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Home ▸ Catalog ▸ |Greek Coins| ▸ |Persian Empire||View Options:  |  |  |   

Coins of the Persian Achaemenid Empire

The Persian or Achaemenid Empire (c. 550 - 330 B.C.) was the largest empire in ancient history, extending across Asia, Africa and Europe, including Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, parts of Central Asia, Asia Minor, Thrace and Macedonia, much of the Black Sea coastal regions, Iraq, northern Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Palestine and Israel, Lebanon, Syria, and much of ancient Egypt as far west as Libya. It was founded by Cyrus the Great, who defeated the Medes, Lydia, and the Neo-Babylonian Empire. In addition to its size, the Achaemenid Empire is notable for its successful centralized, bureaucratic administration (through satraps under the King of Kings), for its multicultural policy, for building infrastructure such as road systems and a postal system, for the use of an official language across its territories, and for the development of civil services and a large professional army. The empire had a significant influence on the development of humanity's culture and civilization to this day. Alexander the Great, an avid admirer of Cyrus the Great, conquered most of the empire by 330 B.C. The Achaemenid Empire is noted in Western history as the antagonist of the Greek city-states during the Greco-Persian Wars and for the emancipation of the Jewish exiles in Babylon. Persian Empire

Persian Empire, Samaria, c. 375 - 332 B.C.

|Persian| |Rule|, |Persian| |Empire,| |Samaria,| |c.| |375| |-| |332| |B.C.||ma'ah-obol|
Samaria was the capital of the northern Kingdom of Israel in the 9th - 8th centuries B.C. The Assyrians took the city and the northern kingdom in 722/721 B.C. The city did not recover until the Persian period, the mid 5th century. The tensions between the ruling Sanballat family and Jerusalem under the governorship of Nehemiah are documented in the Bible (Ezra 4:10, Neh 4:7–8). Samaria became Hellenistic in 332 B.C. Thousands of Macedonian soldiers were settled there following a revolt. The Judaean king John Hyrcanus destroyed Samaria in 108 B.C., but it was resettled under Alexander Jannaeus. In 63 B.C., Samaria was annexed to the Roman province of Syria. Herod the Great fortified the city and renamed it Sebaste. The ruins are located in the Samaria mountains almost 10 km to the northwest of Nablus.
JD110671. Silver ma'ah-obol, Meshorer-Qedar 20, Sofaer 43, Sunrise 139, Hendin -, SNG ANS -, HGC 10 -, gVF, toned, obv. off center, tight flan, weight 0.640 g, maximum diameter 9.7 mm, die axis 0o, Samaria (Sebastia, West Bank) mint, c. 375 - 332 B.C.; obverse head of satrap left, bearded, wearing kyrbasia (Persian tiara); reverse Persian king on right, standing left, fighting winged beast, he holds the animal’s head in his right hand and dagger in his left hand, Aramaic SMRYN in right field; ex Gorny & Mosch auction 289 (10-11 Oct 2022), lot 449; ex Gert Cleff Collection (Wuppertal); ex Numismatica Ars Classica (Zurich) auction 64 (2012), lot 1609; rare; $550.00 SALE PRICE $495.00
 


Persian Empire, Samaria, c. 375 - 332 B.C.

|Persian| |Rule|, |Persian| |Empire,| |Samaria,| |c.| |375| |-| |332| |B.C.||ma'ah-obol|
Samaria was the capital of the northern Kingdom of Israel in the 9th - 8th centuries B.C. The Assyrians took the city and the northern kingdom in 722/721 B.C. The city did not recover until the Persian period, the mid 5th century. The tensions between the ruling Sanballat family and Jerusalem under the governorship of Nehemiah are documented in the Bible (Ezra 4:10, Neh 4:7–8). Samaria became Hellenistic in 332 B.C. Thousands of Macedonian soldiers were settled there following a revolt. The Judaean king John Hyrcanus destroyed Samaria in 108 B.C., but it was resettled under Alexander Jannaeus. In 63 B.C., Samaria was annexed to the Roman province of Syria. Herod the Great fortified the city and renamed it Sebaste. The ruins are located in the Samaria mountains almost 10 km to the northwest of Nablus.
GS110668. Silver ma'ah-obol, Meshorer-Qedar 188, Sofaer 165, HGC 10 -, Sunrise -, Hendin -, SNG ANS -, VF, centered, toned, light marks, die break upper reverse, weight 0.614 g, maximum diameter 9.7 mm, die axis 180o, Samaria (Sebastia, West Bank) mint, c. 375 - 332 B.C.; obverse head of the satrap right, bearded, wearing Kyrbasia (Persian tiara); reverse head right, bare-headed, bearded; ex Gorny & Mosch auction 289 (10 Oct 2022), lot 422; ex Gert Cleff Collection (Wuppertal); ex Italo Vecchi (London) auction 10 (24-25 Mar 1998), lot 436; rare; $400.00 SALE PRICE $360.00
 


