{{Short description|Aspect of Iranian history}} thumb|300px|{{center|The Achaemenid Empire at its greatest extent<ref>{{cite book |last1=O'Brien |first1=Patrick Karl |title=Atlas of World History |date=2002 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780195219210 |pages=42–43 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ffZy5tDjaUkC&pg=PA43 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Philip's Atlas of World History |date=1999 |url=http://users.rowan.edu/~mcinneshin/101/wk05/images/NEWachaemexp.jpg}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Davidson |first1=Peter |title=Atlas of Empires: The World's Great Powers from Ancient Times to Today |date=2018 |publisher=i5 Publishing LLC |isbn=9781620082881 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rZ03DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT55 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Barraclough |first1=Geoffrey |title=The Times Atlas of World History |date=1989 |publisher=Times Books |isbn=0723003041 |page=79 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_IYYAQAAMAAJ |language=en}}</ref>}} The Achaemenid Empire issued coins from 520 BCE–450 BCE to 330 BCE. The Persian '''daric''' was the first gold coin which, along with a similar silver coin, the '''siglos''' (from {{langx|grc|σίγλος}}, {{langx|he|שֶׁקֶל}}, ''shékel'') represented the first bimetallic monetary standard.<ref name=iranica>Michael Alram, [http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/daric "DARIC"], ''Encyclopaedia Iranica'', December 15, 1994, last updated November 17, 2011</ref> It seems that before the Persians issued their own coinage, a continuation of Lydian coinage under Persian rule is likely. Achaemenid coinage includes the official imperial issues (Darics and Sigloi), as well as coins issued by the Achaemenid provincial governors (satraps), such as those stationed in Asia Minor.
==Early coinage of Western Asia under the Achaemenid Empire== {{See also|Croeseid}} [[File:KINGS of LYDIA. Time of Cyrus to Darios I. Circa 545-520 BC.jpg|thumb|Coin type of Croesus, the Croeseid, minted in Lydia, under the rule of Cyrus the Great to Darius I. Circa 545–520. It only weighs 8.06 g, compared to the standard 10.7 grams of the Croeseid.<ref>[https://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=152982 Classical Numismatic Group]</ref>]] [[File:Lycia coin Circa 520-470 BCE.jpg|thumb|Lycia coin, with obverse bull protome and reverse incuse punch mark using a geometrical motif, circa 520–470]] When Cyrus the Great (550–530) came to power, coinage was unfamiliar in his realm. Barter, and to some extent silver bullion, was used instead for trade.<ref name="WM"/> The practice of using silver bars for currency also seems to have been current in Central Asia from the 6th century.<ref>Discovery of a hoard of currency with silver bars near Malayer, dated circa 600, with photographs in {{cite book |last1=Bivar |first1=Adrian David Hugh |title=Hoard of Ingot-Currency of the Median Period from Nūsh-i Jān, near Malayir (1971) |pages=[https://archive.org/details/AHoardOfIngot-currencyOfTheMedianPeriodFromNush-iJan1971/page/n1 97]–111 |url=https://archive.org/details/AHoardOfIngot-currencyOfTheMedianPeriodFromNush-iJan1971 |language=English}}</ref>
Cyrus the Great introduced coins to the Persian Empire after 546 BCE, following his conquest of Lydia and the defeat of its king Croesus, whose father Alyattes had put in place the first coinage in history.<ref name="WM">{{cite book |last1=Metcalf |first1=William E. |title=The Oxford Handbook of Greek and Roman Coinage |date=2016 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780199372188 |pages=61–65 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=trkUDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA61 |language=en}}</ref> With his conquest of Lydia, Cyrus acquired a region in which coinage was invented, developed through advanced metallurgy, and had already been in circulation for about 50 years, making the Lydian Kingdom one of the leading trade powers of the time.<ref name="WM"/>
It seems that Cyrus initially adopted the Lydian coinage as such, and continued to strike Lydia's lion-and-bull Croeseid coinage.<ref name="WM"/> The stater coins had a weight of 10.7 grams, a standard initially created by Croesus, which was then adopted by the Persians and became commonly known as the "Persic standard".<ref name="AJN55"/> The Persians also minted posthumous Croeseid half-staters, with a weight of 5.35 g, which would become the weight standard for the later Sigloi, introduced at the end of the 6th century.<ref name="AJN55">{{cite book |title=American Journal of Numismatics (Second Series), vol. 20 |date=2008 |page=[https://archive.org/details/AJNSecond2008Vols20to20/page/n65 55] |url=https://archive.org/details/AJNSecond2008Vols20to20}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Cahill |first1=Nick |last2=Kroll |first2=John H |title=New archaic coin finds at Sardis, AJA 109 (2005). |date=2005 |journal=American Journal of Archaeology |volume=109 |issue=4 |pages=609–614 |doi=10.3764/aja.109.4.589 |s2cid=193050873 |url=https://www.academia.edu/2465277 |language=en}}</ref>
Soon after 546, Cyrus also had full control of Asia Minor, including other regions such Lycia, Caria or Ionia, following the conquests of his general Harpagus.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Christidēs |first1=A.-Ph |last2=Christidis |first2=A.-F. |last3=Arapopoulou |first3=Maria |last4=Χρίτη |first4=Μαρία |title=A History of Ancient Greek: From the Beginnings to Late Antiquity |date=2007 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9780521833073 |page=924 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WJbd0m6YaFkC&pg=PA924 |language=en}}</ref> With the conquest of Lydia and the adoption of Lydian coinage, the nascent Achaemenid Empire thus obtained access to the most modern coinage of its time and the economic power that goes with it.<ref name="WM63">{{cite book |last1=Metcalf |first1=William E. |title=The Oxford Handbook of Greek and Roman Coinage |date=2016 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780199372188 |pages=63–64 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=trkUDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA63 |language=en}}</ref> The mint was located in Sardis, now capital of all the western satrapies of the Achaemenid Empire, and continued minted operation under Cyrus.<ref name="WM63"/> This coinage would supply the western part of the Achaemenid Empire.<ref name="WM63"/>
