The Ottoman dirhems, onluks and beshliks in the collection of Odesa Archaeological museum

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The Ottoman dirhems, onluks and beshliks in the collection of Odesa Archaeological museum

Journal Title: Eminak - Year 2016, Vol 1, Issue 3

Abstract

The Ottoman coins of multiple denominations of akche (basic Ottoman silver currency), called dirhems, onliks and besliks, from the collection of Odesa Archaeological museum, are introduced in this article. The places where these coins were discovered are unknown. However, as far as they were presumably discovered somewhere in the territory between Prut and Dnister rivers, some issues concerned the circulation of these denominations in this region are examined. The dirhems, known in written sources as şhahi or padişhahi, were minted in the eastern provinces of the Ottoman Empire, annexed by the Ottomans as a result of the conquests of Selim I (1512-1520), Suleiman I (1520-1566) and Murad III (1574-1595). Dirhems were minted according to the local weight standards, which differed from the Ottoman ones, based on akche. Although this denomination was introduced during Selim I’s or Suleiman I’s reign, they started to penetrate to the north of Danube river only after the debasement of akche in 1584-1586. This debasement caused the need of the larger silver currency on the market. The discoveries of dirhems, mainly issued during Murad III’s reign, both as part of the hoards and as separate findings, are known in quite large amount in south Romania, and in fewer amounts – in Moldova and in the territories of northwestern Black sea area that were under the Ottoman administration. Osman II (1618-1622) started to issue onluks – the denomination, patterned after dirhem, which was equal to 10 akche. However, while the dirhems of 16th c. were issued only on the eastern mints, the onluks were issued on the eastern mints as well as on the capital mint Kostantiniya. The fraction denomination, called beshlik, equal to 5 akche, has been issued on the eastern mints since Ahmed I’s reign (1601-1617) and on the Kostantiniya mint – since Murad IV’s reign (1623-1640). Unlike the dirhems of 16th c., the onluks and beshliks of the first half of 17th c. were not so widespread, and their main area of circulation was limited to the territories under control of Ottoman administration of Silistra-Ochakov Eyaleti. On the basis of known discoveries, we can make an assumption, that the coins from the collection of Odesa Archeological museum, represented in this article, could be discovered in the area of Lower Dnister or Lower Danube rivers.

Authors and Affiliations

Dmytro Yanov

Keywords

Ottoman coins akche dirhem onluk beshlik monetary circulation the territory between Prut and Dnister rivers

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EP ID EP229028
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