The daric

The Achaemenid Empire ruled over much of the Middle East from 550 to 330 BCE.

Coinage was issued from the mint of Sardis and consisted of the silver siglos and the gold daric. This is the bimetallic monetary standard by the Achaemenid Empire, copied from Croesus. The coins remained basically unchanged for over two hundred years. The daric was a high-purity gold coin of 8.4 grams based on the ancient Babylonian shekel. It was a month’s pay for a mercenary. One daric exchanged for 20 silver sigloi.

When Cyrus the Great (550–530) came to power, coinage was unfamiliar in his realm. Cyrus the Great introduced coins to the Persian Empire after 546 BCE, following his conquest of Lydia and the defeat of its king Croesus, whose father Alyattes had put in place the first bi-metal coinage in history. The staters had a weight of 10.7 grams, a standard initially created by Croesus.

Hoards of the international trade coin have been found from Sicily to Afghanistan. The daric is one of the few coins mentioned in the Old Testament. There are 4 main types of daric. There are few survivors of the type 1 and type 2 coins, making them extremely valuable. The Type 3 daric is by far the most common. Dated from around 485 to 420 BCE, there are several variants. Condition determines value. The rare Type IV daric, dated c. 455-420, shows the king holding a short dagger rather than a spear.

Even more rare and valuable are “double darics” which continued to be struck under Alexander the Great at Babylon for a short time after the fall of the Persian empire. The example shown made $50k in 2015.

Spectacular Ancient Bronze

Dated to 330 BC, the Boxer at Rest is a sculpture of a sitting nude boxer at rest, still wearing his caestus, a type of leather hand-wrap, in the National Museum of Rome.

The Boxer was discovered in 1885, possibly from the remains of the Baths of Constantine.

“Portrait of Seuthes III” (310-300 B.C.), Greek. Bronze, copper, calcite, alabaster, and glass. Seuthes III was a ruler of the Odrysian kingdom of Thrace from 331 BC to ca. 300 BC. This bronze was found in his tomb. “The Medici Riccardi Horse” About 350 B.C. Italian Bronze and gold.

The bronze "Chimera of Arezzo" is one of the best known examples of the art of the Etruscans. It was found in Arezzo, an ancient Etruscan and Roman city in Tuscany, in 1553. Inscribed on its right foreleg is an inscription, TINSCVIL, showing that the bronze was a votive object dedicated to the supreme Etruscan god of day, Tin or Tinia. The statue is thought to have been made around 400 BC.

The over-lifesize "Dancing Satyr" of Mazara del Vallo is a Greek bronze statue recovered from the sea floor at a depth of 500m (1600 ft.) off the southwestern coast of Sicily in 1998. The satyr is depicted in mid-leap, head thrown back ecstatically and back arched, his hair swinging with the movement of his head. The figure is highly refined; the whites of his eyes are inlays of white alabaster.

Artemis and the Stag is an early Roman Imperial or Hellenistic bronze sculpture of the ancient Greek goddess Artemis. In June 2007 the statue fetched $28.6 million at auction, the highest sale price of any sculpture at the time. The statue depicts Artemis, the Greek goddess of hunting and wild animals. She stands in a pose that suggests she has just released an arrow from her bow. At some point in its history, the bow was separated from the sculpture and was lost.

Alexander the Great on Horseback, 100-1 B.C., bronze and silver. Victorious Athlete, "The Getty Bronze" 300-100 B.C.

Statue of Athene (“The Peiraeus Athena”). Bronze. 340—330 BCE

The Artemesium ZeusThe horses of St Mark's Basilica. 2nd or 3rd century AD.

The Riace Bronzes (The Riace Warriors) Around 460 BC.

The Battle of Marathon

The battle of Marathon is one of history's most famous military engagements and one of the earliest recorded battles. The Athenians defeated the Persians at the Battle of Marathon today in 490 BC.

In 490 BC a Persian armada of 600 ships disgorged a force of 20,000 on Greek soil just north of Athens. Their mission was to crush the Greek states. Athens mobilized 10,000 hoplite warriors. The two armies met on the Plain of Marathon 26 miles north of Athens.

