DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.45277#0782
698
PERSIA.
PERSIA.
It is genei’ally supposed that the Persians, like the Medes and Baby-
lonians, were unacquainted with the use of coined money, or at any rate
that they possessed no coinage of their own before the age of Darius, the
son of Hystaspes. M. G. Bertin, in the Proceedings of the Society of
Biblical Archaeology (1883-4, p. 87), has, however, read the word Dariku
on a Babylonian contract tablet, dated in the twelfth year of Nabonidas,
five years before the conquest of Babylon by Cyrus; but there is no
evidence that the word there signifies a piece of coined money, though it
seems to stand for a measure of some sort. The existence of a measure or
weight called Dariku among the ancient Babylonians tells, however, against
the accepted derivation of the Greek word Aapei/cos from the name Darius,
for Dariku has no etymological affinity with the old Persian form of the
name Darius, Raryavushx. Whether the Persians coined darics before
Darius must, therefore, remain for the present a disputed point, but that
Darius coined gold money of the finest quality we are told by Herodotus
(iv. 166), Aapeios plv yap ypvalov Ka0apd>Tarov aTrepriaas es to ovvaTcbraTOV
vogccrga eKoparo. Vast numbers of these royal gold coins were circu-
lating in the Persian dominions in Asia Minor as early as the time of the
expedition of Xerxes, for Herodotus (vii. 28) asserts that the Lydian
Pythius had in his own possession as many as 3,993,000 of them, a sum
which Xerxes increased to 4,000,000. Darics are also mentioned by
Thucydides (viii. 28); Xenophon (Anab., i. 1. 9 ; i. 3. 21 ; i. 7. 18 ; v. 6.
18; vii. 6. 1; Cyrop., v. 2. 7); Demosthenes (xxiv. 129); Aristophanes
fEccl., 602); Arrian {Anab., iv. 18. 7); Diodorus (xvii. 66); and by many
others. Unfortunately the great uniformity of style and the absence of
any inscription on the darics preclude the possibility of classifying them
according to the reigns in which they must have been issued, viz.
Cyrus (?) b.c. 558-529; Cambyses (?) B.C. 529-521; Darius I, b.c. 521
-486 ; Xerxes, B. C. 486-465 ; Artaxerxes I (Longimanus), b. c. 465-425 ;
Darius II (Nothus), b. c. 425-405; Artaxerxes II (Mnenion), B. c. 4°5~359 5
Artaxerxes III (Ochus), B. c. 359-338 ; Arses, B. c. 338-336; and Darius
III (Codomannus), b. c. 336-331. The varieties of the gold daric may be
thus described :—■
Fig. 365.
1 M. Oppert and M. Revillout (Ann. de Num., 1884, 119) are also of opinion that the word
SapetKos is unconnected with Aapefos. According to these authorities it comes from the Assyrian
HDD Jii (darag mana), ‘ degree (i. e. of the mina,’ an expression from which the Greek word
Spaxgh may also have been derived. But see Hultsch (Metrologie, p. 131), who inclines to the
accepted derivation of tipaxph from Spacaopai (cf. paypa and 3pa£, a handful) assigned to it by
Plutarch (Lys., 17) and Pollux (ix. 77)-
PERSIA.
PERSIA.
It is genei’ally supposed that the Persians, like the Medes and Baby-
lonians, were unacquainted with the use of coined money, or at any rate
that they possessed no coinage of their own before the age of Darius, the
son of Hystaspes. M. G. Bertin, in the Proceedings of the Society of
Biblical Archaeology (1883-4, p. 87), has, however, read the word Dariku
on a Babylonian contract tablet, dated in the twelfth year of Nabonidas,
five years before the conquest of Babylon by Cyrus; but there is no
evidence that the word there signifies a piece of coined money, though it
seems to stand for a measure of some sort. The existence of a measure or
weight called Dariku among the ancient Babylonians tells, however, against
the accepted derivation of the Greek word Aapei/cos from the name Darius,
for Dariku has no etymological affinity with the old Persian form of the
name Darius, Raryavushx. Whether the Persians coined darics before
Darius must, therefore, remain for the present a disputed point, but that
Darius coined gold money of the finest quality we are told by Herodotus
(iv. 166), Aapeios plv yap ypvalov Ka0apd>Tarov aTrepriaas es to ovvaTcbraTOV
vogccrga eKoparo. Vast numbers of these royal gold coins were circu-
lating in the Persian dominions in Asia Minor as early as the time of the
expedition of Xerxes, for Herodotus (vii. 28) asserts that the Lydian
Pythius had in his own possession as many as 3,993,000 of them, a sum
which Xerxes increased to 4,000,000. Darics are also mentioned by
Thucydides (viii. 28); Xenophon (Anab., i. 1. 9 ; i. 3. 21 ; i. 7. 18 ; v. 6.
18; vii. 6. 1; Cyrop., v. 2. 7); Demosthenes (xxiv. 129); Aristophanes
fEccl., 602); Arrian {Anab., iv. 18. 7); Diodorus (xvii. 66); and by many
others. Unfortunately the great uniformity of style and the absence of
any inscription on the darics preclude the possibility of classifying them
according to the reigns in which they must have been issued, viz.
Cyrus (?) b.c. 558-529; Cambyses (?) B.C. 529-521; Darius I, b.c. 521
-486 ; Xerxes, B. C. 486-465 ; Artaxerxes I (Longimanus), b. c. 465-425 ;
Darius II (Nothus), b. c. 425-405; Artaxerxes II (Mnenion), B. c. 4°5~359 5
Artaxerxes III (Ochus), B. c. 359-338 ; Arses, B. c. 338-336; and Darius
III (Codomannus), b. c. 336-331. The varieties of the gold daric may be
thus described :—■
Fig. 365.
1 M. Oppert and M. Revillout (Ann. de Num., 1884, 119) are also of opinion that the word
SapetKos is unconnected with Aapefos. According to these authorities it comes from the Assyrian
HDD Jii (darag mana), ‘ degree (i. e. of the mina,’ an expression from which the Greek word
Spaxgh may also have been derived. But see Hultsch (Metrologie, p. 131), who inclines to the
accepted derivation of tipaxph from Spacaopai (cf. paypa and 3pa£, a handful) assigned to it by
Plutarch (Lys., 17) and Pollux (ix. 77)-