Xerxes coins?

aballein

So i was watching the movie "300" the other day and seen some coins with Xerxes on them...If you dont happen to know Xerxes is he was the opposition of King Leonidas in the Battle of Thermopylae. Xerxes lead the Persian Army against the Spartan Army. My question is...do coins really exist depicting Xerxes or was that just Hollywood crap?

lordmarcovan

I think Xerxes issued gold darics.

Here is one that sold in the last couple of days. Not that it can be attributed specifically to his reign.

I guess you could say the coins portray him, holding a bow. But of course the king-with-bow design was generic "stock art" for a very long time, and not a picture of any one real individual.

So, was the movie any good? Historically accurate or Hollywood cheese?

STLNATS

The movie was not very accurate historically, altho I really enjoyed seeing it (several times). The portrait of Xerxes (and much else) was not at all accurate: the older movie "the 200 Spartans" from the 1960s was much more accurate historically, altho not as interesting/compelling a movie. Similarly the gold coins are a fantasy, the darics cited by Lord M are what were issued/used.

While I do appreciate the movie as a movie (and esp Queen Gordo ), it drove me to "learn more" and I read the excellent book by Ernle Bradford "Thermopylae - the Battle for the West." I strongly recommend this inexpensive book if you want to understand the period better.