Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
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 | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | BMC Greek#16, Sunrise#32 |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Plain, undecorated incuse rectangular punch mark, as struck by a single oblong punch driven into the blank to anchor it during striking. The punch cavity is irregular in outline with no design, legend, or additional decoration, typical of Achaemenid royal gold coinage throughout its production. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| 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.