Greek general Miltiades made a passionate plea for boldness and convinced his fellow generals to attack the Persians. Miltiades ordered the Greek hoplites to form a line equal in length to that of the Persians. Then - in an act that his enemy believed to be madness - he ordered his Greek warriors to attack the Persian line at a dead run. In the ensuing melee, the middle of the Greek line gave way, but the flanks were able to engulf and slaughter the trapped Persians. An estimated 6,400 Persians were slaughtered while only 192 Greeks were killed. The remaining Persians escaped on their ships and made an attempt to attack what they thought was an undefended Athens. However, the Greek warriors made a forced march back to Athens and arrived in time to thwart the Persians.

Corinthian Helmet and Skull from the Battle of Marathon 490 BCE – Royal Ontario Museum, Canada. A pivotal moment in Ancient Greek history, the battle of Marathon saw a smaller Greek force, mainly made up of Athenian troops, defeat an invading Persian army. This helmet (with skull inside) belonged to a Greek hoplite who died during the fighting. The story of the man who ran back to Athens with the news of the victory became synonymous with the long distance running event in the Olympics.

The story of Pheidippides, who is remembered for running from Marathon to Athens to announce the great victory, is actually different. Instead, when the Persian army arrived, Pheidippides ran from Athens to Sparta to ask for help, and then he ran all the way back, a total distance of 435 kilometers (280 miles). Sparta was in the middle of celebrating a religious festival, the Carneia, and their laws dictated that they could only send military help after the full moon had passed. Research shows that it was the whole Athenian army which actually made the run from Marathon to the undefended Athens.

Notable ancients

Roman Imperatorial, Sextus Pompey as Imperator. (44-36 B.C.) Sextus Pompey used dynastic imagery on his coins. He and his brother portrayed their deceased father on denarii as early as 45-44 B.C. This example sold for $336k in 2018.

Macedonian Kingdom. PHILIP II (359-336 B.C.) The obverse of this posthumous issue of the ancient city of Colophon bears a portrait. Comparison with the posthumous Alexander coins under King Lysimachus and surviving portraits leave no doubt the portrait is Alexander the Great himself. The coin sold for $36k in 2020. Posthumous Alexander coins struck under King Lysimachus are among the most famous of the ancient world. Rather than traditional Heracles/Zeus designs like his peers, Lysimachus revolutionized coinage by depicting the deified Alexander the Great on the obverse to legitimize his own rule.

Zeugitana, Carthage. (circa 350-320 B.C.) Carthage became a naval powerhouse in the 5th century B.C. and challenged the cities of Sicily and Southern Italy for control of the Mediterranean. By the early 3rd century B.C., most of Central North Africa, Spain and Sicily had fallen to the Carthaginians. Mints produced coins to pay the largely mercenary army. This early stater indicates the dies were created by a Greek engraver with superior skill. This coin sold for $15k in 2019.

A powerful army was put to use by the third king of the Ptolemaic dynasty, Ptolemy III Euergetes (246-222 B.C.). Shortly after inheriting the throne, he launched an invasion of the neighboring Seleucid Kingdom of Syria. He crushed all resistance reaching Babylon, where he proclaimed himself King of Kings. The coin sold for $49,350 in 2016.

High status mummies discovered in Taposiris Magna

The mummies of two high-status ancient Egyptians discovered in a temple on the Nile delta in 2021 may bring researchers a step closer to finding the remains of Cleopatra. The mummies are in a poor state of preservation because water had seeped into the tomb. They were originally covered with gold leaf – a luxury reserved for only the elite – meaning they may have interacted with Cleopatra in her time. Experts believe Cleopatra made plans for herself and Anthony to be buried at a temple called Taposiris Magna in order to imitate the ancient myth of Isis and Osiris.

One male and one female, the pair were likely high-ranking priests. Later finds at the site also uncovered mummies with golden tongue amulets meant to help the dead speak to the god Osiris. The high-status burials support the theory that Queen Cleopatra VII might be buried at Taposiris Magna.

