**We regret that we have to postpone this event due to logistical problems. We will announce a new date later.**

You are cordially invited to join us as OxCamNE member David Sorenson (Queens' College, Cambridge) presents a lecture. He will examine three ancient Islamic coins and discuss the stories they reveal of politics and society at the time.

Coinage has been an important resource to historians for the documentation of political history and social evolution. In this talk, we focus upon the coinage of early Islam, ca. 650-1100 CE. Beginning as a series of increasingly idiosyncratic imitations of the extant Roman-Byzantine and Neo-Persian Empires (and other) issues, to the introduction of the "classical" Islamic coin-type in the 690s under the caliph 'Abd al-Malik, coinage provides us the "official" story of how the state worked.  

The elimination of figural designs in favor of inscriptions in "classical" Islamic coins provides us with a series of miniature documents, each providing a snapshot of the place and time of issue. The typical coin from the ninth century onward gives the name of the ruler, the name of the acknowledged caliph, the mint-place, and the date of minting. In addition, the metal content, especially when compared with other coins across the entire Islamic world as well as its non-Islamic neighbors, tells us about the state of the economy in these areas.

Thus, early Islamic coins provide a distinctive lens on a period often sadly lacking in written sources.

The Oxford and Cambridge Society of New England is pleased to make this event available to all members of the Alumni Networks of the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. The event is free.

You can attend using computer, laptop or smartphone. Please pre-register here. You will receive instructions via email as to how to connect shortly before the event. The first half-hour is an opportunity to socialize in small groups of attendees, but you can choose to connect at 7pm.

Please contact secretary@oxcamne.org with any questions.