Technically, these early coins used incuse punches on the reverse, while the obverse die would consist in some pictorial design ("die and punch" technique, rather than the later "two dies" technique).<ref>{{cite book |last1=Dow |first1=Joseph A. |title=Ancient Coins Through the Bible |date=2011 |publisher=Tate Publishing |isbn=9781617771354 |page=83 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZvYnpejBVy0C&pg=PA83 |language=en}}</ref> The Lydian coins used double punches on the reverse, a technique which would be simplified in the time of Darius by using a single reverse punch on some coinage.<ref name="WM63"/> Some of the earliest Lycian coins under the Achaemenids also used an animal design on the obverse and incuse punches on the reverse, which developed into geometrical forms, such as two diagonals between projecting rectangular lugs.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Carradice |first1=Ian |title=Coinage and administration in the Athenian and Persian empires: the Ninth Oxford Symposium on Coinage and Monetary History |date=1987 |publisher=B.A.R. |page=32 |isbn=9780860544425 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-n4aAAAAYAAJ |language=en}}</ref><ref>"on the reverse an incuse punch which develops into a distinctive local form incorporating two diagonals between projecting rectangular lugs" in {{cite book |last1=Kraay |first1=Colin M. |title=Archaic and classical Greek coins |date=1976 |publisher=Methuen |isbn=9780416123104 |page=269 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SlNmAAAAMAAJ |language=en}}</ref>
<gallery> File:LYCIA, Phaselis. Circa 550-530-20 BC.jpg|Coin of Phaselis, Lycia. Circa 550–530/20 File:LYCIA, Uncertain king. Circa 520-470-60 BC.jpg|Coin of Lycia. Circa 520–470/60 LYCIA, Uncertain. Circa 520-470-60 BC.jpg|Lycia coin. Circa 520–470. Struck with worn obverse die<ref>{{cite book|title=CNG: LYCIA. Circa 520–470/60. AR Stater (18mm, 9.18 g).|url=https://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=347325}}</ref> File:LESBOS, Unattributed Koinon mint. Circa 510-480 BC.jpg|Coin of Lesbos, Ionia. Circa 510–480 Lycia coin Uncertain. Circa 480-460 BC.jpg|Lycia coin, with lion and Pegasus in circle, circa 480–460 </gallery>
===Apadana hoard (c.515 BCE)=== {{main|Apadana hoard}} {{multiple image | title = Coin types of the Apadana hoard | align = right | caption_align = center | image1 = KINGS_of_LYDIA._Time_of_Cyrus_to_Darios_I._Circa_545-520_BC.jpg | width1 = 164 | caption1 = Gold Croeseids | image2 = Aegina Stater achaic.jpg | width2 = 128 | caption2 = Aegina stater | image3 = THRACE, Abdera. Circa 540-35-520-15 BC.jpg | width3 = 150 | caption3 = Abdera coin }} As late as the time of the foundation of the Apadana Palace in Persepolis (dated to between 519 and 510), it seems that the Achaemenids had not yet designed the Sigloi and Darics: no coins of these types were found in the Apadana hoard discovered under the palace's foundation stones, whereas the hoard contained several gold Croeseids of the light type from Sardis (probably minted under the rule of Darius I) and several imported Archaic Greek silver staters.<ref name="EI"/>
==Darics and Sigloi== {{Main|Persian daric}} thumb|Daric gold coin (circa 490) The coinage of the Achaemenid Empire started to move away from simply copying Lydian coinage, to introducing changes with the reign of Darius I (ruled 522–486).<ref name="WM63"/> Under Darius I, the minting of Croeseids in Sardis was progressively replaced by the minting of Darics and Sigloi.<ref name="WM63"/>
From around 510–500,<ref name="WM63"/> Darius then simplified the coining procedure by replacing the double reverse punch of Lydian coins, by a single, oblong reverse punch, and he introduced the image of the Persian king in place of the lion and bull design.<ref name="WM63"/> This is deduced from the fact that no Darics or Sigloi were found in the Apadana hoard, under the Apadana foundation stones of the Apadana Palace in Persepolis (dated to between 519 and 510), whereas there were gold Croeseids of the light type and Greek silver staters.<ref name="EI">{{cite book |title=Daric|url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/daric}}</ref> But by around 500 BCE, a clay tablet, issued in year 22 of the reign of Darius I, contained the impression on clay of two Type II Sigloi ("King shooting arrow"), showing that the new Sigloi had already been issued by that date.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Daehn |first=William E. |date=February 2012 |title=Half-figure of the King: unravelling the mysteries of the earliest Sigloi of Darius I |url=https://community.vcoins.com/thecelator/The-Celator-Vol.26-No.02-Feb-2012.pdf |url-status=dead |journal=The Celator |volume=26 |issue=2 |page=14, with photograph |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181121161656/https://community.vcoins.com/thecelator/The-Celator-Vol.26-No.02-Feb-2012.pdf |archive-date=2018-11-21}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Root |first1=Margaret Cool |title=The Persian archer at Persepolis : aspects of chronology, style and symbolism |journal=Revue des Études Anciennes |volume=91 |date=1989 |pages=36–37 |language=en|doi=10.3406/rea.1989.4361 }}</ref> Because of these and other discoveries, the creation of the Darics and Sigloi is dated to the last decade of the 6th century, during the reign of Darius I.<ref name="EI"/>
The new Achaemenid coins were initially only made in silver, while the Lydian gold design of the Croesus was maintained.<ref name="WM63"/> Then Darius introduced his new design for gold coins as well, which came to be known as Darics, from Old Persian ''Daruiyaka'', meaning "Golden".<ref name="WM63"/> Although the Achaemenids had developed their own currency, they still accepted local monetary production including civic issues, throughout the land under their control, in particular in Western Asia.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Mildenberg |first1=Leo |title=On the so-called satrapal coinage |journal=Publications de l'Institut Français d'Études Anatoliennes |volume=12 |issue=1 |date=2000 |page=10 |url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/anatv_1013-9559_2000_act_12_1_950 |language=en}}</ref>
According to numismatist Martin Price, there is no doubt that the Darics and Sigloi of Types I and II were minted at Sardis and immediately followed the production of the Croeseids, since they adopted similar weights and were of the same fabric.<ref name="MP">Martin Price "Intervention" in {{cite journal |last1=Root |first1=Margaret Cool |title=The Persian archer at Persepolis : aspects of chronology, style and symbolism |journal=Revue des Études Anciennes |volume=91 |date=1989 |pages=50 |language=fr-FR|doi=10.3406/rea.1989.4361 }}</ref> He insists that the finds of the Croeseids and the "Archer" types of Darics and Sigloi indicate that they were not an Imperial coinage, but rather the coinage of the Satrapy of Lydia.<ref name="MP"/>
