Achaemenad Daric - Museum Gallery

Darius the Great (522-486 B.C.E.) of the Achaemenid Dynasty, of ancient Persia, issued these gold coins of ~ 8.4 gr, toward the end of the 6th century B.C.E. The gold daric and the similar silver coin, the siglos (see a matching type III silver siglos here in the Moneta Museum), represented the bimetallic monetary standard that the Achaemenids developed from that of the Lydians (Herodotus, 1.94) and King Croesus, perhaps the first western coin issuer.
These are very interesting and historically important coins. First documented by Herodotus himself there is a lot of study that has gone into these. This example is a rather nice one compared to most I have seen. Often the obverse is struck off-center but here almost every detail of a complete design is seen here. This is encapsulated by NGC as and AU example with Strike: 5/5 and Surface 4/5 due to some edge 'scruff' which I am not able to see at all. Description states ACHAEMENID EMPIRE; 5th - 4th Centuries BC; AV Daric (8.33 g). Obverse Hero-King w/ Bow & Spear (making it a Type III); reverse and incuse punch.
There is a wonderful online source [Encyclopedia Iranica] for the essential information on this series, you can visit at this [ link ]
These are very interesting and historically important coins. First documented by Herodotus himself there is a lot of study that has gone into these. This example is a rather nice one compared to most I have seen. Often the obverse is struck off-center but here almost every detail of a complete design is seen here. This is encapsulated by NGC as an AU example with Strike: 5/5 and Surface 4/5 due to some edge 'scruff' which I am not able to see at all. Description states ACHAEMENID EMPIRE; 5th - 4th Centuries BC; AV Daric (8.33 g). Obverse Hero-King w/ Bow & Spear (making it a Type III); reverse and incuse punch.
There is a wonderful online source [Encyclopedia Iranica] for the essential information on this series, you can visit at this [ link ]
You can see a silver siglos here in the Moneta Museum at this /showphoto.php?photo=299&title=achaemenid-siglos-3b-lydiapersia&cat=536
In the Near East, money evolved independently, taking an entirely different trajectory. Around the same time that China was casting miniature tools in bronze, the kingdom of Lydia (located in modern Turkey) started striking coins in a natural alloy of silver and gold. Previously most transactions in the region had involved the exchange of bullion, which required weighing and assaying with every exchange. With the stater and its fractions “soon struck in pure gold or silver instead of alloyed electrum“ Lydia standardized monetary units while also certifying authenticity.
Lydia was defeated by the Achaemenid Empire in 547 BCE. Learning metallurgy and minting from their new subjects, the Achaemenid kings started to issue their own coinage in precious metals with one signal difference: In contrast to the lions and bulls gracing Lydian staters, the new sigloi portrayed the monarch, depicting him as a kneeling archer with drawn bow. Wherever the Achaemenid currency spread, it carried an implicit threat of colonization. [NNP, Newman Numismatic Portal]
From his book Cultural Change, Jewish, Christian and Islamic Coins of the Holy Land Hendin adds, “When mentioned in the Old Testament, the shekel is a weight, not a coin. But the daric mentioned in Chronicles 1 (29:7), Ezra (2:69, 8:27) and Nehemiah (7:70-72) was a circulating coin through the fifth and fourth century B.C.E. in the western Persian Empire.”
For more information on the earliest use of silver, about 1000 years before the first coins, please see this article: [ link ]