Featured Persian siglos from the Wars Against the Greeks

Here's my latest treasure, from Vauctions/ Pegasi Sale 330:

Achaemenid Persian Empire, Sardis mint. AR siglos (5.30 g). c. 510- 480 BC (temp. Darius I- Xerxes I). Obverse: Persian King kneeling right, drawing bow. Reverse: Incuse punch mark. Carradice Type II, Sunrise 21. This coin: Vauctions/Pegasi Sale 330, lot 174.

This coin dates to a time and place where Greek and Persian civilizations clashed, in a series of battles that were critical in shaping the course of ancient history. The history of this time is well-documented by both ancient and modern historians, and my very brief summary below is only meant to goad you to seek out the full story. Read Herodotus, and then read one of the modern historical retellings of the story, which incorporate additional ancient documents and archaeological findings. (The movie "300" is entertaining, but not a very accurate retelling of events.)

Darius I became King of Kings of the Persian Empire in 522 BC. Darius was an energetic military campaigner, and he crushed revolts in many parts of an empire that spanned three continents, from Thrace to Asia Minor, Egypt, the Levant, Mesopotamia, Iran, and east to the Indus River. He also fought against the nomadic Scythians in eastern Europe, and led a punitive expedition as far as the banks of the Volga. Within the empire, he initiated a vast system of roadways to link the empire, created a system of satraps to rule the enormous expanse of territory in his name, ordered construction of many new temples and other buildings, and issued a uniform coinage of gold darics and silver sigloi from the mint at Sardis in Lydia, where the Persians had apparently been introduced to the concept of coinage by the kings of Lydia. He was a devout worshipper of the Zoroastrian deity Ahura Mazda, but was tolerant of the many other religions in the empire and allowed them to flourish, even taking part in their rituals when doing so would not be considered impious by their adherents.

At the start of the 5th century BC, some of the various city-states of Greece, led by Athens, were making trouble at the western edge of the empire, encouraging their fellow Greeks in Asia Minor to rebel against the Persians. This culminated in the Battle of Marathon in 490 BC, where a vast Persian army was defeated by a Greek force led by Athens. Darius began planning a follow-up invasion but died in 486 BC, leaving the second part of the war to his son and successor, Xerxes I aka Xerxes the Great. After crossing the Hellespont on a pontoon bridge, the Persian army fought the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC. Here, a small Greek force led by King Leonidas of Sparta was able to bottleneck the Persians for a while, but was ultimately defeated. Most of the population of Athens evacuated, leaving a skeleton force behind in the Acropolis that was soon overcome, and the Persians destroyed the city. However, at the Battle of Salamis the Greek fleet defeated the Persian navy, and Xerxes withdrew the bulk of his troops back to Asia Minor, perhaps fearing that the Greek fleet would try to destroy the pontoon bridge at the Hellespont and thus leave the Persian troops trapped. The remaining Persian troops in Greece were defeated the next year at Plataea, and the Persians made no further attempts to invade mainland Greece.

Silver sigloi (and gold darics) were issued by the Achaemenid Persians for over two centuries, with only a few basic designs. As the coins lack inscriptions, they can only be dated approximately, usually overlapping two or more reigns. This type of siglos, with the full-length king drawing a bow, is attributed to the period 510-480 BC. It is noticeably scarcer than the two other main types, king with bow and spear/king with bow and dagger, which date to later periods. This is somewhat worn, but still a very collectible and historical coin. Post your Achaemenid coins here.

 

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Nice thick silver. Love it.

 

Nice Siglos and write up!

Total fiction but I do like the movie 300

 

Fantastic capture @Parthicus ! Great write-up and cool History!

I have Sigloi / Fractional Sigloi spanning the Achaemenid dynasty of Persia.

Here is my Achaemenid from the same time period as yours. It is one of those tough to find little fractional - kinda like a Tetartemorion, and one of my smaller coins:


Persia Achaemenid Empire Darius I 510-486 BC AR 0.11g 5mm 1/32nd Siglos Persian hero-king in running incuse Klein 758 Rare

 

I have the common type, a last -day purchase at my first coin show. At some point after spending some time learning more about the timeline and variations of issues, I'd like to get more of these historically significant coins.

 

a nice addition!..

 

I have two from opposite ends of the Type II spectrum: The siglos has always been one of my favorite coins and special for showing the fancy shoe.


The 1/3 siglos is much more rare but it is a fourree,

 

I have a QUARTER-Siglos:


Persia Achaemenid Type IV dagger quiver running Darius I to Xerxes II 455-420 BCE AR QUARTER-Siglos 1.35g 8mm Incuse rev

And a FOURREE that impressed me on how early people were will to forge counterfeit coinage (yeah, I know, folks were cheating coinage a day after the FIRST coin was struck...):

Persia Achaemenid Empire 4th C BCE FOURREE 15mm Siglos Persian hero-king in running incuse

 

I love these Siglos. Nice examples everyone!


Persian Empire
Xerxes II to Artaxerxes II,
AR Siglos, Mint in Asia Minor, struck ca. 420-375 BC
Wt.: 5.4 g
Dia.: 16 mm
Obv.: Persian king / hero wearing kidaris and quiver, kneeling-running right holding spear and bow
Rev.: Incuse punch
Ref.: Carradice Type IIIb C

 

..i have a quarter between two siglos..

 

Great coin and strong write up! I love reading and hearing about this period in history I need more of these. But here is my "King of kings" with some test cuts and a bonus counter mark.

ACHAEMENID KINGDOM
OF PERSIA.
UNCERTAIN KINGS, about
500-380 BCE Siglos, silver
("dagger type"). AR 16 MM5.52
g. The Great King running r.,
wearing kidaris, holding bow in
his outstretched l. hand, dagger
in his r. hand.
Rv.Countermarked Rectangular
incuse. Babelon, Perses pl. 2,
26. SNG Cop. 284.Rare.
Previous: Savoca Coins

 

Persian Empire
Darius I to Xerxes II, r. 485-420 B.C.
Sardes Mint, AR Siglos, 15.87mm x 5.6 grams
Obv.: King running right holding spear and bow
Rev.: Incuse punch

 

I love these Achaemenid types. Attached is a write-up re: my Carradice Type II example (a one-quarter siglos).

 

This one weighs 5.5 grams. Does it look like a full length king drawing a bow, to you all? Like Parthicus' example above?

 

My only example is pretty rough but also weighs 5.5g

 

yup.. i can see it..edited: well, what i see really is a figure kneeling holding a bow...

 

Definitely not. You coin shows a vertical bow string at rest while type II coins show it drawn back on an arrow. Your coin is a type IV like Ryro's with the rear hand and dagger off flan. Mine is a 1/12.

 

I love these coins. I will toss out a few others from my Achaemenid Hoard:

Not a Siglos or fraction, rather a Tetartemorion:

CILICIA Uncertn Early-mid 4th C BCE AR Tetartemorion 5mm 0.17g Persian king running dagger and bow - Crowned hd Achaemenid king CNG E239 Troxell Kagan 4

Again, not a Siglos, rather an AE from a very famous Satrap from the last of the Achaemenids:

Persia Spithridates Achaemenid satrap of Sparda-Lydia and Ionia- 334 BCE AE10 1.20g wearing Persian headdress - Forepart galloping horse r Klein 367, Cop 1538

This would be the LAST of the Achaemenid series of Siglos:

Persia Achamenid Type IV Artaxerxes II to Daris III 375-336 BCE AR siglos 15.2mm 5.45g running stance r daggar bow incuse BMC 172ff rev