;Minting activity {{Location map | Turkey | width = 300px | float = | border = | caption = Throughout the period of the Achaemenid Empire, it seems the Darics and Sigloi were exclusively minted in Sardis, Lydia (modern Turkey), where they replaced the original production of the Croeseids.<ref name="CHI619"/> | alt = | relief = yes | AlternativeMap = | overlay_image = | label = Sardis | label_size = | position = | background = | mark = | marksize = | link = | lat_deg = 38.488333 | lon_deg = 28.040278 }} Although the Achaemenids fully exploited and developed coinage production in Western Asia, it seems barter economy remained quite important in the Iranian heartland throughout the Achaemenid period, and the Achaemenids did not develop their own mints in Iran.<ref name="WM63"/> At the same time, the circulation of the Daric was mainly confined to the Western part of the Achaemenid Empire.<ref name="WM63"/> The minting of coins in Iran would only start later from circa 330 BCE under Alexander the Great and the Seleucid Empire.<ref name="WM63"/>
It seems that all the minting activity for the Darics and the Sigloi for the whole Empire was essentially centralized in one mint, or possibly two mints, at Sardis in Lydia.<ref name="WM68">{{cite book |last1=Metcalf |first1=William E. |title=The Oxford Handbook of Greek and Roman Coinage |date=2016 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780199372188 |pages=68–71 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=trkUDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA68 |language=en}}</ref> Sardis remained the central mint for the Persian Darics and Sigloi of Achaemenid coinage, and there is no evidence of other mints for the new Achaemenid coins during the whole time of the Achaemenid Empire.<ref name="CHI619">{{cite book |last1=Fisher |first1=William Bayne |last2=Gershevitch |first2=I. |last3=Boyle |first3=John Andrew |last4=Yarshater |first4=Ehsan |last5=Frye |first5=Richard Nelson |title=The Cambridge History of Iran |date=1968 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9780521200912 |page=619 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BBbyr932QdYC&pg=PA619 |language=en}}</ref> According to hoard finds, Sardis was clearly the main mint, but there may also have been secondary mints in southwestern and northwestern Asia Minor as well.<ref>{{cite book |url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/daric|title=Daric}}</ref>
Overall, it seems that the minting of Darics and Sigloi was rather small in quantity compared to the other local productions of coins in Asia Minor, or the circulation of Greek coins in the area.<ref name="WM70"/> Although the gold Daric became an international currency which was found throughout the Ancient world, the circulation of the silver Sigloi remained very much limited to Asia Minor: important hoards of Sigloi are only found in these areas, and finds of Sigloi beyond are always very limited and marginal compared to Greek coins, even in Achaemenid territories.<ref name="CHI619"/>
;Standards thumb|The first type of Siglos (Type I: "King with bow and arrows", upper body of the king only), from the time of Darius I. Circa 520–505 thumb|Type II Daric ("King shooting arrow") temp. Darios I to Xerxes I. Circa 505–480. There are no Type I coins known in Darics (only in Sigloi).<ref name="DARIC – Encyclopaedia Iranica">{{cite book |title=DARIC – Encyclopaedia Iranica |url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/daric |language=en}}</ref> [[File:Achaemenid bimetallic equivalence.jpg|thumb|Achaemenid bimetallic equivalence: 1 gold Daric was equivalent in value to 20 silver Sigloi. Under the Achaemenids the exchange rate in weight between gold and silver was 1 to 13.<ref name="DARIC – Encyclopaedia Iranica"/>]] Darius introduced the reformed currency system from about 510–500,<ref name="WM63"/> consisting of gold Darics and silver Sigloi. The rate of exchange was 1 Daric = 20 Siglos. A Daric was between 8.10 and 8.50 grams in weight, based on the Babylonian shekel of 8.33 grams, slightly heavier than the Croesus standard of 8.06 grams.<ref name="WM63"/> The purity of gold was between 98 and 99%. 1 Daric = 25 Attic Drachmae. It represented initially about 1 month of a soldier's wage.<ref name="CC">{{cite book |last1=Snodgrass |first1=Mary Ellen |title=Coins and Currency: An Historical Encyclopedia |date=2015 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=9781476611204 |page=125 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8xSBCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA125 |language=en}}</ref> This new coin became popular throughout all of the ancient world for more than 150 years.<ref name="WM63"/> Around 395 BCE, the Achaemenids, led by Satrap Pharnabazes, bribed Greek states by paying them tens of thousands of Darics in order to attack Sparta, which was then waging a campaign of destruction in Asia Minor under Agesilaus II. This started the Corinthian War. According to Plutarch, Agesilaus, the Spartan king, said upon leaving Asia "I have been driven out by 10,000 Persian archers", a reference to "Archers" (''Toxotai'') the Greek nickname for the Darics from their obverse design, because that much money had been paid to politicians in Athens and Thebes in order to start a war against Sparta.<ref>"Persian coins were stamped with the figure of an archer, and Agesilaus said, as he was breaking camp, that the King was driving him out of Asia with ten thousand "archers"; for so much money had been sent to Athens and Thebes and distributed among the popular leaders there, and as a consequence those people made war upon the Spartans" Plutarch 15-1-6 in {{cite book |title=Delphi Complete Works of Plutarch (Illustrated) |date=2013 |publisher=Delphi Classics |isbn=9781909496620 |pages=1031, Plutarch 15-1-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dmYbAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT1031 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="CC"/><ref>{{cite book |last1=Schwartzwald |first1=Jack L. |title=The Ancient Near East, Greece and Rome: A Brief History |date=2014 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=9781476613079 |page=73 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sIcOAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA73 |language=en}}</ref>
The Siglos was 5.40-5.60 grams each, based on the 0.5 Lydian Siglos of 10.73-10.92 grams for the full unit. Purity was at first issue 97-98% but by the middle 4th century was 94-95%. 1 Siglos = 7.5 Attic Obols.