According to the myth, Osiris was killed and hacked into pieces that were scattered across Egypt. After finding all of the pieces and making her husband whole again, Isis was able to resurrect him for a time. 200 coins bearing Cleopatra's likeness links the pharaoh ruler directly to Taposiris Magna, which was founded in the third century BC.

Battle of Teutoburg Forest

In 2018 eight aurei were discovered in Germany that helps confirm the site of the Battle of Teutoburg Forest. Such a find is extremely rare. The discovery at Kalkriese doubles the number of gold coins from the site. The coins feature Emperor Augustus, with the imperial princes Gaius and Lucius Caesar, and date between 2BCE and 4CE. The Battle of the Teutoburg Forest took place between 8 and 11 September 9 AD, near modern Kalkriese, when an alliance of Germanic tribes ambushed and destroyed three legions of the Roman commander Publius Quintilius Varus.

A single aureus from the reign of Augustus would have been enough to feed and house an entire family in Rome for a month. Archaeologists speculate the gold belonged to a high-ranking Roman officer.

In September of AD 9, the 25-year-old Arminius brought Roman commander Varus a false report of rebellion in northern Germany. He persuaded Varus to divert three legions under his command. (17th, 18th, and 19th legions, plus three cavalry detachments and six cohorts of auxiliaries) Ignoring warnings from Segestes not to trust Arminius, Varus marched deep into the Teutoburg Forest. All three legions were wiped out to the last man. Varus committed suicide.

As part of obligations to appease Rome, Segimer, the powerful Cherusci chief, surrendered his sons Arminius and Flavus to the Roman emperor Augustus. The young boys left the village and tribal lands of their birth in central Germania Magna to be taken to Rome and treated as nobility. Varus received his appointment as governor of Germania in 7 AD, about a year before Arminius’ arrival. Varus held overall command of five legions and auxiliaries. Arminius had come to hate everything Roman. Arminius was not alone. He met with tribal chiefs to forge plans on how to rid themselves of the Romans.

Arminius led an army of between 10,000 and 17,000 warriors back to Varus, with several times as many on the way. Word of the impending attack on the Romans spread. Not just among the Cherusci did warriors gather but also from their allies the Marsi and the Bructeri and from the Angrivarii, Chauci, Chatti, and Sugambri. Roman patrols and work parties along the route to Anreppen and in the countryside were caught off guard and slaughtered. Marcus Caelius (c. March 45 BC – c. September AD 9) was the senior centurion (Primus pilus) in XVIII Roman Legion who was killed in the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest. He is known from his cenotaph, which was discovered in 1620 in Birten, Germany. Caelius is depicted wearing his military uniform, with phalerae (a type of military decoration), armillae (a type of bracelet), and a corona civica (an award for saving a fellow citizen's life), while in his right hand, he holds a vitis.

As a result of the battle Germania remained independent from Roman rule. Roughly 25,000 men were killed during the slaughter in Teutoburg Forest. Teutoburg Forest is considered one of the most important defeats in Roman history, bringing the expansion under Augustus to an abrupt end.

It dissuaded the Romans from pursuing the conquest of Germania. Arminius was assassinated in 21 CE by rival Germanic chieftains and members of his own family who feared he was trying to make himself king.

In 1990 a misshapen and corroded cavalry mask was found. Thought to have been worn during exhibitions by cavalry it is one of the most exceptional finds at the site of the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest. It is one the oldest facial helmets known from the Roman army, dating from the first part of the 1st century CE.

Birthday invitation of Sulpicia Lepidina

Claudia Severa sent a birthday invitation to Sulpicia Lepidina (wife of Flavius Cerialis, prefect of the ninth Cohort of Batavians) on September 11 around 100 AD. She lived at the Vindolanda fort in Roman Britain. "On 11th September, sister, for the day of celebration of my birthday...I shall expect you, sister, my dearest soul, as I hope to prosper, and hail." The ancient invitation includes Severa's own handwriting, making it one of the earliest known examples of Latin writing by a woman.

See ---- Vindolanda