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The Wealth of the Persian Empire
SmEagle1795
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Darics are historic coins, an important part of the chronology of numismiatics, but they often come very crudely designed. I've included one on my wantlist, predominately for completeness, but when I saw this coin, I knew I had to acquire it. It was the first example which ever struck me as beautifully engraved, on top of its level of preservation.
Thanks to intelligent political leadership and forward-thinking approaches to governing, the Persian Empire quickly became a substantial power of the ancient world. By not interfering with local customs or religions and granting equal rights for all citizens as long as taxes were paid, the Persian Empire merged diverse lands and people and set the stage with concepts that would eventually represent some of the underpinnings of the Hellenistic and Roman Empires.
The Persians themselves traditionally relied on barter rather than coinage but upon their conquering of the Lydian Kingdom in the mid-sixth century BC, they quickly adopted the innovative concept of coinage. The Persians found themselves frequently in conflict with Greek city states and needed to employ Greek mercenaries who expected to be paid with coins, resulting in the demand for the production of a consistent coinage.
Not wanting to retain the designs of the defeated Lydian King Croesus, the Great King Darius I transitioned the Lydian gold stater into a new denomination, the “daric”, named after him. The Greeks would often colloquially call these coins “toxotai”, archers, after their iconic design.
The daric became the first ancient gold coin to enter into widespread, international use and was one of the most recognizable coins of the ancient world, including being the earliest coin mentioned in the Old Testament.
The Persian King is depicted in a “running kneeling” position which represented an early approach for portraying motion on coinage. The core design remained largely unchanged for the 185 years during which darics were minted, emphasizing the conservative nature of the type.
The Persians put a focus on the purity of the metal - between 98-99% gold - rather than the artistry of the coin. This resulted in the vast majority of darics being of a very crude style. However, some rare examples like this one are elegantly engraved in a fine, naturalistic style, showing a significant improvement in the depiction of the king thanks to a brief artistic recovery.
Alexander the Great conquered the Persians in 329 BC but the daric would outlive the Empire, continuing to be struck under Alexander and his successors until it was eventually fully replaced by Alexander’s stater around 300 BC.
Achaemenid Empire, Time of Xerxes II to Artaxerxes II, c. 420-375 BC. Daric (Gold, 16x14mm, 8.37 g), Sardes. Persian king moving to right, crowned, wearing robes and in the running-kneeling position, with quiver over his shoulder, holding transverse spear ending in a ball in his right hand and bow in his left. Rev. Oblong irregular incuse. BMC 84. Carradice Type IIIb, pl. XV, 50-51. Jenkins 34. A superb example, beautifully struck in high relief and unusually nice. Good extremely fine. From the Robinow collection, Morton & Eden 24 October 2011, 154, acquired from D. Gorny in Munich, 3 April 1989.
Post your Achaemenid coins!
Thanks to intelligent political leadership and forward-thinking approaches to governing, the Persian Empire quickly became a substantial power of the ancient world. By not interfering with local customs or religions and granting equal rights for all citizens as long as taxes were paid, the Persian Empire merged diverse lands and people and set the stage with concepts that would eventually represent some of the underpinnings of the Hellenistic and Roman Empires.
The Persians themselves traditionally relied on barter rather than coinage but upon their conquering of the Lydian Kingdom in the mid-sixth century BC, they quickly adopted the innovative concept of coinage. The Persians found themselves frequently in conflict with Greek city states and needed to employ Greek mercenaries who expected to be paid with coins, resulting in the demand for the production of a consistent coinage.
Not wanting to retain the designs of the defeated Lydian King Croesus, the Great King Darius I transitioned the Lydian gold stater into a new denomination, the “daric”, named after him. The Greeks would often colloquially call these coins “toxotai”, archers, after their iconic design.
The daric became the first ancient gold coin to enter into widespread, international use and was one of the most recognizable coins of the ancient world, including being the earliest coin mentioned in the Old Testament.
The Persian King is depicted in a “running kneeling” position which represented an early approach for portraying motion on coinage. The core design remained largely unchanged for the 185 years during which darics were minted, emphasizing the conservative nature of the type.
The Persians put a focus on the purity of the metal - between 98-99% gold - rather than the artistry of the coin. This resulted in the vast majority of darics being of a very crude style. However, some rare examples like this one are elegantly engraved in a fine, naturalistic style, showing a significant improvement in the depiction of the king thanks to a brief artistic recovery.
Alexander the Great conquered the Persians in 329 BC but the daric would outlive the Empire, continuing to be struck under Alexander and his successors until it was eventually fully replaced by Alexander’s stater around 300 BC.
Achaemenid Empire, Time of Xerxes II to Artaxerxes II, c. 420-375 BC. Daric (Gold, 16x14mm, 8.37 g), Sardes. Persian king moving to right, crowned, wearing robes and in the running-kneeling position, with quiver over his shoulder, holding transverse spear ending in a ball in his right hand and bow in his left. Rev. Oblong irregular incuse. BMC 84. Carradice Type IIIb, pl. XV, 50-51. Jenkins 34. A superb example, beautifully struck in high relief and unusually nice. Good extremely fine. From the Robinow collection, Morton & Eden 24 October 2011, 154, acquired from D. Gorny in Munich, 3 April 1989.
