Silver yamini dirham of Mahmud (998-1030), Ghazna, Ghaznavids

Shahada and Mahmud's titles, Mahmud's name is in the upper margin of the reverse. 19mm, 2.92 grams. Ghazna mint. Cf. Zeno Type I.

The Ghaznavid Empire was one of the greatest medieval Islamic Empires. The Ghaznavid dynasty was a Muslim dynasty of Turkic mamluk origin, at their greatest extent ruling large parts of Mesopotamia, Afghanistan, much of Transoxiana and the northwest Indian subcontinent from 977 to 1186. The dynasty was founded by Sabuktigin upon his succession to rule of the region of Ghazna after the death of his father-in-law, Alp Tigin, who was a breakaway ex-general of the Samanid Empire from Balkh, north of the Hindu Kush in Greater Khorasan. .