Although the area of Babylon had never minted Darics or Sigloi, after the capture of Babylon by Alexander, the Satrap Mazaeus, reconfirmed by Alexander in his position for having opened the doors of Babylon to his armies after the Battle of Gaugamela, issued the double Daric of 16.65 grams in weight whose image was based on the Daric coin and bore his name until his death in 328.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Spek |first1=R. J. Van der |last2=Zanden |first2=Jan Luiten van |last3=Leeuwen |first3=Bas van |title=A History of Market Performance: From Ancient Babylonia to the Modern World |date=2014 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781317918509 |page=377 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_H1sBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA377 |language=en}}</ref>
<gallery> File:PERSIA, Achaemenid Empire. temp. Darios I. Circa 520-505 BC.jpg|Siglos Type I ("King with bow and arrows"), from the time of Darius I. Circa 520–505 File:PERSIA, Achaemenid Empire. Time of Darios I to Xerxes I. Circa 505-480 BC.jpg|Siglos Type II ("King shooting arrow"), time of Darius I to Xerxes I, circa 505–480 File:Persia, Achaemenid Kings. Circa 485-470 BC.jpg|Siglos Type III ("King running with lance"), from the time of Xerxes and after. File:PERSIA, Achaemenid Empire. temp. Artaxerxes II to Artaxerxes III. Circa 375-340 BC.jpg|Siglos Type IV ("King running with dagger"), temp. Artaxerxes II to Artaxerxes III, circa 375–340 </gallery> <gallery> File:PERSIA, Achaemenid Empire. temp. Darios I to Xerxes I. Circa 505-480 BC. AV Daric (14mm, 8.32 g).jpg|Type II Daric ("King shooting arrow") temp. Darios I to Xerxes I. Circa 505–480.<ref name="DARIC – Encyclopaedia Iranica"/> File:PERSIA. Achaemenid Kings. Circa mid-4th Century BC.jpg|Daric Type III ("King running with lance") gold coin (mid-4th century) File:PERSIA, Achaemenid Empire. temp. Artaxerxes II to Artaxerxes III. Circa 375-340 BC. AV Daric (15mm, 8.33 g).jpg|Daric Type IV ("King running with dagger"), temp. Artaxerxes II to Artaxerxes III, circa 375–340. (15 mm, 8.33 g) File:PERSIA. Alexandrine Empire. Circa 322-315 BC. AV Double Daric (16.66 gm). Babylon mint.jpg|Double Daric minted, well after the conquests of Alexander the Great, in Babylon circa 322–315. </gallery>
;Design [[File:Achaemenid king killing a Greek hoplite.jpg|thumb|left|Contemporary depiction of an Achaemenid king, here killing a Greek hoplite. Impression of a cylinder seal, engraved circa 500–475, at the time of Xerxes I. Metropolitan Museum of Art.]] [[File:Cyprus and Achaemenid Archer design.jpg|thumb|Archer type of Herakles on a late-6th- to early-5th-century coin of Cyprus (Apadana hoard, left), and archer type on an Achaemenid Type II Siglos (right).]] The "archer" type used in Achaemenid coinage may have been derived from similar and contemporary images on Greek coinage, in particular those of Herakles shooting arrows.<ref name="Root">{{cite journal |last1=Root |first1=Margaret Cool |title=The Persian archer at Persepolis : aspects of chronology, style and symbolism |journal=Revue des Études Anciennes |volume=91 |date=1989 |pages=43–50 |language=en|doi=10.3406/rea.1989.4361 }}</ref><ref name="TC20">{{cite journal |last=Daehn |first=William E. |date=February 2012 |title=Half-figure of the King: unravelling the mysteries of the earliest Sigloi of Darius I |url=https://community.vcoins.com/thecelator/The-Celator-Vol.26-No.02-Feb-2012.pdf |url-status=dead |journal=The Celator |volume=26 |issue=2 |page=20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181121161656/https://community.vcoins.com/thecelator/The-Celator-Vol.26-No.02-Feb-2012.pdf |archive-date=2018-11-21}}</ref> The adaptation of this design for the illustration of the Achaemenid king or hero on the obverse may have been meant as a way to glorify the king, in way a which was easily understandable to the Hellenized people in the Western areas of the Achaemenid Empire, who minted the Achaemenid coinage and to whom this coinage was mainly destined as a currency.<ref name="Root"/><ref name="TC20"/> Other depictions of the king as an archer (for example shooting from his chariot) are also known from Sumerian art, so this representation would also have been natural to subjects in the Achaemenid realm as well.<ref name="Root"/><ref name="TC20"/> The "archer" type of Type II, less hieratic and rigid than the traditional Achaemenid illustration of the bust of the king on Type I, may represent the fusion of the Eastern conception of the King as a royal hunter, and the Western conception of the King as a hero, and designed to represent the Achaemenid king as an Olympian contestant in a propaganda effort towards the West.<ref name="Root"/><ref name="TC20"/> These depictions also imply that the Achaemenids were the first ever to illustrate the person of their king on coinage.<ref name="Root"/>
;Extent [[File:Stater of Philip II of Macedon.jpg|thumb|The gold Stater of Philip II of Macedon was the first true competition for the Achaemenid Daric. It was called ''Dareikos Philippeios'' ("Philip's Daric") by the Greeks]] In effect, the gold Daric became a currency desired in all the ancient world, since it was the most convenient format to exchange and accumulate wealth.<ref name="WM68"/> The Greeks never minted much gold, but their silver Athenian tetradrachms also became a sort of world currency from the 5th century.<ref name="WM68"/> The first important competition against the prestigious Daric, as a means of storing wealth and making large payments on an international scale, came later from Philip II of Macedon (ruled 359–336), when he issued his own gold coinage, pointedly called ''Dareikos Philippeios'' by the Greeks.<ref name="WM68"/>
