Rare fals of Mohamed Khwarezmshah (1200-20), Bamyan, Khwarezm Empire - Tye #237

Horseman left, Muhammed bin sultan Tekish marginal legend / Arabic inscription in a square frame: As-sultan al-azam ala al-Dunya wa ud-Din in three lines. Mint of Bamyan. 17mm, 2.73 grams. Tye 237.

Rare type. These large bronze (or very debased billon) coins were also issued (with little modification) by Ghengiz Khan. These coins are rarely seen.

Mohamed Khwarezmshah was the most famous and powerful of the rulers of Khwarezm, though he is most known for his downfall and the story of the great expansion of the Empire of Genghis Khan. In 1218, Genghis Khan sent some emissaries to the Shah, but when he executed the Mongol diplomats in defiance of the emerging great power, Genghis retaliated with a force of 200,000 men. In February 1220 the Mongolian army crossed the Syr Darya and launched the Mongol invasion of Central Asia. The Mongols stormed Bukhara, Samarkand, and the Khwarezmid capital Urgench. The Shah fled and died some weeks later on an island in the Caspian Sea.