Persian Empire, Gaza, Philistia, c. 353 - 331 B.C., Imitative of Athens Pi-Style

|Persian| |Rule|, |Persian| |Empire,| |Gaza,| |Philistia,| |c.| |353| |-| |331| |B.C.,| |Imitative| |of| |Athens| |Pi-Style||quarter| |shekel|
The Aramaic letter Mem is the symbol of Marnas, deity of Gaza. This type and other similar silver types struck under Persian rule are often described as drachms but we follow Hendin who refers to the local coinage of Philistia, Samaria and Yehud with the names that might have been used at the time they circulated. This type can be dated to about a 20 year period. It imitates the "Pi-Style" tetradrachms first struck at Athens in 353 B.C. and would not have been struck after Alexander the Great's conquest of Gaza in 331 B.C.
GS114667. Silver quarter shekel, cf. Gitler & Tal V.25D, Hendin 6010 (RR), HGC 10 542 (R2), VF, toned, well centered, marks, encrustation, porous, weight 3.900 g, maximum diameter 14.7 mm, die axis 225o, Gaza mint, c. 353 - 331 B.C.; obverse helmeted head of Athena right, with profile eye, olive leaves and pi-style floral ornament on crested helmet, large round earring, mem on cheek; reverse owl standing right, head facing, olive spray and crescent upper left, AΘE downward on right, all within incuse square; ex CNG mail bid auction 84 (5 May 2010), lot 737 (part of); ex Dr. Patrick H.C. Tan Collection; very rare; $350.00 SALE PRICE $315.00
 


Persian Empire, Lydia, Anatolia, Darius I, c. 521 - 486 B.C.

|Persian| |Lydia|, |Persian| |Empire,| |Lydia,| |Anatolia,| |Darius| |I,| |c.| |521| |-| |486| |B.C.||1/32| |siglos|NEW
The 1/24 siglos version of our coin (probably a 1/32 siglos) is the first coin type listed in Axel Winzer's 2005 numismatic work, Antike portraitmünzen der Perser und Greichen aus vor-hellenistischer Zeit (Zeitraum ca. 510-322 v.Chr.). And this is no coincidence as he explains in part, on page 11: "Together with the portrait coins of Darius I (1.1 and 1.2), these two numismatic rarities, minted by Cyrus the Younger (2.1 and 5.1), represent the beginning of the earliest portraits of living people on ancient coins described here." Stylistically, the closest match discovered for the present coin is the gold 1/48 daric (Winzer 1.2) in the Berlin Museum, represented by a drawing in Traité. Babelon makes no mention of the presence of a quiver on that piece, which may also be the case here.

An extraordinarily tiny coin. In later generations, the change-making role of very small silver coins would be replaced by bronze ones.
GA113543. Silver 1/32 siglos, Apparently unpublished, cf. Klein 759 (1/24 siglos), Winzer 1.1 (same), Traité II p. 47, 6 = Winzer 1.2 (1/48 daric), Carradice -, aVF, etched surfaces with traces of earthen sediments in rev. crevices, good centering and detail for such a small coin, weight 0.160 g, maximum diameter 5.1 mm, Sardis (Sart, Turkey) mint, c. 510 B.C.; obverse head of the Great King right, wearing a kidaris (Persian royal crown), quiver(?) behind; reverse semi-square incuse punch; extremely rare denomination of a historically important coin type!; $300.00 SALE PRICE $270.00
 


