Page:History of Art in Persia.djvu/483

 Medal Engraving. 459 Cyrus and Cambyses allowed the mint at Sardes to continue the issue of gold and silver staters, in the old style and the old types, with which the native populations were accustomed.* When, however, Darius reorganized the empire he felt the necessity of presenting, or rather imposing upon those peoples, a coinage that should bear his own stamp, as an ever-present witness to the power of the new lords of the East To this end he determined to circulate his own money throughout that r^on in place of the old, connected as it was with the ancient order of things. This Herodotus affirms in the following words : — " The money coined by Darius was of gold, refined and of the greatest purity."' The moneys referred to are nearly free from alloy, and are the darics of the Greek writers, of which specimens are plentiful in our collections.* As soon as the mintage had been determined upon, enormous quantities of the new struck coins were circulated in the Persian provinces of Asia Minor, for, according to Herodotus, as early as the reign of Xerxes the Lydian Pithius, tyrant of Celaene, had in his possession no less than 3,993,000 of them.* Whether the sum is accurate or not is of little moment ; the fact that the historian could make the statement without being taxed with gross exaggeration proves that about this time both the dynasts and the wealthy citizens of Greek cities kept millions of darics in their strong coffers. The issue of the royal mint at Sardes was unable to satisfy demands implied by the figures referred to above, and other mints were established in several cities, notably in Cilida and Syria. There can be no doubt that coins were struck in great numbers at Tarsus and Tyre.* The fabrication was placed under the supervision of royal officers, who furnished the metal in bullion form, and had it carefully weighed and the pieces noted down as they were minted. But the men employed to engrave the dies and stamp the ingots (Jlans) were eitlier Greek or Phoenician. It is self-evident that countries where coinage was ' Under Persian rule, writes M. Barclay Head, it is possible that gold darics and silver si^^li may have been stnick there, but of this we have no proof. — ' The alloy found in the darics is only (Fs. Lbnosmant, Za moHnaie dam ranlii/uiic, torn, ii. p, 187). ' Barclay V. Head, The Crim^if Ljdia and Fersia^ p. 33 ; Fr. Lkkormant, La moHiuae dam Fanttquttk^ torn, il pp. 9, 10. Digitized by Google
 * Herodotus, iv. 66.
 * ilcroUotus, vil 28, 29.