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Daric - Artaxerxes I / Darius III THE ROYAL COINAGE - 4th type
| Issuer | Achaemenid Empire |
|---|---|
| Year | 450 BC - 330 BC |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Daric (1) |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | The Great King depicted in a dynamic running pose (the 'kneel-run' convention), facing right, wearing the royal kandys robe and kidaris crown. The king holds an akinakes (short Persian sword) in his raised right hand and a strung bow in his extended left hand. The figure is rendered in high relief against a plain, slightly convex field characteristic of the later fourth-type daric, with bold, schematic modeling of the royal garments and limbs. |
|---|---|
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| Mintage | ND (450 BC - 420 BC) - Type IV A - early (Artaxerxes I - Darius II) - ND (450 BC - 330 BC) - Type IV (Artaxerxes I - Darius III) - ND (420 BC - 375 BC) - Type IV B - middle (Darius II - Artaxerxes II) - ND (375 BC - 330 BC) - Type IV C - late (Artaxerxes II - Darius III) - |
| Additional information |
The fourth-type daric spans the long decline of Achaemenid power, struck continuously through the reigns of multiple kings from Artaxerxes I through Darius III — the last Persian king before Alexander's conquest rendered the entire monetary system obsolete. Athenian mercenaries were paid in darics throughout the fifth and fourth centuries, and Persian gold was explicitly used to finance Spartan naval campaigns against Athens during the Peloponnesian War. The daric was, in effect, a geopolitical instrument.
Darius III was still issuing this type when he fled Gaugamela in 331 BC. Alexander subsequently melted captured Persian treasury stocks — including vast quantities of darics — to fund his own coinage at Susa and Persepolis.