Ancient Archaic Period - 500-400 BCE Achaemenid Persian Empire AV Daric, NGC Fine

ACHAEMENID PERSIAN EMPIRE. Darius I-Xerxes II (circa 5th century BC). AV Daric, NGC Fine. 8.28 g. Strike: 4/5 – Surface: 4/5. Crafted to the Lydo-Milesian standard. Struck at the Sardes mint, circa 485-420 BC. The obverse displays the image of a Persian king, wearing cidaris and candys, holding a quiver over his shoulder, in kneeling-running stance facing to the right.  His drapery is in angular form from his left knee to ground, with his right knee obscured by drapery.  He holds a transverse spear in right hand, bow forward in left. The reverse has an incuse punch. Cyrus the Great introduced coins to the Persian Empire after 546 BC. It was Darius I (521-486 BC) who introduced a thick gold coin with a standard weight of 8.4 grams that equaled the value of 20 silver coins.

Map showing Sardis—where this offering from AUCM was struck—and other cities within the Lydian Empire. Shading shows Lydia in the middle of the 6th century BCE at the time of King Croesus; red line shows its earlier extent in the 7th century BCE. It was in 546 BC that it became a province of the Achaemenid Persian Empire. Image: wikimedia.org.