THE EVALUATION OF THE NAME OF SAYF AL-DAWLA GIVEN TO MAHMUD OF GHAZNI ON SWORD MOTIF COINS

Abstract

Using titles and nicknames is a very old tradition in the Medieval Turkish-Islamic world. The rulers cared very much about the titles and nicknames given to them. In this study, the nickname of Mahmud of Ghazni, Sayf al-dawla, will be emphasized. During his thirty-three years of reign, Sultan Mahmud took titles and nicknames with religious, political and military meanings. The titles and nicknames he received were generally given by the two authorities to which he belonged. Some of these titles and nicknames were given by the Abbasid Caliph Kadir-Billah, some of the Samani rulers whom he served as sipehsalar and governor. The nickname of Sayf al-dawla, which we discussed, is the Samani ruler II. Nûh b. Given by Mansur. The best proof of this is the first-hand numismatic data. Numismatic sources are closely related to historical events. For this reason, we discussed nineteen coins with sword motifs belonging to Sultan Mahmud. After giving information about the enthronement process of Mahmud of Ghazni, the sword motif and the nickname Sayf al-dawla on these coins will be analyzed.