2020-12-10 Thu

Fakhr al-Mulk Radwan ibn Tutush was a Seljuq ruler of Aleppo from 1095 to 1113. He was the son of Tutush I and brother of Duqaq but was raised by his atabeg Janah ad-Dawla al-Husain.

When Tutush died in 1096, Radwan inherited his Syrian possessions and ruled from Aleppo, though Janah ad-Dawla was in charge of actual governance. Duqaq soon revolted against his brother and took control of Damascus, throwing Syria into almost chaos and anarchy. Duqaq had the support of Yaghi-Siyan of Antioch, who had no quarrel with Radwan but disliked Janah ad-Dawla; joining Yaghi-Siyan and Duqaq was Ilghazi, governor of Jerusalem. Radwan allied with Ilghazi's brother Sokmen.

Radwan attacked Yaghi-Siyan, and when Duqaq and Ilghazi came to assist him, Radwan besieged Damascus as well. Upon his death on December 10, 1113, Radwan was succeeded by his teenage son Alp Arslan al-Akhras.

Depicted here is a Copper fals minted in Antakiya. Weighing around 3.47 grams, the obverse of a coin shows an elephant walking to the right with the sun above and a symbol (leaf/flower) to the left of the sun.

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