Something special
Persia, Achaemenids, dareikos, ca. 420-375 B. C.
Enlargement
Good very fine 2650.- euros
Persia, Achaemenids, dareikos, ca. 420-375 B. C. Royal archer r. holding spear and bow, a quiver with arrows on his back. Rv. Irregularly shaped incuse square.
Well centered with all details struck up and clearly visible.
Dareios I (522-486 B. C.) ruled the Achaemenid empire which had been founded by Kyros the Great (559-529), an empire which extended from Central Asia and the Indus river to the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. Dareios styled himself “King of Kings”. Lybia, Egypt, Palestine, Syria, Asia Minor, Thrakia and Makedonia belonged to his Persian empire. He had conquered the Greek city states in Asia Minor, but he could not take the Greek mainland. The Persian fleet was wrecked at the Athos promontory during a storm, and his land forces were beaten by the Athenians at the famous battle of Marathon.
Dareios governed his huge empire through satraps who were responsible for the administration of their area and were accountable to him. He connected his capitals Susa, Ekbatana and Parsa (= Greek Persepolis) with the provinces by a network of roads and post stations. His laws were written down, he established yearly taxation, he standardized weights and measures, and he introduced the dareikos, a gold coin with a fineness of 980/1000, a weight of 8.35 g, and a value of 20 silver sigloi. By this he created a uniform monetary system for all his empire.
His successors continued to issue this coin type until Alexander the Great conquered the Persian empire by his victory over Dareios III in 331 B. C.
The assignment of these coins to certain rulers is still a problem which has not been definitely answered.
Enlargement
Good very fine 2650.- euros
Persia, Achaemenids, dareikos, ca. 420-375 B. C. Royal archer r. holding spear and bow, a quiver with arrows on his back. Rv. Irregularly shaped incuse square.
Well centered with all details struck up and clearly visible.
Dareios I (522-486 B. C.) ruled the Achaemenid empire which had been founded by Kyros the Great (559-529), an empire which extended from Central Asia and the Indus river to the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. Dareios styled himself “King of Kings”. Lybia, Egypt, Palestine, Syria, Asia Minor, Thrakia and Makedonia belonged to his Persian empire. He had conquered the Greek city states in Asia Minor, but he could not take the Greek mainland. The Persian fleet was wrecked at the Athos promontory during a storm, and his land forces were beaten by the Athenians at the famous battle of Marathon.
Dareios governed his huge empire through satraps who were responsible for the administration of their area and were accountable to him. He connected his capitals Susa, Ekbatana and Parsa (= Greek Persepolis) with the provinces by a network of roads and post stations. His laws were written down, he established yearly taxation, he standardized weights and measures, and he introduced the dareikos, a gold coin with a fineness of 980/1000, a weight of 8.35 g, and a value of 20 silver sigloi. By this he created a uniform monetary system for all his empire.
His successors continued to issue this coin type until Alexander the Great conquered the Persian empire by his victory over Dareios III in 331 B. C.
The assignment of these coins to certain rulers is still a problem which has not been definitely answered.