT / http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015000646458

The American Numismatic Society is proud that George Miles's

cannot claim him exclusively. His towering stature as a numisma-

tist tends to obscure the fact that he was also a distinguished

linguist, archaeologist, epigraphist and connoisseur of Islamic art

in all its manifestations. It seemed fitting, therefore, that our pro-

gram this afternoon go beyond numismatics to stress the catholic-

ity of George's interests and achievements, and we are most

grateful to the eminent scholars in other fields who have come

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today to take part in this colloquium.

We have gathered here today to honor the memory of a great scholar:

an historian, an orientalist, above all a numismatist. Many of you, I

suspect, will share my subconscious feeling that in this place, on such an

It is not my purpose to give a biographical sketch of George, nor yet to

attempt an assessment of his scholarly achievement. This has been done

admirably by Margaret Thompson in the foreword to the Festschrift of

George that appeared a couple of years ago (Near Eastern Numismatics,

Iconography, Epigraphy and History, Studies in Honor of George C.

Miles. Dikram K. Kouymjian, Editor, American University of Beirut,

1974). That same volume contains a list of his writings published

some personal impressions of George, the scholar and the person, as I

knew him over the last 20 years or so of his life.

Already before our first meeting I was vaguely aw; re of some of

George's earlier writings, especially his massive volumes n the coinage

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undertaken the publication of the Islamic coins found in controlled

excavations such as Antioch-on-the-Orontes and Herodian Jericho. In

the early 1950s, as Field Director of the Excavations of the Athenian

Agora, I was concerned with organizing the publication program, and

with the assignment of blocks of material to suitable scholars. One of the

chiefly Turkish, that had accumulated in the course of 15 seasons of

excavating. Our mutual friend, Professor John L. Caskey of the

University of Cincinnati, suggested that George Miles might be induced

to take on this assignment. I approached George, and to my great relief

Islamic Coins, 1962). It is a slim volume, but it made accessible to the

of the Turkish occupation of Athens (1458-1831). George was able to

recognize the marks of some 25 different mints scattered over the

publication of Islamic coins from any excavation in Greece, and it filled a

large gap in the numismatic record of that country.

As director of the Agora Excavations I was enormously grateful to

program. I was also greatly impressed by the spirit in which he worked.

other lots of Islamic coins which might otherwise have languished

indefinitely in excavation storerooms.

daughter, Marian, who received her reward by coming to know at this

time her future husband, James R. McCredie.

day in May of 1954 I suggested to George that he look, by the way of

change, at an inscription carved in bold, beautiful Arabic script on a

fragmentary marble slab found some years before in the Agora