Artaxerxes II-IV and Darius III, Persian Empire, Silver Siglos

This coin’s dating attribution to 375-336 BCE included the latter reign of Persian king Artaxerxes II, the entire duration of both Artaxerxes III and Artaxerxes IV, and the beginning years of the reign of Darius III.

From a biblical-historical perspective this coin’s production and circulation period occurred in the early Second Temple period, in which occurred key events of interest to the history of the Holy Land, Jewish affairs, and more. Persia’s control over the Holy Land was being tested, and their dominance would soon end with the rise of Alexander the Great as prophesied in Daniel 7:6, 8:5-9, 8:21, and 11:3.

During this period Jerusalem had been partially re-occupied by Jewish exiles, Judaism’s hereditary priesthood was in effect, Persia unsuccessfully attempted expansion into Egypt, and Phoenicia and Sidon attempted revolts against Persia. Subsequently some in Jerusalem instigated a revolt, but the Persians led by Artaxerxes III resisted the revolt, burned portions of the city, and deported Jews who had supported the revolt to Hyrcania on the Caspian Sea. Artaxerxes then regained control of Sidon and cruelly punished that city for their revolt.

This coin type is quite similar to other Persian coinage presented this collection from earlier periods. It is most similar to the coin attributed as Carradice Type IV-B. The types are distinguishable only by style and minute details. One of the more obvious stylistic differences is that the Type IV-B royal figure is somewhat cartoonish, while the Type IV-C royal figure is comparatively more lifelike. ¹ This example is worn but still reveals the king’s crown, characteristic long beard, dagger in his right hand, ring-shaped annulets on his chest, and linear lines showing flowlines in kandys (a Persian, long, outer cloak/robe).

Of the four Persian kings whose reign coincided with this coin type’s circulation, the king with the most significant connection to Holy Land history is arguably Darius III whose defeat by Alexander the Great finally ended Persia’s dominance of the Holy Land which was catalyst for the greatly increased effect of Hellenism throughout the Holy Land’s culture – including numismatics.²

Although Darius III ruled at the tail end of this type’s estimated production period, this coin type would certainly have continued in circulation throughout the remainder of his reign – including during the time of two crucial battles between the mighty armies of Persia/Achaemenids and Alexander/Macedonians. The first of which was the Battle of Issus in 333 BCE, followed by the Battle of Gaugamela in 331 BCE.³  At Issus Alexander exacted a pivotal Hellenic victory over Darius III which was essentially the beginning of the end of Persia’s power. Then two years later at Gaugamela the Greek army so thoroughly defeated the much larger Persian army that the fall of the Achaemenid Empire became a reality. Darius III died very shortly afterwards.

ENDNOTES

¹ For additional detail regarding Carradice type distinctions see the excellent summary by FORVM Ancient Coins here: http://www.forumancientcoins.com/numiswiki/view.asp?key=siglos

² Hellenistic influence on Holy Land coinage was already present during the earliest issuance of this featured Persian type. Coins were produced in Holy Land cities with the head of Athena on the obverse and a standing owl on the reverse, which was in clear imitation of the exact same pairing of central design of the Greek Athenian tetradrachms which were extensively traded throughout the Mediterranean area. (For examples see this collection’s silver ma’ah obol from Gaza, and silver gerah hemiobol from Yehud.)

³ At the time of these battles the Persian controlled province of Yehud Medinata (which centered on the city of Jerusalem and its environs) was producing official coinage.