Persian Empire, Gaza, Philistia, c. 353 - 331 B.C., Imitative of Athens Pi-Style

|Persian| |Rule|, |Persian| |Empire,| |Gaza,| |Philistia,| |c.| |353| |-| |331| |B.C.,| |Imitative| |of| |Athens| |Pi-Style||quarter| |shekel|
The Aramaic letter Mem is the symbol of Marnas, deity of Gaza. This type and other similar silver types struck under Persian rule are often described as drachms but we follow Hendin who refers to the local coinage of Philistia, Samaria and Yehud with the names that might have been used at the time they circulated. This type can be dated to about a 20 year period. It imitates the "Pi-Style" tetradrachms first struck at Athens in 353 B.C. and would not have been struck after Alexander the Great's conquest of Gaza in 331 B.C.
GS114664. Silver quarter shekel, cf. Gitler & Tal V.25D, Hendin 6010 (RR), HGC 10 542 (R2), F, rough, toned, oval flan, weight 3.590 g, maximum diameter 15.8 mm, die axis 270o, Gaza mint, c. 353 - 331 B.C.; obverse helmeted head of Athena right, with profile eye, olive leaves and pi-style floral ornament on crested helmet, large round earring, mem on cheek; reverse owl standing right, head facing, olive spray and crescent upper left, AΘE downward on right, all within incuse square; ex CNG mail bid auction 84 (5 May 2010), lot 737 (part of); ex Dr. Patrick H.C. Tan Collection; very rare; $250.00 SALE PRICE $225.00
 


Persian Empire, Gaza, Philistia, c. 353 - 331 B.C., Imitative of Athens Pi-Style

|Persian| |Rule|, |Persian| |Empire,| |Gaza,| |Philistia,| |c.| |353| |-| |331| |B.C.,| |Imitative| |of| |Athens| |Pi-Style||quarter| |shekel|
The Aramaic letter Mem is the symbol of Marnas, deity of Gaza. This type and other similar silver types struck under Persian rule are often described as drachms but we follow Hendin who refers to the local coinage of Philistia, Samaria and Yehud with the names that might have been used at the time they circulated. This type can be dated to about a 20 year period. It imitates the "Pi-Style" tetradrachms first struck at Athens in 353 B.C. and would not have been struck after Alexander the Great's conquest of Gaza in 331 B.C.
GS114666. Silver quarter shekel, cf. Gitler & Tal V.25D, Hendin 6010 (RR), HGC 10 542 (R2), gF, toned, oval flan, a little rough, weight 3.724 g, maximum diameter 14.7 mm, die axis 270o, Gaza mint, c. 353 - 331 B.C.; obverse helmeted head of Athena right, with profile eye, olive leaves and pi-style floral ornament on crested helmet, large round earring, mem on cheek; reverse owl standing right, head facing, olive spray and crescent upper left, AΘE downward on right, all within incuse square; ex CNG mail bid auction 84 (5 May 2010), lot 737 (part of); ex Dr. Patrick H.C. Tan Collection; very rare; $200.00 SALE PRICE $180.00
 


Persian Empire, Kolophon, Ionia, Artaxerxes I - Darios III, c. 400 - 332 B.C.

|Colophon|, |Persian| |Empire,| |Kolophon,| |Ionia,| |Artaxerxes| |I| |-| |Darios| |III,| |c.| |400| |-| |332| |B.C.||tetartemorion|
In the past, this coin type was commonly grouped under the large "Uncertain Cilicia" umbrella. However, Nicolas Assur Corfù in his 2015 Schweizerische Numismatische Rundschau (SNR) paper, "Bogenschützen auf Kleinsilbermünzen vor 333 v.Chr. – Tetartemoria aus Kleinasien," attributes this and similar tetartemoria of Persian influence to the Ionian city of Colophon, c. 400–332 B.C., thereby filling a notable gap in its minting history, after the end of production of the various Apollo-headed tetartemoria.
GS113187. Silver tetartemorion, Corfù type 1.2, taf. 1, 17-18 (2 spec.); Troxell-Kagan 12 var. (Athena left); Sunrise 94 var. (same); SNG BnF -; SNG Levante -; Göktürk -, aVF/VF, obv. off-center, large die-break cud upper left; rev. nicely preserved in round circle, weight 0.240 g, maximum diameter 6.1 mm, die axis 0o, Kolophon (near Degirmendere Fev, Turkey) mint, c. 400–332 B.C.; obverse Persian king or hero kneeling in readiness to right, wearing kidaris and kandys, quiver over right shoulder, dagger in right hand, bow in left hand; reverse head of Athena right in crested Attic helmet; from the Michael Arslan Collection, ex Bucephalus Numismatics Auction 19 (6 May 2023), lot 280; very rare with Athena right; $140.00 SALE PRICE $126.00
 


