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Ancient Greek Silver Coingage ~ ca. 5th Century BC.
PERSIA, Achaemenid Empire
Time of Darius II to Artaxerxes II.
Circa 5th Century BC.
Lydo-Milesian standard. Sardes mint. Silver Siglos. 15mm 5.48g.
Obverse: Persian king or hero, wearing kidaris and kandys, quiver over shoulder, in kneeling-running stance right, holding traverse spear and bow.
Reverse: Incuse punch.
Ref. Carradice Type IIIb, Group C (pl. XIV, 42, 136-137. cf. Meadows, Administration 323; BMC Arabia pl. XXV, 12; Sunrise 25.
NGC Certified and Graded VG (Very Good), countermark..
In 546 BC, the Persians conquered the Lydian Empire of King Croesus. At the time of the conquest, Croesus had already established a well-organized coinage system in his realm.
The Persians quickly realized that coins were very useful–not only for trade, but also for politics: One could pay mercenaries, also buy allies & bribe enemies. The coins that the Persians soon started to issue did not depict the image of a god as the Greek coins usually did, but showed the Persian king–not as a person with individual traits, but as archetype. The design represented the great king as "Lord of the Bow"–this being one of his official titles–preparing to hurl his spear & then throw an arrow to shoot it against his enemy.
This silver siglos bears the typical image of the Achaemenid coins, the Persian Great King in Persian garments, with a serrated crown, a bow and a spear. Serving as pay for the Persian mercenaries in Asia Minor, these coins with their representation of the Great King were clearly means of propaganda. This is one of the major reasons why the depictions on the Persian imperial currency remained unchanged deep into the 4th century BC. This continuity, however, is again the reason why these coins are often difficult to assign to a particular ruler.
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