I. THE ROYAL COINAGE.

Of the Royal Persian Coinage, commencing with Darius, the son of Hystaspes, and ending with the Macedonian conquest, the following varieties are known. The uniformity of style and the absence of inscriptions renders it impossible to classify them according to the several reigns in which they must have been issued.

Seven or eight specimens of the double daric, as above described, without letters or symbols in the field, have been published at various times. One of them was found in 1826 near Philadelphia in Lydia. See Madden, Jewish Coinage, p. 273.

A close examination of the gold darics enables us to perceive that, in spite of their general similarity, there are differences of style. Some are archaic, and date from the time of Darius and Xerxes, while others are characterized by more careful work, and these belong to the later monarchs of the Achæmenian dynasty.1

Among these latter are to be classed the double darics, of which about twenty specimens have been published at various times. The double darics, however, are not purely Persian, but bear evidence of having been struck in Greek cities, as the greater number of the known specimens have Greek letters or symbols in the field. The same remark applies to the daric (No. 4) with a portrait of a youthful king, and with a bearded head of Pan of Greek work incuse on the reverse, a symbol which may, however, be a countermark. It is not an easy

matter to affirm with certainty to what district of Asia Minor the double darics ought to be assigned; but a comparison of their style with that of the silver staters figured in Pl. III. 14-20 leads me to infer that they were struck in the western portion of Asia Minor.

Herodotus (iv. 166) is the first Greek writer who alludes to the gold money of Darius, who he said was "anxious to leave such a memorial of himself as had been accomplished by no other king;" wherefore, "having refined gold to the utmost perfection, he struck money." As early as the time of the expedition of Xerxes against Greece, immense numbers of these gold coins must have been in circulation, for the Lydian Pythius had in his own 1 Lenormant's attempt to attribute the darics to the several reigns according to the differences in the portraits of the king as visible upon them appears to me to be a refinement of classification.

possession as many as 3,993,000 of them, a sum which Xerxes, by presenting him with 7000 in addition, was munificent enough to make up to the good round total of four million.1

It is remarkable that no writer mentions the double daric; hence we may infer that the issue of these coins was restricted probably to a single district, and that they were not minted during any long period of time.

Half-darics are by some supposed to be alluded to by Xenophon in the following passage: προσαιτοῦσι δὲ μισθὸν ὁ Κῦρος ὑπισχνεῖται ἡμιόλιον πᾶσι δώσειν οὗ πρότερον ἔφερον ἀντὶ δαρεικοῦ τρία ἡμιδαρεικὰ τοῦ μηνὸς τῷ στρατιώτῃ (Anab. i. 3, 21). None of these coins have been handed down to us, nor do I see that we are bound to take Xenophon's words, avτì Saрeikоû трía nμidapeixá, to mean literally that each soldier had three golden half-darics promised him every month. I should rather be inclined to take τpía μidapeixà simply to mean a sum of money equivalent to a daric and a half (cf. тpinμ, the ordinary way of expressing one and a half).

2

The royal silver coin is in every respect similar to the daric, and may even sometimes have been called by the same name, but the ordinary appellation appears to have been the σiyos Mŋdikós, or simply σiyos. Xenophon (Anab. i. 5, 6) furnishes us with a most valuable datum as to the current value of the σίγλος in Attic money, “ ὁ δὲ σίγλος δύναται ἑπτὰ ὀβολοὺς kaì nμiwßóriov ATTIKOUS." This gives us a weight of 84:37 English grains, which is the full average weight of the sigli that have come down to us. The type of the σiyos is not so constant as that of the daric, and many specimens betray great carelessness of workmanship.

The normal weight of the Persian silver must be placed as high as 86 45 grs., although the average actual weight is only about that given by Xenophon. The siglos was the half of the Perso-Babylonic silver stater of 172.9 grs. so frequently met with in the towns along the south coast of Asia Minor, in Crete and in Cyprus, etc. Consequently it may be correctly designated as a drachm (the term drachm being properly applicable only to the half-stater), one hundred of which constituted a Perso-Babylonic silver mina of 8645 grs., and 6000 the talent.

Having thus ascertained the weight of the Persian drachm, it remains to be seen how many of these coins exchanged for one daric. Here again Xenophon comes to our assistance, and supplies us, though indirectly, with the required information in the following passage: ἐνταῦθα Κῦρος Σιλανὸν καλέσας τὸν ̓Αμπρακιώτην μάντιν ἔδωκεν αὐτῷ δαρεικοὺς τρισχιλίους, ὅτι τῇ ἑνδεκάτῃ ἀπ' ἐκείνης τῆς ἡμέρας πρότερον θυόμενος εἶπεν αὐτῷ ὅτι βασιλεὺς οὐ μαχεῖται δέκα ἡμερῶν· Κῦρος δ' εἶπεν. Οὐκ ἄρα ἔτι μαχεῖται, εἰ ἐν ταύταις οὐ μαχεῖται ταῖς ἡμέραις· ἐὰν δ ̓ ἀληθεύσῃς, ὑπισχνοῦμαί σοι δέκα τάλαντα. Τοῦτο τὸ χρυσίον τότε ἀπέδωκεν ἐπεὶ παρῆλθον ai déκa nμépaι (Anab. i. 7, 18). Whence it follows that 300 gold darics were considered by Cyrus the Younger as equal to 1 talent, or, in other words, to 6000 sigli. Hence 5 darics would be worth 1 mina, and 1 daric would be current for 20 sigli. We also see from the

