Ikhsids, Turgar

Started by Figleaf, September 22, 2023, 12:20:42 PM

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Figleaf

It took a bit of time to locate this coin, but I found it: Smirnova 519-632
Smirnova 519.png
assigned to Turgar (738-755), son of Ghurak. Follow the link for a museum quality coin of this type.

Smirnova 519-632.jpgSmirnova 519-632 b.jpg

Turgar was the last Ikhshid ruler of Samarqand. Like his predecessors, he realised he could not stand up to the Arabs. He desperately sought to appease them while seeking an alliance with the Tang empire and remaining Iranian zoroastrians. His coins look either like Chinese cash, or like derivatives of Sassanian silver with the pattern of head on obverse, fire altar with ruler and deity on the reverse. His diplomacy came to nothing when the Arabs defeated the Chinese in the battle of Talas (now in Kazakhstan), which determined Sogdian history until the Russians invaded over a millenium later.

If you want to know more about the Sogdians, visit this remarkable site. You will learn they were a leading force of culture and civilisation, from food and clothing to arts but not a military force. While the Ummayyads valued them for what they were, the Abbasids replaced tolerance with increasing pressure to convert to Islam.

Peter
An unidentified coin is a piece of metal. An identified coin is a piece of history.

Seeker55

Thank you for the fascinating information about the little-known Sogdians.

Figleaf

Glad you enjoyed it too, Seeker. These guys lived over a century before Charlemagne and look what they could produce.

Here's one that made my day and will do so again and again.

Smirnova 224.png
Smirnova 224-345.jpgSmirnova 224-345 b.jpg

Turgar once more, Smirnova 224-345. Not only museum quality, but found in Afrasiyab, an amazing site I visited a few years back. On the obverse the tribal tamgha left, the king's personal tamgha right. I have yet to find the meaning of the Bactrian legend on the reverse. Traditionally, it would be something like Turgar malik (king). Ain't it cute?

Peter
An unidentified coin is a piece of metal. An identified coin is a piece of history.