;Archaeological finds Daric coins have been found in Asia Minor, Greece, Macedonia and Italy. The Siglos denomination have been found in hoards only in Asia Minor, and single coins with other Greek coinage from Ancient Egypt to Afghanistan (Kabul hoard) and Pakistan (Shaikhan Dehri hoard).<ref name="WM68"/>
==Circulation of Greek coinage throughout the Empire== {{See also|Kabul hoard|Shaikhan Dehri hoard|Ghazzat hoard}} [[File:EGYPT, Persian Administration. Sabakes. Circa 340-333 BC.jpg|thumb|Coin of the Achaemenid satrap of Egypt Sabakes, in imitation of the Athenian tetradrachm. Circa 340-333. Achaemenid Egypt.]] [[File:Eastern Hacksilber from the Levant 425-420 BCE.jpg|thumb|Eastern hacksilber from the Achaemenid Levant, including jewelry and Greek coins, 425–420]] In all the known hoards of the Achaemenid period, royal Achaemenid coinage, such as the sigloi, form actually a small minority, while most of the non-local coinage generally comes from the Greek realm, either from the independent Greek mainland or from the Greek colonies of Western Asia under the Achaemenid rule.{{sfn|Kagan, Archaic Greek Coins East of the Tigris|2009|pp=230-231}} For example, the Kabul hoard, in modern-day Afghanistan, included 30 coins from various Greek cities, about 33 Athenian coins and an Iranian imitation of an Athenian coin, only 9 royal Achaemenid silver coins (sigloi). There were also 29 locally minted coins and 14 punch-marked coins in the shape of bent bars.{{sfn|Bopearachchi, Coin Production and Circulation|2000|pages=300–301}}<ref name="Cribb Iranian imitation">{{harvnb|Cribb, Dating India's Earliest Coins|1985|p=548}}: "The Iranian imitations were close copies of silver tetradrachms of Athens; the latest Greek coin of the Chaman Hazuri hoard is an example of these Iranian copies of an Athenian coin."</ref>
Some Achaemenid satraps are also known to have minted coins in imitation of Athenian coinage, such as the satrap of Egypt Sabakes (ruled circa 340–333). An Achaemenid copy of an Athenian coin, this time found in the Kabul hoard, was minted in the vicinity of Babylon circa 380.
The fact that Greek coins (both Archaic and early Classical) are comparatively numerous in Achaemenid period coin hoards, much more numerous than sigloi, suggests that the circulation of Greek coinage was central in the monetary system of the Empire.<ref name="JK230">{{cite book |last1=Kagan |first1=Jonathan |title=Archaic Greek coins East of the Tigris|pages=230–234 |url=https://www.academia.edu/1294681 |language=en}}</ref> These coins were probably not legal tenders in the Achaemenid Empire, but were valued for their weight in silver, and thus used as bullion silver. Numerous finds of hacksilber hoards in the East also exist from the period, in which various silver objects, including coins, are cut into pieces, in order to facilitate their exchange on the basis of their weight.<ref>[https://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=265591 Classical Numismatic Group]</ref>
Greek coinage travelled throughout the Achaemenid Empire. For example, the Greek coins discovered in the Kabul hoard include the following types: <gallery> <!--Thrace--> File:ISLANDS off THRACE, Thasos. Circa 500-463 BC.jpg|Archaic coin of Thasos, circa 500-463.<ref>"a fragmentary stater of Thasos" described in [https://www.academia.edu/1294681/ARCHAIC_GREEK_COINS_EAST_OF_THE_TIGRIS_ Kagan p.230], [https://books.openedition.org/ifpo/docannexe/image/1407/img-2.png Kabul hoard Coin no.9] in Daniel Schlumberger ''[https://books.openedition.org/ifpo/1407?lang=en Trésors Monétaires d'Afghanistan (1953)]''</ref> <!--Ionia--> File:ISLANDS off IONIA, Chios. Circa 490-435 BCE.jpg|Archaic coin of Chios, circa 490–435.<ref>"a worn Chiot stater" described in [https://www.academia.edu/1294681/ARCHAIC_GREEK_COINS_EAST_OF_THE_TIGRIS_ Kagan p.230], [https://books.openedition.org/ifpo/docannexe/image/1407/img-2.png Kabul hoard Coin no.12] in Daniel Schlumberger ''[https://books.openedition.org/ifpo/1407?lang=en Trésors Monétaires d'Afghanistan (1953)]''</ref> Earlier types known. <!--Akanthos--> MACEDON, Akanthos. Circa 470-430 BC.jpg|Coin of Akanthos, Macedon. Circa 470–430.<ref>[https://books.openedition.org/ifpo/docannexe/image/1407/img-2.png Kabul hoard Coins No.7-8] in Daniel Schlumberger ''[https://books.openedition.org/ifpo/1407?lang=en Trésors Monétaires d'Afghanistan (1953)]''</ref><ref name="Kagan quote">"The 1933 Cabul hoard pub-lished by Schlumberger consisted of over 115 coins, with significant overlap with the Malayer hoard. Athens again is the largest group, with 33 recorded tetradrachms compared to eight sigloi. In addition to the worn archaic stater of Aegina, a fragmentary stater of Thasos and a worn Chiot stater may be archaic. There are two well-preserved early classical tetradrachms from Acanthus and an early classical stater of Corcyra. Again there is a significant Levantine component represented by coins from Pamphylia, Cilicia and Cyprus, though nothing from Phoenicia. The early Cilician coins probably date the hoard slightly later than the Malayer hoard." in {{cite book|last1=Kagan|first1=Jonathan|title=ARCHAIC GREEK COINS EAST OF THE TIGRIS|page=230|url=https://www.academia.edu/1294681|language=en}}</ref> <!--Athens--> File:SNGCop 039.jpg|Early Classical coins from Athens were by far the most numerous coin type in the Kabul hoard. Circa 454–404.<ref>[https://books.openedition.org/ifpo/docannexe/image/1407/img-3.png Kabul hoard 31-32-33]</ref><ref name="Kagan quote"/> </gallery>
