10 Pounds 1973, Syria
| in Krause book | Number: 95c |
| Years of issue: | 1973 |
| Edition: | |
| Signatures: | Mohammad al-Imadi, Governor: Nasouh Al Dakkak (in office 1971-1978) |
| Serie: | 1963 - 1966 Issue |
| Specimen of: | 1965 |
| Material: | Cotton fiber |
| Size (mm): | 142 х 70 |
| Printer: | Pakistan Security Printing Corporation Pvt Limited, Malir Town, Shahrah-e-Faisal, Karachi |
* All pictures marked 
are increased partially by magnifying glass, the remaining open in full size by clicking on the image.
** The word "Specimen" is present only on some of electronic pictures, in accordance with banknote images publication rules of appropriate banks.
Description
Watermark:
The Arabian or Arab horse (Arabic: الحصان العربي [ħisˤaːn ʕarabiː], is a breed of horse that originated on the Arabian Peninsula. With a distinctive head shape and high tail carriage, the Arabian is one of the most easily recognizable horse breeds in the world. It is also one of the oldest breeds, with archaeological evidence of horses in the Middle East that resemble modern Arabians dating back 4,500 years. Throughout history, Arabian horses have spread around the world by both war and trade, used to improve other breeds by adding speed, refinement, endurance, and strong bone. Today, Arabian bloodlines are found in almost every modern breed of riding horse.
Avers:
In this series, the banknotes in 1. 5 and 10 pounds are depicting a worker operating Milling machine. The banknote in 25 pounds showed the same worker, but operating the loom.
The ornamental rosette is centered, on background.
Denominations in numerals are in all corners.
Revers:
The courtyard of The Umayyad Mosque.
The Umayyad Mosque, also known as the Great Mosque of Damascus (Arabic: جامع بني أمية الكبير, Romanization: Ğāmi' Banī 'Umayya al-Kabīr), located in the old city of Damascus, is one of the largest and oldest mosques in the world. It is considered by some[clarification needed] Muslims to be the fourth-holiest place in Islam.
After the Muslim conquest of Damascus in 634, the mosque was built on the site of a Christian basilica dedicated to John the Baptist (Yahya), honored as a prophet by Christians and Muslims. A legend dating to the 6th century holds that the building contains the head of John the Baptist. The mosque is also believed by Muslims to be the place where Jesus (Isa) will return at the End of Days. The mausoleum containing the tomb of Saladin stands in a small garden adjoining the north wall of the mosque.
The site is attested for as a place of worship since the Iron Age. Damascus was the capital of the Aramaean state Aram-Damascus and a large temple dedicated to the cult of Hadad-Ramman, the god of thunderstorms and rain, was erected at the site of the present-day Umayyad Mosque. One stone remains from the Aramaean temple, dated to the rule of King Hazael, and is currently on display in the National Museum of Damascus. The Temple of Hadad-Ramman continued to serve a central role in the city, and when the Romans conquered Damascus in 64 BCE they assimilated Hadad with their own god of thunder, Jupiter. Thus, they engaged in a project to reconfigure and expand the temple under the direction of Damascus-born architect Apollodorus, who created and executed the new design.
The Roman temple, which later became the center of the Imperial cult of Jupiter, was intended to serve as a response to the Jewish temple in Jerusalem. The Temple of Jupiter would attain further additions during the early period of Roman rule of the city, mostly initiated by high priests who collected contributions from the wealthy citizens of Damascus. The eastern gateway of the courtyard was expanded during the reign of Septimius Severus (r. 193-211 CE). By the 4th century CE, the temple was especially renowned for its size and beauty. It was separated from the city by two sets of walls. The first, wider wall spanned a wide area that included a market, and the second wall surrounded the actual sanctuary of Jupiter. It was the largest temple in Roman Syria.
Towards the end of the IV century, in 391, the Temple of Jupiter was converted into a cathedral by the Christian emperor Theodosius I (r. 379-395). During its transformation into a Christian cathedral it was not immediately dedicated to John the Baptist; this was a later association, which came about in the VI century. Legend had it that Saint John's head was buried there. It served as the seat of the Bishop of Damascus, who ranked second within the Patriarchate of Antioch after the patriarch himself.
Damascus was captured by Muslim Arab forces led by Khalid ibn al-Walid in 634. In 661, the Islamic Caliphate came under the rule of the Umayyad dynasty, which chose Damascus to be the administrative capital of the Muslim world. The sixth Umayyad caliph, al-Walid I (r. 705–715), commissioned the construction of a mosque on the site of the Byzantine cathedral in 706. Prior to this, the cathedral was still in use by the local Christians, but a prayer room (musalla) for Muslims had been constructed on the southeastern part of the building. Al-Walid, who personally supervised the project, had most of the cathedral, including the musalla, demolished. The construction of the mosque completely altered the layout of the building. While the church (and the temples before it) had the main building located at the centre of the rectangular enclosure, the mosque's prayer hall is placed against its south wall. The architect recycled the columns and arcades of the church, dismantling and repositioning them in the new structure. The new house of worship was meant to serve as a large congregational mosque for the citizens of Damascus and as a tribute to the city. In response to Christian protest at the move, al-Walid ordered all the other confiscated churches in the city to be returned to the Christians as compensation. The mosque was completed in 715, shortly after al-Walid's death, by his successor, Sulayman ibn Abd al-Malik (r. 715–717).
