Coin Umayyad Caliphate Cordoba, Abd al-Rahman I - Silver Dirham - 767 / 786 Andalucia

Blank subsequently reduced and traces of soldering. Coin that was probably mounted as a pendant.

This silver dirham was struck in al-Andalus during the reign of Abd al-Rahman I, between 767 and 786.

The sole survivor of the Umayyad dynasty after the Abbasid revolution of 750, Abd al-Rahman I established himself in al-Andalus in 756 and founded the Emirate of Córdoba, creating a political entity independent of Abbasid power in Baghdad. During the years in which this dirham was struck, he consolidated his authority against Berber and Arab internal rebellions, while repelling Abbasid attempts at intervention. In 778, Charlemagne's expedition towards Zaragoza ended in failure, a prelude to the episode of the Battle of Roncevaux, immortalised several centuries later in The Song of Roland. Abd al-Rahman I also undertook the construction of the Great Mosque of Córdoba in 785, making Córdoba the main political and cultural centre of al-Andalus.

His monetary policy, although inspired by eastern Umayyad standards, reflects his determination to assert autonomous sovereignty in the Iberian Peninsula, breaking away from the Abbasid caliphate.