==Coinage of Southern Asia under the Achaemenid Empire== {{See also|Achaemenid conquest of the Indus Valley|Coinage of India}} [[File:India 500 BCE.jpg|thumb|Eastern border of the Achaemenid Empire and ancient kingdoms and cities of ancient India (circa 500 BCE).<ref>[http://users.rowan.edu/~mcinneshin/101/wk05/images/NEWachaemexp.jpg Philip's Atlas of World History] (1999)</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=O'Brien |first1=Patrick Karl |title=Atlas of World History |date=2002 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780195219210 |page=43 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ffZy5tDjaUkC&pg=PA43 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Barraclough |first1=Geoffrey |title=The Times Atlas of World History |date=1989 |publisher=Times Books |isbn=9780723009061 |page=79 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_IYYAQAAMAAJ |language=en}}</ref>]] The Achaemenid Empire already reached the doors of India during the original expansion of Cyrus the Great, and the Achaemenid conquest of the Indus Valley is dated to circa 515 under Darius I.<ref name="WM"/> An Achaemenid administration was established in the area. The Kabul hoard, also called the Chaman Hazouri hoard,<ref name=OB300>{{harvnb|Bopearachchi, Coin Production and Circulation|2000|pages=300–301}}</ref> is a coin hoard discovered in the vicinity of Kabul, Afghanistan, containing numerous Achaemenid coins as well as many Greek coins from the 5th and 4th centuries.<ref name=JC>{{harvnb|Bopearachchi & Cribb, Coins illustrating the History of the Crossroads of Asia|1992|pp=57–59}}: "The most important and informative of these hoards is the Chaman Hazouri hoard from Kabul discovered in 1933, which contained royal Achaemenid sigloi from the western part of the Achaemenid Empire, together with a large number of Greek coins dating from the fifth and early fourth century BC, including a local imitation of an Athenian tetradrachm, all apparently taken from circulation in the region."</ref> The deposit of the hoard is dated to the Achaemenid period, in approximately 380 BCE.<ref>{{harvnb|Bopearachchi, Coin Production and Circulation|2000|p=309 and Note 65}}</ref> The hoard also contained many locally produced silver coins, minted by local authorities under Achaemenid rule.<ref name="WM70"/> Several of these issues follow the "western designs" of the facing bull heads, a stag, or Persian column capitals on the obverse, and incuse punch on the reverse.<ref name="WM70"/><ref>{{cite book |last1=André-Salvini |first1=Béatrice |title=Forgotten Empire: The World of Ancient Persia |date=2005 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=9780520247314 |page=208 Coin no.381 for the Persian column capitals |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kJnaKu9DdNEC&pg=PA208 |language=en}}</ref>
According to numismatist Joe Cribb, these finds suggest that the idea of coinage and the use of punch-marked techniques was introduced to India from the Achaemenid Empire during the 4th century.<ref>{{harvnb|Cribb, Investigating the introduction of coinage in India|1983|p=101}}</ref> More Achaemenid coins were also found in Pushkalavati and in Bhir Mound.<ref name="CNG 309206">[https://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=309206 372. Lot: 658, Lot of two AR bent bars], CNG Coins</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Bopearachchi & Cribb, Coins illustrating the History of the Crossroads of Asia|1992|pp=57–59}}: "Silver bent-bar punch-marked coin of Kabul region under the Achaemenid Empire, c.350 BC: Coins of this type found in quantity in Chaman Hazouri and Bhir Mound hoards." (Commentary by Joe Cribb and Osmund Bopearachchi)</ref>
<gallery> File:Achaemenid Empire coin. Uncertain mint in the Kabul Valley. Circa 500-380 BCE.jpg|Punch-marked coin minted in the Kabul Valley under Achaemenid administration. Circa 500–380, or c.350.<ref name="CNG 309874">[https://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=309874 "Extremely Rare Early Silver from the Kabul Valley", CNG 102, Lot:649], CNG Coins</ref><ref name=JC/> File:Achaemenid siglos Kabul.jpg|A siglos found in the Kabul valley, 5th century. Coins of this type were also found in the Bhir Mound hoard.<ref name="Errington Bhir mound">{{harvnb|Bopearachchi & Cribb, Coins illustrating the History of the Crossroads of Asia|1992|pp=57–59}}: "Coins of this type found in Chaman Hazouri (deposited c.350 BC) and Bhir Mound hoards (deposited c.300 BC)." (Commentary by Joe Cribb and Osmund Bopearachchi)</ref><ref name=JC/> File:Gandhara1.JPG|Early punch-marked coins of Gandhara. Taxila-Gandhara region. </gallery>
==Later Satrapal issues== [[File:DYNASTS of LYCIA. Kherei. Circa 440-30-410 BC.jpg|thumb|Coin of the Achaemenid dynast of Lycia, Kherei, with Athena on the obverse, and himself wearing the Persian cap on the reverse. Circa 440/30–410]] [[File:CILICIA, Tarsos. Mazaios. Satrap of Cilicia, 361-0-334 BC.jpg|thumb|Coin of Mazaios. Satrap of Cilicia, 361/0–334. Tarsos, Cilicia]] During the 4th century, following the weakening of central Achaemenid power, and the development of coinage technologies, Siglos production receded and numerous satrapal issues of a very high quality started to appear in Western Asia under the Achaemenid Empire.<ref name="WM70"/> These issues combined Achaemenid as well as Greek characteristics. Throughout, coin circulation was characterized by a mix of coins from the Achaemenid and Greek realms.<ref name="WM70">{{cite book |last1=Metcalf |first1=William E. |title=The Oxford Handbook of Greek and Roman Coinage |date=2016 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780199372188 |pages=70–80 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=trkUDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA63 |language=en}}</ref>
Various Achaemenid satraps also issued imitations of Athenian tetradrachms, such as Sabakes in Egypt.
