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Siglos - Darius I / Artaxerxes II THE ROYAL COINAGE - 3rd type
| Issuer | Achaemenid Empire |
|---|---|
| Year | 490 BC - 375 BC |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Diameter | Log in to see details |
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|---|---|
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Mintage | ND (490 BC - 475 BC) - Type IIIa (Darius I - Xerxes I) 5.30 - 5.39 g - ND (490 BC - 375 BC) - Type III (Darius I / Artaxerxes II) - ND (485 BC - 420 BC) - 1/8 Siglos (0.72 g) Type IIIb - early (Xerxes I - Darius II) - ND (485 BC - 420 BC) - Type IIIb - early (Xerxes I - Darius II) 5.55 - 5.60 g - ND (475 BC - 375 BC) - Type IIIb - late (Xerxes I - Artaxerxes II) 5.55 - 5.60 g - ND (475 BC - 375 BC) - Type IIIb (Helmet) - ND (475 BC - 375 BC) - Type IIIb (lion`s head) - ND (450 BC - 375 BC) - Type IIIb - late (Artaxerxes I - Artaxerxes II) 5.55 - 5.60 g - |
| Additional information |
The "royal coinage" sigloi were struck under direct royal authority rather than by satrapal mints, making them among the most politically centralized coinages of the ancient world. The 3rd type spans a period that brackets the Persian Wars — Thermopylae, Salamis, Plataea — and archaeologists have recovered sigloi in hoards buried by Greek communities along invasion routes, almost certainly wealth concealed in advance of Persian troop movements that was never retrieved.
The .950 fineness held remarkably consistent across the entire Achaemenid royal series, a discipline rarely matched in ancient coinage of comparable longevity.