Post your Achaemenid coins!
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Thanks for sharing, and congrats on the acquisition.
EVP
How does one get a hater to stop hating?
I can be reached at evillageprowler@gmail.com
Most of my Persians are Sasanid and Qajar. I think I have one or two Achaemenids, though.
DPOTD
Consider this: A US quarter from the 1920s in MS67 condition is a rare and wonderful thing.
Could anyone argue with a 67 grade for this Daric? And it's 2400 years old!
--Severian the Lame
DPOTD
<< <i>Alexander the Great conquered the Persians in 329 BC but the daric would outlive the Empire, continuing to be struck under Alexander and his successors until it was eventually fully replaced by Alexander’s stater around 300 BC. >>
That is a good point.
In Arrian's history he writes that when Alexander was trying to capture the lofty fortress at the Rock of Sogdiana, Alexander offered, to the first 12 men who scaled the cliff, 12 prizes in decreasing value. The twelfth man would receive "300 darics". The equivalent of one talent.
When Alexander captured the Persian treasuries some of that immense treasure would have already been struck into Persian coins. For example, the royal treasure at Susa was said to be 50,000 talents, 9000 of them in darics. This 9000 talents in darics would represent 2.7 million coins!!!
That last statement boggles the mind. It gives you idea of just how much wealth Alexander had acquired. Especially when you consider that at Persepolis alone the treasure was said to be 120,000 talents. Alexander had captured at:
Damascus - 2600 talents in coins
Susa - 50,000 talents, 9000 of them in darics.
Arbela - 3000 or 4000 talents
Pasargadae - 6000 talents
Persepolis - 120,000 talents.
(The sources don't list the amount of coins at every treasury.)
And taxes, tribute and war booty would have been continually added to Alexander's already immense treasure.
Although much of that treasure must have been in bullion. Just think about how many coins it would have added up to if it had all been converted into coins. And much of it was. Now you can see why Alexander's coins are plentiful today.
And if part of his captured treasure was already in the form of millions of Persian coins, (both gold and silver), it may have been more practical to use them as is, whenever he could, rather that going through the long process of recoining them.
Alexander continuing to use Persian coins is not unique. Recall that, under Alexander, Balakros continued to mint coins on the Persian standard at Tarsos for use in the Cilicia region. These would have been made for, and used by, the local merchants who were used to the Persian standard. Alexander's coins, at least at first, would have been used just for his royal and war expenses. So the fact that Alexander continued to use darics is not surprising.
Alexander did not force the native peoples to use his coins. He knew not to upset the local economies. But eventually his coins were adopted by the local economies and became ubiquitous.
So when a see a daric like SmEagle1795's I no longer think of it as "just a Persian coin". But a coin that had a much longer and an even more interesting history.
Overall, this is a 5 star thread if I may use that expression.
and lovely bits of knowledge from our resident experts relating to this coinage
<< <i>SmEagle, this is crazy. You have too many nice coins. It is nice to see that you started this giveaway thread for that purpose. Count me in. >>
Good one
<< <i>... A superb example, beautifully struck in high relief and unusually nice. Good extremely fine. ... >>
I'm with Weiss. This looks MS. Certainly AU. Why is it described as merely XF?
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<< <i>
<< <i>... A superb example, beautifully struck in high relief and unusually nice. Good extremely fine. ... >>
I'm with Weiss. This looks MS. Certainly AU. Why is it described as merely XF? >>
British grading is different than US. A conservative British "Good EF" usually translates to a PCGS or NGC MS63 and higher. *Usually*...
EVP
How does one get a hater to stop hating?
I can be reached at evillageprowler@gmail.com
Y'know, if I stare at that incuse reverse punch long enough, I could almost swear I see design elements there; swirling beasties or something.
I know- it's my imagination. But the contours of that punch are definitely intriguing.
<< <i>
<< <i>... A superb example, beautifully struck in high relief and unusually nice. Good extremely fine. ... >>
I'm with Weiss. This looks MS. Certainly AU. Why is it described as merely XF? >>
As EVP said, grading varies depending on the country, which makes it problematic to know what the true "grade" is. As a good case-in-point, here's an upcoming daric graded Ch XF, 4/5 - 5/5 by NGC:
Your piece has it all: Surfaces, strike, centering. Color. It's got balance. If that's not FDC then I don't know what is.
--Severian the Lame
<< <i>
As EVP said, grading varies depending on the country, which makes it problematic to know what the true "grade" is. As a good case-in-point, here's an upcoming daric graded Ch XF, 4/5 - 5/5 by NGC:
Wow, and ugh! That's pretty dramatic comparison.
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