;First attempts at portraiture Although many of the first coins of Antiquity were illustrated with the images of various gods or symbols, the first ever portraiture of actual rulers appears with these Achaemenid satrapal issues in the 5th century, in particular with the coinage of Lycia.<ref>"The earliest attempts at portraiture appear to have taken place in Lycia. The heads of various dynasts appear on coins of the fifth century" {{cite book |last1=Carradice |first1=Ian |title=Ancient Greek Portrait Coins |date=1978 |publisher=British Museum Publications |isbn=9780714108490 |page=2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4FdmAAAAMAAJ |language=en}}</ref><ref name="SW">{{cite book |last1=West |first1=Shearer |last2=Birmingham) |first2=Shearer |title=Portraiture |date=2004 |publisher=OUP Oxford |isbn=9780192842589 |page=68 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q3sRDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA68 |language=en}}</ref> The Achaemenids had been the first to illustrate the person of their king or a hero in a stereotypical manner, showing a bust or the full body, but never an actual portrait, on their Sigloi and Daric coinage from circa 500 BCE.<ref name="SW"/><ref name="Root"/><ref name="TC20"/> Before the Lycian coins with dynastic portraits, a slightly earlier candidate for the first portrait is Themistocles, the Athenian general who became a Governor of Magnesia on the Meander for the Achaemenid Empire circa 465–459,<ref>"A rare silver fraction recently identified as a coin of Themistocles from Magnesia even has a bearded portrait of the great man, making it by far the earliest datable portrait coin. Other early portraits can be seen on the coins of Lycian dynasts." {{cite book |last1=Carradice |first1=Ian |last2=Price |first2=Martin |title=Coinage in the Greek World |date=1988 |publisher=Seaby |isbn=9780900652820 |page=84 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OVZmAAAAMAAJ |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Stieber |first1=Mary |title=The Poetics of Appearance in the Attic Korai |date=2010 |publisher=University of Texas Press |isbn=9780292773493 |pages=98–99 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DaIAAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA98 |language=en}}</ref> although there is some doubt that his coins may have represented Zeus rather than himself.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Rhodes |first1=P. J. |title=A History of the Classical Greek World: 478 – 323 BC |date=2011 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=9781444358582 |page=58 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5fkjzwJxCA4C&pg=PP58 |language=en}}</ref> Themistocles may have been in a unique position in which he could transfer the notion of individual portraiture, already current in the Greek world, and at the same time wield the dynastic power of an Achaemenid dynast who could issue his own coins and illustrate them as he wished.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Howgego |first1=Christopher |title=Ancient History from Coins |date=2002 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781134877843 |page=64 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DCC3l5kS5O8C&pg=PA64 |language=en}}</ref> From the time of Alexander the Great, portraiture of the issuing ruler would then become a standard, generalized, feature of coinage.<ref name="SW"/>
<gallery> File:IONIA, Magnesia ad Maeandrum. Themistokles. Circa 465-459 BC.jpg|Coin of Themistocles as Achaemenid Governor of Magnesia. ''Rev'': Letters ΘΕ, initials of ''Themistocles''. Circa 465–459 File:Pharnabaze.jpg|Baaltars on a throne (obverse) and head of Ares (reverse), on a double shekel of Pharnabazus II (380–375) File:DYNASTS of LYCIA. Perikles. Circa 380-360 BC.jpg|Coin of Perikles, last king of Lycia under the Achaemenids. Circa 380–360 File:WESTERN ASIA MINOR, Achaemenid Period. Uncertain satrap. Early 4th century BC. Probably Tiribazos.jpg|Western Asia Satrap of the Achaemenid Period. Probably Tiribazos. Early 4th century </gallery>
==After the conquests of Alexander the Great== {{multiple image | align = right | caption_align = center | image1 = CILICIA, Tarsos. Balakros. Satrap of Cilicia, 333-323 BC.jpg | width1 = 200 | caption1 = Coin of Balacrus, as Satrap of Alexander the Great in Cilicia, with Baal on the obverse. Tarsos, 333–323 | image2 = Tetradrachm, Alexander the Great, 323 BC, Tarsos.jpg | width2 = 200 | caption2 = Tetradrachm of Alexander the Great with seated Zeus on the reverse, Tarsos, 323 }}
After his conquest of the Achaemenid Empire, Alexander the Great established his own satraps in the conquered territories, some of them Achaemenids who had been favorable to the invader, such as Mazaios, others some of Alexander's closest supports, such as Balacrus. Several satraps continued to use an Achaemenid type for their coinage, such as Balacrus when he became Hellenistic satrap of Cilicia, complete with the local deity of Tarsus, Baal.<ref name=LM>{{cite journal |last1=Mildenberg |first1=Leo |title=On the so-called satrapal coinage |journal=Publications de l'Institut Français d'Études Anatoliennes |volume=12 |issue=1 |date=2000 |page=10 and Note 8 |url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/anatv_1013-9559_2000_act_12_1_950 |language=en}}</ref> This coinage is said to have later influenced Alexander's imperial coinage, which was often minted in the same mints.<ref name=LM/>
