Thomas James Shepherd, BA History

Coins as Historical Evidence: Examples from the Seventh-Century Middle East

Coins are often overlooked by historians, who prefer written material as a source of information for the past. But what about periods where such evidence is sparse? The seventh-century Middle East is just such a period. The rise of Islam in the Middle East was a disruptive phenomenon for the people and Empires of the region. Coinage produced and used during this phase of the Islamic conquests can tell us much about how the conquerors went about ruling their new territories, and how the inhabitants of the Middle East adjusted.