Numismatics
Sylloge Numorum Arabicorum Tübingen (SNAT)
For nearly a century, ancient Greek numismatics has been making its source material accessible in pictures and descriptions through a publication series of the collections of Greek coins, the Sylloge Nummorum Graecorum. It was this successful series that served as conceptual inspiration when the systematic publication of the Tübingen University holdings of Islamic coins began after 1990, initiated by Lutz Ilisch. Arranged according to regions, mints and then chronologically, the coins – described on one page and illustrated in real size on the opposite page – are ideally suited for die comparison and provide rich and reliable information on the course of political, economic and cultural history. Each Sylloge volume is authored by an expert, often a visiting fellow, who under supervision of the collection curator con- ducts intensive research in Tübingen.
The 10 large-format SNAT volumes (28 × 38 cm, softcover) published so far have been enthusiastically received by scholars; those on Palestine and Ghazna/Kabul have been awarded the prizes for the best publication of the year by the English Royal Numismatic Society and the American Numismatic Society. Smaller collections of Islamic coins such as the one in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, and the one of the University of Jena followed Tübingen’s example and began publishing their holdings according to the SNAT model. The SNAT project is funded, for the main part, by the Pelling Zarnitz Foundation and the Jim Farr Numismatic Trust.
Research Centre for Islamic Numismatics Tübingen (FINT)
The Forschungsstelle für Islamische Numismatik Tübingen (FINT) is a research facility at the Department of Oriental and Islamic Studies at the University of Tübingen (Germany). It was founded in 1990, two years after the Volkswagen Foundation had helped to acquire for the University what was then the most important private collection of Islamic coins. Supported by private sponsors, the FINT collection (1990–2017 curated by Lutz Ilisch) has grown since then until it now ranks among the three largest and best of its kind, comprising about 80.000 historical coins from all periods and regions of the Islamic world. Accordingly, the FINT is frequented by international research guests and organizes annual conferences of the Oriental Numismatic Society. Various research projects are carried out here, and every semester, the curator offers numismatic courses as part of the department’s curriculum.