thumb|left|Double Daric (16.65 g). Babylon mint, struck circa 315-300-298 Even many years after the death of Alexander, Achaemenid gold darics continued to be minted in Babylon, at the same time as Alexandrine imperial issues were minted. Some of these issues are dated to circa 315–300/298. These darics continued to use the Achaemenid type, but the reverse was slightly modified to include wavy patterns.<ref>{{cite book |title=CNG: PERSIA. Alexandrine Empire. Circa 331-288/7 BC. AV Double Daric (16.65 g). Babylon mint. Struck circa 315-300/298 BC. |url=https://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=70188}}</ref><ref>"At Babylon or other Eastern mints were issued also certain groups of Alexandrine coins which can be identified by means of the symbols and monograms which they bear in common with the double darics" in {{cite book |last1=Medals |first1=Department of Coins and |title=Catalogue of the Greek coins in The British Museum |date=2005 |publisher=Рипол Классик |isbn=9785872102076 |page=143 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Xs8GAwAAQBAJ&pg=PR143 |language=en}}</ref>
==See also== {{Numismatics}} {{Portal|Money|Numismatics}} *Parthian coinage *Sasanian coinage *Ancient Greek coinage *Elymais
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Bibliography== * {{citation |last1=Bopearachchi |first1=Osmund |authorlink=Osmund Bopearachchi |title=Coin Production and Circulation in Central Asia and North-West India (Before and after Alexander's Conquest) |journal=Indologica Taurinensia |publisher=International Association of Sanskrit Studies |volume=25 |year=2000 |url=https://www.academia.edu/15798938 |ref={{sfnref|Bopearachchi, Coin Production and Circulation|2000}}}} * {{citation |last1=Bopearachchi |first1=Osmund |chapter=Achaemenids and Mauryans: Emergence of Coins and Plastic Arts in India |title=India and Iran in the Longue Durée |editor1=Alka Patel |editor2=Touraj Daryaee |publisher=UCI Jordan Center for Persian Studies |year=2017 |pages=15–48 |chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/32663753 |ref={{sfnref|Bopearachchi, Achaemenids and Mauryans|2017}}}} * {{citation |last1=Bopearachchi |first1=Osmund |authorlink=Osmund Bopearachchi|last2=Cribb |first2=Joe |article=Coins illustrating the History of the Crossroads of Asia |editor1-last=Errington |editor1-first=Elizabeth |editor2-last=Cribb |editor2-first=Joe |editor3-last=Claringbull |editor3-first=Maggie |title=The Crossroads of Asia: transformation in image and symbol in the art of ancient Afghanistan and Pakistan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pfLpAAAAMAAJ |pages=56–59|year=1992 |publisher=Ancient India and Iran Trust |isbn=978-0-9518399-1-1 |ref={{sfnref|Bopearachchi & Cribb, Coins illustrating the History of the Crossroads of Asia|1992}}}} * {{citation |last1=Cribb |first1=Joe |author-link=Joe Cribb |title=Investigating the introduction of coinage in India – A review of recent research |journal=Journal of the Numismatic Society of India |year=1983|pages=80–101 |url=https://www.academia.edu/33456187 |ref={{sfnref|Cribb, Investigating the introduction of coinage in India|1983}}}} * {{citation |last=Cribb |first=J. |year=1985 |chapter=Dating India's Earliest Coins |title=South Asian Archaeology, 1983: Proceedings from the Seventh International Conference of the Association of South Asian Archaeologistan in Westeren Europe Held in the Musees Royaux d'art et d'histoire, Brussels |editor1=J. Schotsmans |editor2=M. Taddei |pages=535–554 |location=Naples |publisher=Istituto Universario Orientale |chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/33778310 |ref={{sfnref|Cribb, Dating India's Earliest Coins|1985}} }}{{Dead link|date=August 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} * {{citation |last=Eggermont |first=Pierre Herman Leonard |title=Alexander's Campaigns in Sind and Baluchistan and the Siege of the Brahmin Town of Harmatelia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nG0_xoDS3hUC&pg=PA177 |year=1975 |publisher=Peeters Publishers |isbn=978-90-6186-037-2 |ref={{sfnref|Eggermont, Alexander's Campaigns in Sind and Baluchistan|1975}}}} * {{citation |last1=Kagan |first1=J. |chapter=Archaic Greek Coins East of the Tigris: Evidence for Circulation |title=Proceedings of the XIVth International Numismatic Congress, Glasgow |pages=230–234 |year=2009 |chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/download/7951909/Kagan%5B1%5Dglasgow.pdf |ref={{sfnref|Kagan, Archaic Greek Coins East of the Tigris|2009}} }}{{Dead link|date=July 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
==External links== {{Commons category}} *[https://www.zeno.ru/showgallery.php?cat=2120 Zeno coins of Iran] *{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20070312091252/http://www.iranica.com/articles/v7f1/v7f134.html Daric information]}} *[https://www.livius.org/w/weights/weights.html#Money Money weights and measures in Antiquity including Babylonian] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180311193933/https://www.livius.org/w/weights/weights.html#Money |date=2018-03-11 }} *[https://www.coinarchives.com/a/results.php?results=100&search=Memnon Persian coins and Satraps coins] *[https://www.asiaminorcoins.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=94 Asia Minor Coins – Achaemenid Satraps and Governors] {{Achaemenid Provinces}}{{Achaemenid Empire}}
Category:Achaemenid Empire Category:Ancient currencies