Abila: A Phantom Arab-Byzantine Mint

Abstract

It has been argued that the obverse legends of a small group of coins point to the existence
of a mint striking Arab-Byzantine coinage of the Imperial Image type at Abila during the late
seventh century CE. It is argued here that the legends on these coins have been misread, and
that they preserve corrupt readings of the name of Gerasa rather than of Abila, although whether
they are the genuine product of Gerasa or the product of some ‘irregular’ mint nearby instead
remains unclear.