Arabica 55 (2008) 113-121

www.brill.nl/arab

Notes et documents
Who is The Warrior on Western Islamic Copper Coins? (A Quranic Key for an Unidentied Icon)

Salvador Pea and Miguel Vega

Universidad de MlagaArchivo Diocesano de Mlaga

J. Walker (1956: 22) included1 in his corpus of primitive Arab-Bizantine, and Umayyad Islamic coins a fals, i.e. a copper coin, apparently from the Iberian Peninsula, that displayed as a relevant trait a gurative icon on one of its two sides. Walker described the icon as follows: Within a small circle, helmeted head facing r[ight].

Figure 1 The coin, as can be seen in the example2 (gure 1), displayed also the usual Arabic legends, consisting in the double Islamic credo. On the other side of the coin, probably the obverse, we read: L ilh ill Llh wahdah l ark lah .
1 We would like to thank Maribel Fierro and Manuela Marn for their comments on the last draft of this article. 2 Fals, s.l., s.d.; weight: 3.00 gr., width: 15.72 mm., thickness: 2.33 mm. Private collection. Photograph: the authors; previously published in Vega, Pea and Feria (2002).

Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2008

DOI: 10.1163/157005808X289340

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(No God except Allah, He alone, no partner to Him), and around the helmeted head, Muhammad rasl Allh (Muh ammad the Messenger from Allh). . . No name for the young man depicted was included. The series has been described and studied several times by numismatists,3 who have adopted the convention of calling the man depicted the warrior, probably because of the helmet, the main issues discussed being: (1) Islamic attitudes towards gurative icons, and (2) the formal, iconographic origin of this helmeted head. But, as far as we know, no attempts to interpret the symbolic value of the icon or to identify the person depicted on those primitive Western Islamic coins have been done yet. The rst point to be considered is what the immediate context of the image of the helmeted man is. It must be stressed that the only semiotic content of this copper coin, apart from the personage depicted is, as we said, two phrases from the Quran and the Sunna expressing the holiest beliefs about God and His Prophet.4 In such a formal and respectful context only the image of a person involved in Islamic holy history is to be expected. This is the rst clue we had followed. The second one is a question: do we know of more coins bearing human iconography in the broader context of the Western Islamic numismatics? As far as we know, only one somewhat similar coin has been recorded. We mean another fals or piece of copper, from the Umayyad Governors period as well (late decades of the rst century-rst decades of the second century H/rst half of the eighth century CE), but this time struck in the Algerian city of Tilimsn (present-day Tlemcen). This one displays, as can be seen in the example5 (Figure 2), the rudimentary image of a bearded man facing the viewer, with two helicoidal shapes on the top of his head. The coin was registered by Walker (1952: 240) in his already-mentioned corpus of Umayyad coins, and the gurative icon displayed described as follows: Within a circle, bearded head facing, with long hair falling on either side of head (copied from bearded head of the Punic Baal on coins of Tingis).

See Frochoso (2001: p. 39), Rodrguez (2005), Travaini (2006). Muhammad rasl Allh appears in Quran 48: 29. As for the declaration L ilh ill Allh wah. . dah l ark lah has been several times reported in Prophet Muh ammads speeches or prayers (see, . for instance, Ibn al-ayh al-Balaw, Kitb Alif b, I, p. 250). 5 Fals, Tilimsn, s.d.; weight: 1.76 gr., width: 16.00 mm. Tonegawa Collection. Photograph taken with kind permission from the website Coins of al-Andalus: Tonegawa Collection (www.alandaluscoinstonegawacollection.50g.com) [last visit: February, 3rd 2006].
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Figure 2 But in our view a further interpretation of the icon could be added, especially if we consider that the helicoidal shapes could well be representing horns instead of hair, or an ambiguous way of referring to both. In any case, we must recall that the god Baal-Ammon was frequently represented with spiral shells in the shape of ram horns, originating in the iconography of the Egyptian Ammon who was supposed to have been Alexander the Greats father;6 and, on the other hand, that Baal-Melkart, was believed to have had an important role in the area of the Straits of Gibraltar, which could explain his representations on Numidian coins dating from the second and rst centuries before Christ.7 And we can even go further back, as it has been shown8 how horned gods, already known in Mesopotamia in the third millennium BC, become an inuential model among Eastern Mediterranean civilizations at the end of the second millennium, when we have plenty of evidences of the representation of horned gods as well as the use of horned helmets by warriors. In any case, the detail of the horns leads us to the Quranic character called D l-Qarnayn, i.e. _ the One with the Two Horns, who, according to the Holy Islamic Book (18: 83-93) reached the setting of the sun in his journeys. Though this character is never called by his name in the Quran, he has been traditionally identied with Alexander the Great, the Hellenistic hero, recognised in Islamic tradition and popular religiosity as a truly prominent character. This is at least what some leading Arabic savants, such as al-Tabar or al-Masd, have maintained, . among a few other claims.9 Let us follow one of the most eminent commentators of the Quran, al-Zamahar (d. 538 H/1144 AD), who compiled the dierent answers to the questions about Alexanders nature and signicance.

