• latw-32_3-1
    Silver Persian siglos, no. Izmir 2847, from a hoard. Obverse. (Courtesy of the Vedat Nedim Tör Museum, Istanbul)
  • latw-32_3-2
    Silver Persian siglos, no. Izmir 2847, from a hoard. Reverse. (Courtesy of the Vedat Nedim Tör Museum, Istanbul)

Hoard of Coins from Old Smyrna/Bayraklı: Silver Persian Siglos

Date
Last quarter of the 6th c BC, Late Lydian (Persian)
Museum
Izmir, Archaeological Museum, 2847
Museum Inventory No.
2847
Material
Silver
Object Type
Coin
Coin Denomination
Siglos
Coin Mint
Sardis
Issuers
Officina
Has Mint Mark
Has Control Mark
Has Monogram
Has Countermark
Hoard
Monograph 13 Catalog No.
Site
Old Smyrna/Bayraklı
Description
Silver siglos of Achaemenid type. Obverse: standing three-quarter-length figure of archer, facing right, wearing kidaris and kandys, holding bow and two arrows. Reverse: oblong punch. Diameter 0.014, weight 4.99 g; “worn+” (Robinson) / “good condition” (Aydemir et al).
Comments
After his conquest of Sardis, Cyrus continued to mint coins at Sardis using the same types as the Lydians traditionally had; coins 32.1-32.2 probably belong to this phase of Lydian coinage. Darius, however, began minting a new, explicitly Persian type of coin in the latter part of the sixth century BC. Like the older lion-and-bull types, these were irregularly shaped, thick lumps of metal, with only a punch mark on the back rather than the more advanced reverse devices found on Greek coins of the period, and the obverse showed an archer facing right. These were minted in both gold and silver, and in different types. Type I, to which this coin belongs, shows the archer in three-quarter length, standing calmly and holding bow and arrows (Carradice 1987). Another, and probably later type, Type II, shows the whole figure, kneeling or running, and drawing his bow; Nos. 32.4-32.6 belong to this type. The coins were probably minted at Sardis (perhaps in addition to other centers).
See Also
Kroll, “Coins of Sardis”.
Bibliography
Cook 1958, 30, Pl. 3a; Akurgal 1961, 151, fig. 106; Robinson 1958; Robinson 1960, 32 no. 17; Aydemir et al. 1997, 24, no. 17.
Author
NDC