Ayyubids. Egypt. al-Nasir I Salah al-Din Yusuf (Saladin), AH 564-589 / AD 1169-1193. Dirham (Bronze, 30 mm, 12.46 g, 4 h), Constellation of the Lion (Leo), uncertain mint, presumably Mayyafariqin, AH 583 = 1187/8. Central device: Lion seated to left surrounded by four stars, all within a dotted circle; Margin: al-malik al-nāṣir [ṣalāḥ al-dunyā wa-l-dīn Yūsuf b. Ayyūb] muḥyī al-dawla amīr al-muʾ(minīn) (‘The king, the victorious, Ṣalāḥ al-Dunyā wa-l-Dīn Yūsuf b. Ayyūb, reviver of the state, commander of the faithful’ in Arabic). Rev. Central field, in four lines: al-imām / al-Nāṣir li-Dīn / Allāh amīr / al-muʾminīn (‘The imam, al-Nāṣir li-Dīn Allāh, commander of the faithful’ in Arabic). Margin: [bi-sm Allāh ḍuriba hādhā al-dirham sanat thalāth wa-thamānīn wa] khams miʾa (‘In the name of God, this dirham was struck in the year five hundred and eighty-three’ in Arabic) Ayyubid astronomical type with bold lion design. Album 791.3. Balog 177. Some scratches, corrosion and flan faults on the edge, otherwise, nearly very fine.


Al-Nasir I Salah al-Din Yusuf, better known as Saladin, was the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty, which ruled over Egypt and Syria for almost a century. The obverse of this issue likely shows Leo, one of the constellations of the Zodiac.