The fals (Arabic: فلس, romanized: fals, plural fulus) was a medieval copper coin first produced by the Umayyad caliphate (661–750) beginning in the late 7th century. The name of the coin is derived from the follis, a Roman and later Byzantine copper coin.[1] The fals usually featured ornate Arabic script on both sides. Various copper fals were produced until the 19th century. Their weight varied, from one gram to ten grams or more.
![](http://178.128.105.246/cars-http-upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/26/Umayyads_-_fals_of_Damascus.jpg/300px-Umayyads_-_fals_of_Damascus.jpg)
![](http://178.128.105.246/cars-http-upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/45/Abbasid_copper_coin_from_Jerusalem%2C_AH_219.jpg/300px-Abbasid_copper_coin_from_Jerusalem%2C_AH_219.jpg)
![](http://178.128.105.246/cars-http-upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/38/MansurISamanidCoinHistoryofIran.jpg/300px-MansurISamanidCoinHistoryofIran.jpg)
The term is still used in modern spoken Arabic for money, but pronounced 'fils'.[2] The plural form fulus فلوس is used in contemporary dialects of Arabic (e.g. Egyptian, Iraqi) as a general term for "money". The French term folous is borrowed from Arabic. It is also absorbed into Malay language through the word fulus فولوس.[3]
In popular culture
edit- The Malay derivant fulus was used as basis for naming the fictional setting of Metrofulus in the 2006 Malaysian superhero film Cicakman.
See also
editDaughter currencies:
References
edit- ^ Urban network evolutions : towards a high-definition archaeology. Aarhus: Aarhus University Press. 31 December 2018. p. 118. ISBN 9788771846386.
- ^ Stephen Album, Checklist of Islamic Coins, Santa Rosa, CA, 2011, third edition, p. 7
- ^ "fulus". Kamus Dewan (4th ed.). Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka Malaysia. Retrieved 6 September 2020 – via Pusat Rujukan Persuratan Melayu.