Persian Empire, Lydia, Anatolia, Darius II - Artaxerxes II, c. 420 - 375 B.C.

|Persian| |Lydia|, |Persian| |Empire,| |Lydia,| |Anatolia,| |Darius| |II| |-| |Artaxerxes| |II,| |c.| |420| |-| |375| |B.C.||siglos|
This type was minted in Lydia, Anatolia, while under Persian control, prior to Alexander the Great's conquest. The Persian or Achaemenid Empire (c. 550 - 330 B.C.) was the largest empire in ancient history extending across Asia, Africa and Europe, including Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, parts of Central Asia, Asia Minor, Thrace and Macedonia, much of the Black Sea coastal regions, Iraq, northern Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Palestine and Israel, Lebanon, Syria, and much of ancient Egypt as far west as Libya.Persian Empire
GA114196. Silver siglos, Carradice Type| IV (middle) B; Carradice Price p. 73 and pl. 19, 223; BMC Arabia p. 171, 172 ff., pl. XXVII, 7 ff.; Rosen 678; SGCV II 4683, VF, thick round flan, scratches, toned, grainy, weight 5.229 g, maximum diameter 14.2 mm, Sardes (Sart, Turkey) mint, c. 420 - 375 B.C.; obverse Kneeling-running figure of the Great King right, bearded, crowned, dagger in right hand, bow in left hand; reverse irregular oblong punch; $120.00 SALE PRICE $108.00
 


Persian Empire, Lydia, Anatolia, Darius II - Artaxerxes II, c. 420 - 375 B.C.

|Persian| |Lydia|, |Persian| |Empire,| |Lydia,| |Anatolia,| |Darius| |II| |-| |Artaxerxes| |II,| |c.| |420| |-| |375| |B.C.||1/4| |siglos|
This type was minted in Lydia, Anatolia, while under Persian control, prior to Alexander the Great's conquest. The Persian or Achaemenid Empire (c. 550 - 330 B.C.) was the largest empire in ancient history extending across Asia, Africa and Europe, including Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, parts of Central Asia, Asia Minor, Thrace and Macedonia, much of the Black Sea coastal regions, Iraq, northern Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Palestine and Israel, Lebanon, Syria, and much of ancient Egypt as far west as Libya.Persian Empire
GA114725. Silver 1/4 siglos, Carradice type IV B; BMC Arabia p. 167, 143, pl. XXVI, 27; Rosen 679; Sunrise 37, F, toned, porous, tiny edge crack, weight 1.308 g, maximum diameter 10.4 mm, Sardis (Sart, Turkey) mint, c. 420 - 375 B.C.; obverse kneeling-running figure of the Great King right, drawing bow, bearded, crowned, quiver at shoulder; reverse rectangular incuse; rare denomination; $110.00 SALE PRICE $99.00
 


Persian Empire, Lydia, Anatolia, Darius II - Artaxerxes II, c. 420 - 375 B.C.

|Persian| |Lydia|, |Persian| |Empire,| |Lydia,| |Anatolia,| |Darius| |II| |-| |Artaxerxes| |II,| |c.| |420| |-| |375| |B.C.||siglos|NEW
A number of markings in the reverse dies of sigloi of this same Carradice type and group are known. All are rare. This reverse die is published in the "The Dinar Hoard of Persian Sigloi" in Studies Price. Carradice does not recognize the "olive leaf" in his description.
GS114954. Silver siglos, Carradice Type| IV (middle) B; Carradice Price 264 (same dies), aVF, obv. flatly struck, die wear, weight 5.276 g, maximum diameter 16.9 mm, Sardes (Sart, Turkey) or subsidiary mint, c. 420 - 375 B.C.; obverse bearded Great King kneeling right, dagger drawn back in right, bow in left; reverse oblong incuse punch, "olive leaf"(?) inside incuse; extremely rare variant; $110.00 SALE PRICE $99.00
 




  



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REFERENCES

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