376 



WARS OF THE CALIPHS. 



The following Table will exhibit, in the order of 

 succession, the names and reigns of the caliphs Avho 

 filled the Moslem throne from the death of Moham- 

 med till the termination of the Ommiadan dynasty : 



The hereditary line of the Onmiiades was brokea 

 in the person of Merwan I., who transferred the 

 caliphate to his own son, instead of leaving it to the 

 yomiger brother of Moawiyah II., to whom he had 

 been appointed guardian. The reign of Abdolmalec 

 was signalized by the reduction of the precious 

 metals to a specific standard throughout the empire ; 

 and for the establishment of a regular coinage both 

 in gold and silver. Previous to this time the Arabs 

 had adopted no currency of their own, being in the 

 habit of trading with the Greek and Persian money. 

 The value of the gold dinar was then reckoned equi • 

 valent to 85. sterling. Walid I. abolished the Greek 

 language and characters, which before his elevation 

 had been used in keeping the accounts of the public 

 revenue, and ordered his clerks and secretaries to 

 substitute the Arabic, — a change to which, very 

 probably, we owe the invention, or at least the 

 familiar use, of our present numerical figures ; and 

 thus, as Gibbon remarks, a regulation of ofiice has 

 promoted the most important discoveries of arith-. 

 metic, algebra, and the mathematical sciences. 

 The leisure ti.me of this prince was occupied U\ 



