-
Silver Persian siglos, no. Izmir 2847, from a hoard. Obverse. (Courtesy of the Vedat Nedim Tör Museum, Istanbul) -
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
The Lydians and their World
(2010)
Cat. 32_3
- 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