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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Arthur Chrysler, post: 25094616, member: 152739&quot;]I found this article that may shed some light on this particular token: </p><p>The &quot;Archers&quot; of Darius: Coinage or Tokens of Royal Esteem? – Cindy L. Nimchuk</p><p><br /></p><p>Vol. 32, Medes and Persians: Reflections on Elusive Empires (2002), pp. 55-79 (25 pages) Published By: The Smithsonian Institution</p><p><br /></p><p>Abstract</p><p><br /></p><p>This article reconsiders the traditional view that the Achaemenid imperial coinage bearing emblems of the Royal Archer (in gold darics and silver sigloi) was instituted by Darius I primarily to serve economic needs as a mode of payment for mercenaries in the west. Traditionally, the Achaemenid Archers are thought to be direct functional successors of the Lydian Croeseid Lion-and-Bull bimetallic coinage. Here, by contrast, the communicative and ideological aspects of the Archers are emphasized over the economic. Reassessment of the state of our knowledge of the introductory phases of the Archer series and of the weight ratios in the Achaemenid system suggests that, unlike the Croeseids, these coins were not initially intended to facilitate monetary exchange. Furthermore, iconographical analysis of the Type I and Type II Archers designed in the reign of Darius I shows the force of the messages these items conveyed as tokens of wealth, power, obligation, identity, and protection. The primary intended recipients of these messages were, the article argues, Persian elites in Asia Minor, with non-Persian elites as a secondary audience. The Archers can thus be considered as part of the system of royal gifting from the king to his nobles that reinforced symbolic relationships by offering tokens of value well beyond the mere guaranteed weight and content of the metal. Rethinking the question of the balance among ideological, political, and economic elements of the Archers provides new perspectives on early coinage and early Achaemenid history.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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