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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Loong Siew, post: 2400686, member: 75799&quot;]Ancient Persia. Achaemenid Empire. Darius I to Xerxes II. 485-420 BC. Gold Daric. R.</p><p><br /></p><p>Obv: Persian King or Great warrior holding a bow and spear/staff.</p><p><br /></p><p>Rev: Incuse punch.</p><p><br /></p><p>One of the most important coins in ancient history. When Cyrus the Great conquered the Lydians, they adopted their monetary system of gold and silver coins as official currencies of exchange. It was during the reign of Darius I the Great that he started issuing both gold Darics and silver Sigloi bearing the official image of the running warrior or great king. The term Daric was originally thought of being named in honor of Darius himself but was eventually believed to be derived from the ancient Persian term Darin for gold. They became history&#039;s earliest universal trade currency as they were traded heavily with the Greek states and hardly within the Achaemenid Empire. The minting of gold Darics was also strictly a royal privilege punishable by death unlike the more common silver sigloi where satraps and officials were allowed to mint under permission of the king.</p><p><br /></p><p>From a Biblical perspective, the Darics were mentioned in the Old Testament twice as Dram or Ardakonim. References:</p><p><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_chronicles/29-7.htm" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://biblehub.com/1_chronicles/29-7.htm" rel="nofollow">1 Chronicles 29:7</a><a href="http://biblehub.com/ezra/2-69.htm" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://biblehub.com/ezra/2-69.htm" rel="nofollow">Ezra 2:69</a>, and<a href="http://biblehub.com/nehemiah/7-70.htm" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://biblehub.com/nehemiah/7-70.htm" rel="nofollow">Nehemiah 7:70-72</a>; the second in <a href="http://biblehub.com/ezra/8-27.htm" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://biblehub.com/ezra/8-27.htm" rel="nofollow">Ezra 8:</a>27.</p><p><br /></p><p>When Alexander the Great conquered the Achaemenid empire during the 4th century BC, he had all the gold Darics he could find melted and minted into the Athenian Staters in his image. This contributed to their rarity.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]494694[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]494695[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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