Persia (Pre-Seljuq). Qara Khitai. temp. Yelü Dashi, AH 518-537 / AD 1124-1143. Cash (Bronze, 23 mm, 4.83 g), uncertain mint in Semirech’e. Around a central square hole, running clockwise ‘Malik / Ārām / Yīnāl / Qaraj’ (‘King Aram Yinal Qaraj’ in Arabic). Rev. Blank. Belyaev and Sidorovich 2024: 12. Album 1510P (Proto-Qarakhanid). Rare. Some deposits and scratches on the obverse, otherwise, very fine.


Yelü Dashi, a member of the Khitan imperial family of the Liao dynasty, fled west after the Jurchen conquest of northern China and established the Qara Khitai (Western Liao) Empire in Central Asia in 1124. From his new capital at Balasagun, he forged a powerful state that united Chinese imperial traditions with the political realities of Inner Asia, most notably defeating the Seljuk Sultan Sanjar at the Battle of Qatwan in 1141. His reign secured the Qara Khitai as one of the dominant powers along the Silk Road and ensured the survival of important elements of Liao political and administrative culture far beyond the fall of the dynasty in China.

Yelü Dashi also introduced a coinage modeled on contemporary Chinese cash coins, like the example presented here, preserving the familiar round form with a square central hole and Chinese inscriptions. These issues served not only as a practical medium of exchange but also as a deliberate expression of dynastic legitimacy, emphasizing the Qara Khitai's claim to continue the imperial traditions of the Liao despite their new Central Asian realm.