King Darius, Persian Achaemenid Empire

Darius I the Great was the third Persian King after Cyrus the Great. From 522–486 BCE. Darius reigned over the vast and expanding Persian Empire, which under his leadership attained its geographical zenith – including the Holy Land. He is mentioned by name in Scripture several times, appearing in Haggai, Zechariah, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Daniel. He is alluded to in Daniel 11:2 as the third of the “three more kings”.¹ It is widely accepted that the type of coin shown here was issued under his reign.

Darius revised the monetary system by changing the weight structure and introducing new designs on coinage. Rather than the bull and lion depictions commonly used on Lydian coinage under Croesus, Darius’ new Persian types featured a human figure holding a military archer bow. On this coin the figure appears kneeling on his right knee, drawing a bow as though in preparation for shooting an arrow. The inclusion of military-related designs was likely an intentional effort to in some way communicate Persia’s strength.

Whether or not this human figure was intended to represent any one person is uncertain, but the idea that it as a depiction of King Darius is conceivable. Five reasons in favor of this are that these types commenced under Darius, several examples of these types show the figure wearing a crown as would a royal personage, these same design types when stamped on gold pieces were termed “Darics” even as far back as the time in which they were produced, the figure always holds a weapon and Darius proudly claimed to be an excellent bowman and spearman, and on “both the famous rock relief at Bisitun and on his tomb in Nashq-i Rustam, Darius holds a bow”.²

The coin’s weight of 1.45 gr. reveals it to be a one-fourth silver siglos. (A full siglos from this time period would weigh 5.3 gr., a half-siglos 2.65 gr., and a third-siglos 1.767 gr.) At the widest point this example measures just 10 millimeters. By comparison the diameter of a U.S. dime, though the smallest diameter of all U.S. modern coins, is 80% larger at 18 millimeters.³

Although this quarter-siglos continued the one-sided design of earlier Croeseid types, it reveals an important revision of production method in that the side opposite the design has just a single punch rather than two.  

This coin’s likely production of circa 505–480 BCE, would have meant that it circulated not only under the reign of Darius I but also under that of his son Xerxes I, whose mother was a daughter of Cyrus II the Great. During Darius’ reign the Jews remained in subjugation to Persia, but the Jews “enjoyed much peace and prosperity”.⁴

Darius is alluded to in Daniel 11:2 as one of the “three kings”. In his second regnal year the Persian designated governor of the province of Judah, Zerubbabel, received a divine message of direction through the prophet Haggai (Haggai 1:1-11). This message moved Zerubbabel and Joshua the High Priest to raise an altar for sacrificial offerings, lead observance of the Feast of Tabernacles, and begin reconstructive work on the Temple by laying the Temple’s foundation (Haggai 1:13-15; Ezra 3:2-13). Also under the reign of Darius, the prophecies contained in the books of Haggai and Zechariah were given.

In Scripture Darius is perhaps most well-known for his decree that reconstructive work on the Jerusalem Temple should resume after having ceased due to a cunning plot by adversaries to Zerubbabel and Joshua (Ezra 6:1-12). Because of Darius’ strong royal decree being carried out, and because of the obedience of the Jews to the prophesies and direction of Haggai and Zechariah, the Temple was completed under Darius’ reign ca. 516 B.C. (Ezra 6:13-15).⁵  

A significant and famous event which involved Darius’ powerful Persian military was the Battle at Marathon, 490 B.C., in which the Athenian Greeks defeated the Persians and thereby prolonged a degree of Greek independence by having prevented control of Attica falling to the Persians.⁶ This decisive battle is the origin of the 26.2 mile “marathon race”. After this humiliating defeat Darius began to amass another military attack on the Greek mainland, but due to poor health he died with this aim still in a planning process. However, his son Xerxes I (alluded to as the “fourth” king in Daniel 11:2), would pick up his father’s mantle in this regard, and commence what is today termed as the second Persian invasion of Greece. (This coin would have continued in circulation during the reign of Xerxes I.)

ENDNOTES

¹ Scripture refers to more than one personage by the name “Darius”. The Darius in focus here was neither the “Darius the Mede” named in Daniel 11:1, nor likely the “Darius the Persian” named in Nehemiah 12:22. [ISBE Bible Dictionary, Darius, #2527]

² The Oxford Handbook of Greek and Roman Coinage. Edited by William E. Metcalf. Oxford University Press. 2012. ISBN 978-0-19-937218-8. “The Coinage of the Persian Empire”. Michael Alram. Page 61.

³ Amazingly, siglos fractions were produced as miniscule as one-sixty-fourth of a siglos, weighing only .07 of a gram, and merely 4 millimeters in diameter! At such a tiny size, fourteen would fit on the surface of a U.S. one cent piece, and their weight would be less than 40% of the penny’s weight. See: http://www.asiaminorcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=6112

⁴ Easton Bible Dictionary, Darius, #975.

⁵ Despite the finished Temple construction, the city of Jerusalem remained only partially populated with its city walls and gates remaining in disrepair from the Babylonian siege some 70 years prior.

^{6 “}The Battle of Marathon was a watershed in the Greco-Persian wars, showing the Greeks that the Persians could be beaten; the eventual Greek triumph in these wars can be seen to begin at Marathon. Since the following two hundred years saw the rise of the Classical Greek civilization, which has been enduringly influential in western society, the Battle of Marathon is often seen as a pivotal moment in European history.”  http://military.wikia.com/wiki/Battle_of_Marathon