Pot of gold coins discovered in ancient Greek city

A pot full of gold coins was found inside a room beneath a home in Notion, an ancient Greek city in western Turkey in 2024. Notion is a well-preserved and almost completely unexplored ancient city. The discovery of such a valuable find is extremely rare. The darics were likely minted in Sardis, located 97km northeast of Notion sometime during the fifth century B.C. According to the Greek historian Xenophon, a single daric was equivalent to a soldier's pay for one month.

The Hellenistic period occurred after the death of Alexander the Great in 323 B.C. and lasted until the conquest of the final Hellenistic kingdom by Rome in 31 B.C. During the sixth century B.C., Notion was incorporated into the Persian Empire along with other Greek cities. In the early fifth century B.C., it was freed from Persian rule. Between 430 and 427 B.C., a group of Persian sympathizers, as well as Greek mercenaries, occupied Notion. Athenian general Paches killed Persian mercenaries and expelled Persian sympathizers. Its thought the hoard was left behind.

Notion was at the epicenter of the tumultuous period of the last few centuries BCE and 1st century CE, when many settlements of Ionia and adjacent regions were re-founded, moved to new locations, or incorporated into other communities (synoikism).