1 Herod. vii. 28.

2 Plutarch, Cimon x. 11, Λέγεται γέ τοι Ῥοισάκην τινὰ βάρβαρον ἀποστάτην βασιλέως ἐλθεῖν μετὰ χρημάτων πολλῶν εἰς ̓Αθήνας

καὶ σπαραττόμενον ὑπὸ τῶν συκοφαντῶν καταφυγεῖν πρὸς Κίμωνα, καὶ θεῖναι παρὰ τὴν αὔλειον αὐτοῦ φιάλας δύο, τὴν μὲν ἀργυρείων, ἐμπλησάμενον Δαρεικῶν, τὴν δὲ χρυσῶν.

above calculation that the relative value of gold to silver in Asia was still as 13.3: 1, hence:

It is the Persian therefore, and not the Attic drachm, which we must understand when Harpocration, in his Lexicon, s.v. Daricus, says, λέγουσι δέ τινες δύνασθαι τὸν Δαρεικὸν ἀργυρᾶς δραχμὰς κ, ὡς τοὺς ὁ Δαρεικους δύνασθαι μνᾶν ἀργυρίου.

i.e. 1 Daric=20 [Persian] silver drachms.

5 Darics=1 [Perso-Babylonic] silver mina.

There is absolutely no evidence in favour of the opinion which has been advanced by some, that the daric was worth 20 Attic drachms, for even in Greece, where gold was cheaper than in Asia, it must have been worth at least 24 Attic drachms, and in all probability passed current for 25, while in Asia it was worth more than 25, the relative value of coined gold to coined silver in European Greece having been until the time of Philip of Macedon, and according to Brandis (p. 251) even later, as high as 124 : 1.

Naturally a single silver coin like the Persian drachm could not suffice for the wants of the people, and it was probably at no time the intention of the Great King to supersede the local silver coinages, although the royal money was perhaps the only legally recognized currency, and the only coin accepted by the government at its nominal or current value, all other moneys being simply received by weight, and afterwards melted down and preserved in the royal treasury as bullion until the time came to coin them again into darics and sigli, when just so much and no more than was necessary for the immediate need was put into circulation.1

The capital punishment inflicted by Darius upon Aryandes, the Satrap of Egypt, must not be taken as evidence that the Great King reserved for himself the sole prerogative of striking silver as well as gold, for Aryandes was not punished with death for coining silver, but for coining it of finer quality than the money of the Great King; and even this offence was not considered sufficient to warrant his execution, for Darius had to bring another charge against him, viz. that he was planning a rebellion, before he felt himself authorized to order him to be put to death.3

1 Brandis, p. 219. Herod. iii. 89, 96.

ἀρχὰς δὲ καὶ φόρων πρόσοδον τὴν ἐπέτεον κατὰ τάδε διεῖλε. τοῖσι μὲν αὐτέων ἀργύριον ἀπαγινέουσι, εἴρητο Βαβυλώνιον σταθμὸν τάλαντον ἀπαγινέειν· τοῖσι δὲ χρυσίον ἀπαγινέουσι, Εὐβοεικόν. τὸ δὲ Βαβυλώνιον τάλαντον δύναται Εὐβοΐδας ἑβδομήκοντα μνέας. (iii. 89.)

τοῦτον τὸν φόρον θησαυρίζει ὁ βασιλεὺς τρόπῳ τοιῷδε. ἐς πίθους κεραμίνους τήξας κατεγχέει· πλήσας δὲ τὸ ἄγγος, περιαιρέει τὸν κέραμον. ἐπεὰν δὲ δεηθῇ χρημάτων, κατακόπτει τοσοῦτο ὅσου ἂν ἑκάστοτε δέηται. (iii. 96.)

In the first of these passages, and in the calculations which follow it, errors have crept into the text. It has been proved by Mommsen (ed. Blacas, vol. i. p. 28) that instead of 70 Euboic minæ being equal in weight to one Babylonic talent, Herodotus must have written 78. See also Brandis, p. 63, sq.

2 Herod. iv. 166: ὁ δὲ ̓Αρυάνδης . .

ἰδὼν Δαρεῖον ἐπιθυμέοντα μνημόσυνον ἑωυτοῦ λιπέσθαι, τοῦτο τὸ μὴ ἄλλῳ εἴη βασιλέϊ κατεργασμένον, ἐμιμέετο τοῦτον· ἐς οὗ ἔλαβε τὸν μισθόν. Δαρεῖος μὲν γὰρ χρυσίον καθαρώτατον ἀπεψήσας ἐς τὸ δυνατώτατον, νόμισμα ἐκόψατο ̓Αρυάνδης δὲ, ἄρχων Αἰγύπτου, ἀργύριον τὠυτὸ τοῦτο ἐπόιεε· καὶ νῦν ἐστὶ ἀργύριον καθαρώτατον τὸ ̓Αρυανδικόν. μαθὼν δὲ Δαρεῖός μιν ταῦτα ποιεῦντα, αἰτίην οἱ ἄλλην ἐπενείκας, ὥς οἱ ἐπανιστέαιτο, ἀπέκτεινε. This silver money was still circulating in the time of Herodotus, but no specimens are now known, for Brandis has restored to Phoenicia (Kings of Byblos) the coins formerly attributed to Aryandes by Ch. Lenormant. The inscription APTAN, said by some to be legible on one or more of these coins, is not sufficiently distinct to warrant us in transferring to Aryandes a series of coins so manifestly Phoenician in character as the pieces alluded to.