Stefan Heidemann

Financing the tribute to the Kingdom of Jerusalem: An urban tax in Damascus

The economic dynamics of the twelfth century finds its expression in an increased number of fiscal instruments and terminology. After an introduction to legal taxation and Saljuq fiscal policy, the philological problems of a specific due, al-fissa, illegitimate according to the sharfa, will be addressed along with its political function, history, levying and transfer. It was levied in Damascus for an annual and/or occasional tribute to the Kingdom of Jerusalem, even before the alliance of Damascus and Jerusalem in 532/1140. Before Nūr al-DTn Mahmuds conquest of Damascus the monies were transferred by bearers of hawalas. It can be suggested that tax farmers were liable for them. A decree, rasm, allowed for the collection of al-fissa. The due was levied perhaps on the basis of an assessment of urban real estate. An interpretation of the term al-fissa was suggested as Arabic borrowing from the middle Latin term fossa.

The Large Audience: Life-sized Stucco Figures of Royal Princes from the Seljuq Period

A pair of almost life-sized polychrome stucco sculptures attributed to the Seljuq period in Iran was closely examined prior to the reinstallation of the Islamic galleries at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2011. Iconographical analysis of their crowns and other accoutrements suggests that they represent a pair of royal figures that were once part of a larger decorative program dated to 1050–1150. Given the itinerant nature of the Seljuq court, it is proposed that this stucco decoration was created for a temporary reception structure, or kūshk, probably in western Iran. While scientific analyses have indicated that much if not all of the polychromy is modern, technical examination of the plaster used to create these figures and related examples in other collections is ongoing.

A Hoard from the Time of Yazdgard III in Kirmān

Abstract The analysis of a hoard from the time of the collapse of the Sasanian Empire offers new insights into the administrative situation within the realm of Yazdgard III during his presence in Kirmān. Interpreting die chains using old or newly engraved dies with the then anachronistic name of the previous shāhānshāh Khusrō II, and finding an unlikely variety of mint abbreviations and dates within one workshop, allows us to infer the processing of huge amounts of silver in an unregulated way, compared with the orderly mint administration before the battle of al-Qādisiyya. A rigorous numismatic conclusion makes the change to a centralised minting in Kirmān likely where coins, rather than the dies, were sent to the districts. The key dates of the hoard coincide with the battle of Nihāvand 642 and the beginning of the invasion of Kirmān. Many of the coins bear dipinti with legible Pahlavī inscriptions, highlighting a cultural way of marking coins at the end of the Sasanian Empire.

Zwischen Theologie und Philologie: Der Paradigmenwechsel in der Jenaer Orientalistik 1770 bis 1850

1) Eine Kurzfassung des Beitrages erschien in Michael Hofmann – Charis Goers (Hg.): Bilder des Orients in der deutschen Literatur und Kultur von 1770 bis 1850. München 2007. Folgende Sammelwerke werden mehrfach zitiert: ADB = Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie, 56 Bde. Leipzig 1875–1912. BBKL = Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon. Hg. von Friedrich Wilhelm Bautz, Traugott Bautz. Hamm u. a. 1990 ff. DN = Biographisches Jahrbuch und Deutscher Nekrolog. Hg. von Anton Bettelheim, 18 Bde. Wien 1897–1917. EI2 = The Encyclopaedia of Islam. New Edition, 12 Bde. Leiden 1972–2004. NDB = Neue deutsche Biographie, Berlin 1953 ff. RE3 = Realencyklopädie für protestantische Theologie und Kirche. Hg. Albert Hauck, Johann Jacob Herzog, 24 Bde. 3. Auflage. Leipzig 1896–1913. Stickel, Mein Ich = Thüringer Universitätsbibliothek (ThULB), Handschriften und Sondersammlungen, Nachlaß Stickel, Nr. 8: Johann Gustav Stickel, Mein Ich [Tagebuch 1834–1895]. Dank der großzügigen Unterstützung und Initiative von Arnd Kniese, Eisenach, wurde das Tagebuch transkribiert. Es wird derzeit vom Verfasser für die Herausgabe vorbereitet. Der Bestand ThULB, Universitätsarchiv, Bestand S, Abt. XLIV, Orientalisches Münzkabinett, wird im folgenden nur als ThULB, Orientalisches Münzkabinett, mit der Nummer des jeweiligen Konvolutes zitiert. FA = Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: Sämtliche Werke, Briefe, Tagebücher und Gespräche. 40 Bde. Hg. von Hendrik Birus. Frankfurt am Main 1985–1999 (= Bibliothek deutscher Klassiker) [Frankfurter Ausgabe]; WA = Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: Goethes Werke. Hg. im Auftrage der Großherzogin Sophie von Sachsen. Weimar 1887–1919 [Weimarer Ausgabe].

Die Fundmünzen von Harran und ihr Verhältnis zur lokalen Geschichte

During the 1940s and 1950s D. Storm Rice and Seton Lloyd, together with the Turkish Antiquity Authority, undertook archaeological excavations in Harrān. With the exception of two preliminary reports and a few articles, the excavations remain largely unpublished. The 264 coins constitute an independent source on the regional, political and economic history of Harrān. For the Umayyad and early Abbasid period, the coins constitute a source on the pattern of the citys regional integration. Two-thirds of the coins date from the Ayyubid period. The circulation is characterized by a competition of different coinages: first, those which were struck for the political entities to which Harrān belonged; and second, imported coins, i.e. of Byzantine and Rūm-Saljūq origin. Third, copper coins from Northern Syria, despite the fact that the Diyār Mudar and Northern Syria belong to different branches of the Ayyubid dynasty. Two dirhams of the Saljūq prince al-Malik Mas‘ūd, who resided in Mosul between 504/1111 and 511/1118, are historical documents of importance.