On the symbolism of horns in connection with Middle-Eastern mythology, see Gunon (2002: pp. 149f.). 7 See Brethes (1939: pp. 26 ). 8 See Sandars (1985). 9 See Ibn Askar, Al-Takml wa l-itmm, pp. 255-256.

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Al- Zamahar10 told that there had been a controversy on Alexander (al-Iskandar), the one who dominated the world, for some people claimed that he was just a righteous servant of God, who received power, science, wisdom and dignity from his Master while some others believed that he was an angel or a prophet who was killed twice because of his calling to monotheism and twice resurrected. As for the origin and meaning of his nickname, the One of the Two Horns, al- Zamahar oers several possibilities. Some people believe that they are an allusion to his journeys all around the world (he surrounded the horns of the world) or to the two nations he dominatedRomans/Greeks (Rm) and Persians (Fris). Others claimed that the two horns were just two plaits or tresses or perhaps part of his crown or, nally, even a part of his head shaped as horns.11 As a conclusion the commentator adds that the One of the Two Horns is a good nickname for a brave man. This second series of coins, the ones depicting the facing man with horns oers no doubt about its geographical provenance, as they clearly display, on the other side, the inscription duriba bi-Tilimsn (struck in Tilimsn), as their . only text. As for the ones with the helmeted warrior, we must assume that they were probably struck in the Iberian Peninsula or in present-day Morocco, somewhere near the Straits of Gibraltar, because of the frequent examples of the series found in Spain. Thus we have two dierent models of copper coins bearing manly gures, that we claim must be identied as the Quranic Alexander the Great. The rst question we have to face is whether Alexander the Great was a character so prominent in Medieval Islamic set of ideas as to appear on coins, sometimes in the immediate context of the two basic holy religious beliefs about God and Prophet Muh ammad. After what we saw in . al- Zamahars comments on Quran, the answer is obviously yes. Alexander or rather D l-Qarnayn (the One with the Two Horns) was not just a mythical _ hero but, according to both theologians and probably simple believers, more. The Nisapur savant Ab Mansr al-T . _alib (d. 430 H/1038-9 AD), some of whose writings were well-known in the western Islamic world,12 recalled the tradition that Alexander was a hybrid for his father was an angel while his mother was a woman.13 In fact the questions about Alexanders nature seem to have begun with the very beginning of Islam, as Quranic commentators claim that the subject was already a topic of discussion between the Imm Al ibn

Al-Kaf, II, p. 743. See, for the gurative meanings of the Arabic word for horn, al-Zamahar, Ass al-balg a, II, pp. 248-249. 12 See Fierro (2004). 13 al-T _alib, Fiqh al-lugha, p. 96.
11

