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After the Seljuq Turkish conquest of Anatolia in the late eleventh century much of the scattered Armenian Christian population of the Near East migrated to Cilicia, where a state (often termed Little or Lesser Armenia) was created that enjoyed varying degrees of autonomy until the late fourteenth century.
Although often engaged in military struggles with the neighboring Anatolian Seljuqs, this Armenian state also occasionally offered official, if rather vague, allegiance to them. This coin reflects this circumspect and precarious relationship.On the obverse is an Armenian inscription-, naming King Het'um I (1226-1269), who is shown on horseback with a small cross floating behind him. Some Seljuq coins of the period show a similar mounted figure, though followed by a small star, and it is clear that the Armenian image has been appropriated from its more powerful Muslim neighbor. On the reverse is an Arabic inscription written in an angular Kufic and a more cursive script, again closely approximating the script on contemporary Seljuq coins. The epigraph names "the mighty sultan, Ghiyath al-Dawla wa al-Din Kay Khusraw Kay Qubadh," who ruled Seljuq Anatolia from (1237 to 1246 AD). |
