Printable Persian Daric Coin

The Lydian Lion coin was minted initially be the father of Croessius and then by Crosseus ihimself in the early years of the 500s BCE. Cyrus the Great introducd the concept of coinage in the Persian empire with the daric, after he defeated Coesus of Lydia some time after 546 BCE. By the end of the 500s and early 400s, two rulers later, Darius I defined that a gold coin would be of the same value as 20 silver coins. Thus the bimetallic standard was introduced to the Achaemenid Empire, where the daric flourished until Alexander the Great conquered persia in 330 BCE. He also conquered Egypt, who had used coins since around 500 BCE but began to mint gold staters around 360 BCE. The Persians also set the standard that it was official governments who struck coins. Thus coins were one of many expressions of the power of the state. The Persians traded with the Babylonians, the Israelites, the Phoenicians, and the Greeks. Lydia had developed during the fall of the Hittites, who called the ar