Gold
Croeseid minted in the time of
Darius, of the type of the eight Croeseids found in the Apadana hoard, circa 545-520 BCE. Light series: 8.07 grams,
Sardis mint.
Type of the
Aegina stater found in the Apadana hoard, 550–530 BCE. Obv:Sea turtle with large pellets down centre. Rev: incuse square punch with eight sections.[1]
Type of the
Abdera coin found in the Apadana hoard, circa 540/35-520/15 BCE. Obv: Griffin seated left, raising paw. Rev: Quadripartite incuse square.[1]
The Apadana hoard is a hoard of coins that were discovered under the stone boxes containing the foundation tablets of the
Apadana Palace in
Persepolis.[1] The coins were discovered in excavations in 1933 by
Erich Schmidt, in two deposits, each deposit under the two deposition boxes that were found. The deposition of this hoard, which was visibly part of the foundation ritual of the Apadana, is dated to circa 515 BCE.[1]
Foundation tablets
The gold and silver tablets retrieved from the stone boxes contained a trilingual inscription by
Darius in
Old Persian,
Elamite and
Akkadian, which describes his Empire in broad geographical terms, and is known as the DPh inscription:[1]
Darius the great king, king of kings, king of countries, son of Hystaspes, an Achaemenid. King Darius says: This is the kingdom which I hold, from the
Sacae who are beyond
Sogdia to
Kush, and from
Sind (
Old Persian:
𐏃𐎡𐎭𐎢𐎺, "Hidauv",
locative of "
Hiduš") to
Lydia (
Old Persian: "Spardâ") - [this is] what Ahuramazda, the greatest of gods, bestowed upon me. May Ahuramazda protect me and my royal house!
Southeastern deposit: Four gold lightweight
Croeseids (
Sardis mint), three double-
sigloi from
Cyprus (one attributed to
Lapethus, one to
Paphos, and one to an uncertain mint).[1]
The Croesids were found in very fresh condition, confirming that they had been recently minted under Achaemenid rule.[7] The deposit did not have any
Darics and
Sigloi, which also suggests strongly that these coins typical of
Achaemenid coinage only started to be minted later, after 515 BCE.[7]
Symbolism
According to numismatist
Martin Price, the coins in the hoard were probably selected not for the location they represented, but for the symbolic significance of their type. The lion attacking the bull in the Lycian coinage of the
Croeseids had obvious symbolism for the Achaemenids, the
griffin on the coin of
Abdera may have been used as the symbolic guardian of gold, and the turtle of the coin from
Aegina may have been chosen as a symbol of maritime power.[8]
Other coin types of the Apadana hoard
Coin type of the
Cyprus double Siglos from
Lapethus found later near the hoard. Late 6th-early 5th century BCE
Coin similar to the type of a
Cyprus coin from an uncertain mint, found in the hoard. 5th century BCE
^
abFisher, William Bayne; Gershevitch, I.; Boyle, John Andrew; Yarshater, Ehsan; Frye, Richard Nelson (1968).
The Cambridge History of Iran. Cambridge University Press. p. 617.
ISBN9780521200912.