The Icelandic Canadian - 01.12.1959, Qupperneq 15

THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
13
from the time of El-Mutadid billah,
one from the time of El-Muqtadir
billah, all Caliphs of the Abbasid dyn-
asty, whose capital was Bagdad. The
fourth coin was minted for the Pers-
ian Samanid Nasr ibn Ahmed, who
along with other members of his house
ruled from Bukhara. All these pieces
are large silver coins of the dirhem
type (a corrupt form of the Greek
drachma). The oldest dates from the
year 256 of the Hegira, which cor-
responds to the year 869—870 A.D., and
is the oldest coin in the hoard from
Gaulverjabaer. It was minted and
began to circulate at the very time
the first Norsemen were preparing to
leave their homeland to settle in Ice-
land. A long time passed before its
travels ended at Gaulverjabser, and
we will return to its adventures.
These Kufic coins are mavericks who
have continued their wanderings long
after the rest of the herd has been
rounded up. They have passed from
hand to hand for many years after the
bulk of their kind went out of circula-
tion. Arabic silver coins are not rare
in Scandinavia They have been found
there by the thousands, become the
more numerous the farther east one
travels, and are found in greatest num-
bers in Gothland. They date from the
years ca. 700—1000, but the greatest
majority are from the first half of the
tenth century. The reason for the
great flood of these eastern coins to
the northern lands is obvious. In the
ninth century Swedes who were both
enterprising and adventurous began
to make their way to the part of
Russia called GarSariki where they
soon became known by the name of
Rus, which rapidly became the col-
lective term in the East for all
Scandinavians. They were also called
Varangians. About the middle of the
century Rurick and his brothers con-
quered the regions around the source
of the Volga and founded there a state
whose capital they called HolmgarSur,
present day Novgorod. Their descend-
ants added new territories and took
the city of Kiev on the Dnieper in 882.
This new state became the centre of
much intercourse, both peaceful and
warlike, between the Northmen and
the East Roman Empire whose capital
was the fabulous city of Constantinople
or MikligarSur. It became the goal of
the Norse warriors. Every summer the
Norsemen sailed from the state of
GarSar down the Dnieper to the great
cities of the South. The majority were
merchants with their wares, but some
were Viking bands bent on plunder or
young, adventurous spirits who desired
to join the imperial battalions, a
practice that soon became common
among the Norsemen. These Norse
and Russian merchants were not, how-
ever, satisfied to deal only with the
Byzantine Empire. They were also at-
tracted by the lands of the Moham-
medans, the Caliphate. From the
centre of Russia they sailed down the
Volga and encountered Arabic mer-
chants who had sailed up the river
from the Caspian Sea, eager to obtain
the wares of the Norsemen, furs, wool,
down, train-oil, etc. In return for
these goods they gave minted silver
coins, and in this way thousands and
thousands of coins made their way
north. These coins passed through the
state of GarSar to Scandinavia where
they became a familiar medium oc
exchange in the first half of the tenth
century. They bear witness to peaceful
intrcourse between widely separated
peoples, profitable to all parties. The
coins from Gaulverjabaer are only a
small spark from this Arabic monetary
(Continued on page 37)