According to 10th-century Persian historian Ibn al-Faqih, somewhere between 600,000 and 1,000,000 dinars were spent on the project. Coptic craftsmen as well as Persian, Indian, Greek and Moroccan laborers provided the bulk of the labor force which consisted of 12,000 people. Byzantine artisans were employed to create the mosaics, still visible, which depict landscapes and buildings in a characteristic late Roman style. Ibn al-Faqih relays the story that during the construction of the mosque, workers found a cave-chapel which had a box containing the head of St. John the Baptist, or Yaḥyā ibn Zakarīyā in Islam. Upon learning of that and examining it, al-Walid I ordered the head buried under a specific pillar in the mosque that was later inlaid with marble.
On banknote are visible:
On right is "The Dome of the Clocks" visible, in eastern part of the mosque.
Following the uprising that ended Umayyad rule in 750, the Abbasid dynasty came to power and moved the capital of the Caliphate to Baghdad. Apart from the attention given for strategic and commercial purposes, the Abbasids had no interest in Damascus. Thus, the Umayyad Mosque reportedly suffered under their rule, with little recorded building activity between the XVIII and X centuries. However, the Abbasids did consider the mosque to be a major symbol of Islam's triumph, and thus it was spared the systematic eradication of the Umayyad legacy in the city. The Abbasid governor of Damascus, al-Fadl ibn Salih ibn Ali, built the so-called Dome of the Clock in the eastern section of the mosque in 780. Nine years later, he initiated the construction of the Dome of the Treasury with the purpose of housing the mosque's funds. The IX-century Arab geographer, al-Muqaddasi, credited the Abbasids for building the northern minaret (Madhanat al-'Arous; "Minaret of the Bride") of the mosque in 831 during the reign of the caliph al-Ma'mun (r. 813–833). This was accompanied by al-Ma'mun's removal and replacement of Umayyad inscriptions in the mosque.
Above the couryard is "The Minaret of the Bride".
Within the Umayyad Mosque complex are three minarets. The Minaret of the Bride (Madhanat al-Arus) was the first one built and is located on the mosque's northern wall. The exact year of the minaret's original construction is unknown. The bottom part of the minaret most likely dates back to the Abbasid era in the IX century. While it is possible that the Umayyads built it, there is no indication that a minaret on the northern wall was a part of Caliph al-Walid's initial concept. Geographer al-Muqaddasi visited the minaret in 985 when Damascus was under Abbasid control and described it as "recently built." The upper segment was constructed in 1174. This minaret is used by the muezzin for the call to prayer (adhan) and there is a spiral staircase of 160 stone steps that lead to the muezzin's calling position.
The Minaret of the Bride is divided into two sections; the main tower and the spire which are separated by a lead roof. The oldest part of the minaret, or the main tower, is square in shape, has four galleries, and consists of two different forms of masonry; the base consists of large blocks, while the upper section is built of dressed stone. There are two light openings near the top of the main tower, before the roof, with horseshoe arches and cubical capitals enclosed in a single arch. A smaller arched corbel is located below these openings. According to local legend, the minaret is named after the daughter of the merchant who provided the lead for the minaret's roof who was married to Syria's ruler at the time. Attached to the Minaret of the Bride is the 18th-century replica of the 14th-century sundial built by Ibn al-Shatir.
In western part of courtyard of the mosque (left on banknote) is "The Dome of the Treasury".
The Dome of the Treasury was built in 789 by The Abbasid governor of Damascus, al-Fadl ibn Salih ibn Ali.
By the early X century, a monumental clock had been installed by the entrance in the western part of the southern wall of the mosque (Bāb al-Ziyāda). This clock seems to have stopped functioning by the middle of the XII century. Abbasid rule over Syria began crumbling during the early 10th century, and in the decades that followed, it came under the control of autonomous realms who were only nominally under Abbasid authority. The Fatimids of Egypt, who adhered to Shia Islam, conquered Damascus in 970, but few recorded improvements of the mosque were undertaken by the new rulers. The Umayyad Mosque's prestige allowed the residents of Damascus to establish the city as a center for Sunni intellectualism, enabling them to maintain relative independence from Fatimid religious authority. In 1069, large sections of the mosque, particularly the northern wall, were destroyed in a fire as a result of an uprising by the city's residents against the Fatimid's Berber army who were garrisoned there. 
On the right and left are the patterned stained-glass windows, which I have not yet been able to identify.
Denominations in numerals are in lower corners, in words at the bottom.
Comments:
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