Features

Materials: Bronze
Dimension: Diameter 22 mm

Equipped with a certificate made in Italy

Details

The symbol long predates the birth of Islam, dating from the fourth century BC, when Philip II of Macedon, in the year 340 or 341 BC, laid siege to the city of Byzantium. Favoured by a particularly dark night, the Macedonian troops came quietly to the city walls, with the intention of climbing over and taking the enemy by surprise. But while the plan was underway a sudden wind dispersed the clouds; the crescent moon shining through the alerted the sentinels of the attack, and they were able to raise the alarm. The vigorous and immediate reaction of the defenders of the city, and the fact that the attackers were now too close to the wall, led to heavy losses in the Macedonian ranks, who were forced to give up and lift the siege. The symbol of the crescent moon was then carved into many of the city’s stone artefacts, thanking the gods. The Ottoman Turks who conquered Byzantium eighteen centuries later, after the siege of 1453, saw this symbol engraved throughout the city and adopted it, assuming it had great magical power.