Notes: 'Ala al-Din Muhammad was arguably the greatest of the leaders of the Khwarezm empire, which reached its greatest extent under his rule. In his campaigns, he defeated the Seljuk
Turks and the Kara-Khitay, ousting them from Persia. By 1212, his empire extended from the river Jaxartes to the Persian Gulf. In light of these accomplishments, he proclaimed himself shah, and
demanded recognition from the Abbasid caliph al-Nasir. Upon al-Nasir's refusal, Muhammad proclaimed one of his nobles to be the new caliph, and raised an army to overthrow the Abbasids. Unfortunately
for him, his forces were decimated by a blizzard while crossing the Zagros Mountains, and the whole endeavor was lost. Shortly thereafter, in 1218, an emissary arrived from the Mongols, whose own
empire had spread west, and was now on the border of Khwarezm. Underestimating the nascent Mongol state, Muhammad killed the diplomats, and sent their heads back to Chingiz Khan. This fateful event
was the catalyst for the great Mongol invasion that eventually swept across the Middle East to the eastern border of Europe. Unable to resist the approx. 120,000-man Mongol army, Muhammad fled west and
soon died in exile on an island in the Caspian Sea.
This particular coin type was the prototype for a silver issue of Chingiz Khan that was struck in Ghazna during the Mongol pursuit of Muhammad's son, Jalal al-Din Mangubarni, who fled south towards India
(see the Great Khans section of this collection for an example of this type).
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