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Ab Tlib and his contemporaries.14 At the end of the Middle Ages, the Anda. lusi writer Ibn uzayy al-Kalb, who lived in Nasrid Granada during the four. teenth century CE, was still wondering whether Alexander was a prophet or a friend of God (wal Allh).15 Legendary Arabic traditions tell that Alexander, the One with the Two Horns, reached in his journeys the two parts of the Earth. At the time the coins under discussion were struck or a little later, Ibn al-Muqaa (d. ca. 139/756) recorded in his well-known collection of exemplary tales, Kalla wa Dimna, that when al-Iskandar D l-Qarnayn al-Rm _ [Alexander, the One with the Two Horns, the Greek-Roman] nished his aairs with the kings of the Western region he began the journey towards the Eastern kings, like the Persians and others.16 All this is consistent with the prominent role assigned to Alexander in the legendary history of Islamic Spain (al-Andalus) and North Africa (al-Mag rib), or, in Marns (1991: 71) words, it is possible to trace Alexanders presence in various legends that associate the hero with the far western lands. In fact Alexander was supposed to have built a bridge over the Straits of Gibraltar, which communicated Europe and Africa,17 or to have founded the Spanish city of Saragossa, or to have taken part in dierent prodigies or miracles.18 On the other hand, a parallel for the episode of the building of the bridge over the Straits of Gibraltar is to be found in the legendary history of the city of Tilimsn, where the second series of our coins were struck. We mean the mythical building of the walls of the old town, called Ag dr, by a legendary character who could have been the Quranic Moses or even Alexander, who were, both of them, mentioned in contiguous passages of Quran, and were, both of them, guided by the mysterious prophet and friend of God al-H adir.19 The Quranic episode about the Junction of the . Two Seas, where somebody called Moses and certain servant of God, usually _ identied as al-H adir20 met is immediately followed by the story of D l-Qar. nayn (the One with the Two Horns). And the three characters, i.e. al-H adir, . Moses and Alexander are a source of a very rich tradition of legendary stories, pious examples or popular cults, too complicated to be treated here.21
See Ab Hayyn al-Andalus, Al-Nahr al-mdd, II, p. 336. . Kitb al-H ayl, p. 208. 16 Kalla wa Dimna, p. 19. 17 Some Islamic historians, such al-Masd, in his Murg al-dahab, do not attribute the building of the bridge to anyone; see Marn (1991: p. 78). 18 See al-Maqqar, Nafh al-t. b, I, pp. 135-136, 145-146, 150 and 245; and Abd al-Wh id . . al-Marrku, Al-Mug ib, pp. 191-192. 19 See Ferhat (1993: pp. 41-50); on the connection between D l-Qarnayn and al-H ad ir, see _ . Marn (1991: p. 74). 20 See Ibn al-ayh al-Balaw, Kitb Alif b, I, pp. 13-14, among many other medieval Arabic sources, and Pea and Vega (2006). 21 See Corbin (1980), Ferhat (1993), L. Massignon (1955), Omar (1993), Schimmel (1975).
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The contiguity or even the possibility of confusion of Alexander and Moses in some popular, traditional Islamic accounts of legendary history leads us to the problem of the iconographic representation of the character in the coins we are analyzing. The two images depicted diverge in what seems to be an essential point, which in fact it is not, and we mean the horns. Rather, this dierence is another clue to sustain our claim that the gurative icon displayed is that of Alexander, the One with the Two Horns, who could have well been identied with Moses on the basis of the inuence of Western Alexandrian legends or romances on the Islamic folk tales about both Alexander and Moses,22 i.e. not on the text of the Quran, which is not what we are dealing with. Moses the Prophet was represented in the late Middle Ages by Christian artists, bearing two little horns on his head,23 and this was the model followed by Michelangelo for his representation of Moses in his famous sculpture kept in Rome. Moses two horns had an actual scriptural basis, namely the translation of the Bible into Latin by Saint Jerome, who interpreted the Hebrew root QRN literally as meaning growing horns instead of spreading light, as it has been interpreted later by most translators.24 Muslims had a similar problem regarding the Quranic epithet D l-Qarnayn (the One with the Two Horns): _ how has it to be understood? In fact both the Hebrew and Arabic terms discussed derive from the same Semitic root. The epithet was a puzzle for medieval Islamic scholars, as we saw above. In the Western part of the Islamic world, the Andalusi Ibn al-Sd (d. 521 H./1127 AD) oered a manifold explanation of its meaning similar to that of his contemporary al-Zamahar. According to Ibn al-Sd,25 the horns could have been just tresses or tufts, or even the two sides of the head, or maybe an allegory of Alexanders power over East and West, or an allusion to a dream he had that presented him ghting against the Sun, and according to which he travelled from the East to the West, an important point in our argumentation for we are dealing with coins struck at the Far West, from an Arabic-Islamic perspective, in eect, provided that Mecca was supposed to be the centre of the world.26 As we know, the same possibilities were considered by Quranic commentators and medieval historians, who added the possibility that the horns were simply a way of calling the two pieces of brass he wore on his head.27 If we are right, the two series
22 On this topic see DUrso, Saifullah and Karim (2005), who strongly reject the inuence on the Quranic text, and Wheeler (2002). 23 See Duchet-Suchaux and Pastoureau (1994: s.v.). 24 See Exodus 34: 30.35. 25 Kitb al-Mutallat, II, p. 371. 26 See Ibn al-Sd, Kitb al-Tanbh, p. 78: [. . .] wa Makka mutawassit a bayna l-Mariq wa . l-Magrib. 27 See, for instance, Ibn Kat r, Al-Bidya wa l-nihya, II, p. 103. .

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of Western Islamic coins depicting a mans head are dierent solutions on how to represent Alexander by gurative means. While the Andalus-Mag rib designer interpreted the two horns as just a metaphoric, idiomatic expression, the Tilimsn designer took them literally. This is why we have, on the one hand, a male wearing a helmet and two little tresses on the back of his head on the Andalus-Mag rib coins, and, on the other, a horned man on the Tilimsn series, thus following a long numismatic tradition consisting in representing Alexander the Great bearing actual horns on his head, as seen on Hellenistic coins, like the one struck by the Thracian king Lisimacus (323-281 BC), a silver coin28 portraying Alexander as a young man with a horn on his right temple, on the obverse and Pallas with a Victory on the reverse (gure 3).

Figure 3 To summarize, we have shown that the mythical Alexander is a likely identity for the warrior depicted in the fuls or copper coins that have been frequently found in Spanish soil. This hypothesis integrates the Quranic origin of the icon, thus stressing the religious content of the series (which is always to be expected in Islamic medieval works), with the importance of Alexander in the foundation of the Andalusi system of beliefs, ideas and images, because of his role in the legendary history of the Straits of Gibraltar. The Islamic legendary tradition seems to have had other mythical gures, apart from the Islamic one of D l-Qarnayn, and the iconography of primitive Western Islamic coins _ could be a reection for the complicated conuence of legends and beliefs.

28 Tetradrachm; weight: 16.70 g., width: 31.10 mm., thickness: 4.58 mm. ureo Auctions (Barcelona), April 20th 2005; private collection. Photograph: the authors.

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