RN 2009, p. 000-000 Luke TreadweLL* ʼabd al-Malik’s Coinage reforms: the role of the damascus Mint  Résumé – xxx Summary – a review of the history and historiography of precious metal coins issued by the caliphal mint of damascus (72-79 ah) suggests that the caliph’s administrators abandoned igural coinage in favour of epigraphic coinage at the end of the eighth century as the inal stage of a series of monetary experiments which aimed to create a universal Islamic coinage type, that would be accepted in all regions of the Umayyad state, including Iran as well as Greater Syria. Introduction In 72 ah the forces of the Umayyad caliph ʼabd al-Malik (65-86/685-705) defeated Muṣʼab b. al-Zubayr, the Zubayrid governor of the eastern provinces (the Mashriq), effectively bringing an end to the Civil war which had divided the Muslim world since his accession. 2 The victory allowed the Marwanid Umayyads to reclaim a vast stretch of territory and to begin the process of re- uniting the Muslim state under the leadership of the Marwanid caliphate. In the very same year that damascus regained its role as the capital of a huge empire, the Damascus mint began to strike the irst precious metal coinage produced in Syria under Marwanid rule. These coinage reforms were one of the two most wide-ranging and radical measures undertaken by the early Marwanid caliphs in their efforts to create the centralised state which replaced the looser structures of government favoured by their predecessors. Like the substitution of arabic for Greek and Middle Persian (Pahlavi) as the language of administration, the coinage reforms took several years to implement fully. Nevertheless it is clear * University Lecturer in Islamic Numismatics, Oxford University, and Curator of Islamic Coins, ashmolean Museum. address: Khalili research Centre, 3 St John St, Oxford OX 2LG. email:luke.treadwell@orinst.ox.ac.uk . an early version of this paper was given in the conference Past presented: uses of the past in medieval European, Byzantine and Islamic material culture convened by Caroline Goodson in Birkbeck College in March 2006. I would like to express my gratitude to the organisers for the invitation to speak and for valuable comments on the paper. 2. M. L. BaTeS, History, geography and numismatics in the irst century of Islamic coinage, RSN 986, p. 248-249, makes the case for the dating of the ʼām al-jamāʼa (Year of Unity) to 72 ah. Treadwell.indd 1 9/07/09 0:09:20