ern Asia, where gold was preferred (Burns, p. The Achaemenid royal coinage was neither the unique nor the universal medium of exchange in the empire, however. 56; idem, (see coptic manichean texts) there is an extended metaphor in which the minting process is compared to the minting of the Word. 334), in keeping with the rulers’ policy of centralized control, which resulted in a quite uniform coinage. From the Islamic conquest to the Mongol invasions As the Arabs of the Ḥejāz had used the s of the Sasanian emperors, the only silver coinage in the world at that time, it was natural for them to leave many of the Sasanian mints in operation, striking coins like those of the emperors in every detail except for the addition of brief Arabic inscriptions like in Arabic.
In mercantile centers they were used as money, each issue with its own value, but often they were treated simply as another species of bullion and are found in hoards mixed with silver ingots of different forms. All were, however, based on the Persian reformed weight standard, which had also been adopted in the kingdoms of Choresmia, Bactria, and Sogdiana (Mitchiner, 1973, p. In contrast, on the Persian-Afghan plateau trade seems to have been conducted largely by means of bullion transactions, with the silver ingot as the weight standard and the gold shekel as the unit of account (Mitchiner, 1975, I, pp. Despite the wide acceptance of Achaemenid trade coins, the development of monetized relations was severely hampered by limits on the available supply of specie (Dandamayev and Lukonin, pp. There were no important gold or silver mines in Persia, and even copper usually had to be imported. After his conquest of the Achaemenids Alexander established the Attic weight standard throughout his own empire, which also included Choresmia, Bactria, and Sogdia (Mitchiner, 1973, p. His standard coinage consisted of the gold stater, weighing 8.6 g, and the silver tetradrachm (four drachmas) with the head of Hercules draped in a lion skin on the obverse and a seated Zeus on the reverse, weighing 16.8 g. With the accession of Seleucus I Nicator (312-280 B. E.), however, the satraps in his territory, which included Babylonia and the former eastern provinces, lost the right to mint coins. The market ratio between silver and copper was similar (Göbl, 1971, p. The main Arsacid mints were at Ecbatana and Seleucia on the Tigris, though others functioned sporadically. Between 42/662 and 52/672 the names of the Sasanian emperors were replaced by names of local, provincial, or regional governors or occasionally the caliph himself, always written in Pahlavi script.
Although little is known about the organization and staffing of mints in the Achaemenid period, it seems clear that the emperors reserved to themselves the right to coin gold in their empire and that satraps and tributary rulers were allowed to coin silver in their own names for local circulation (Dandamayev and Lukonin, pp. Furthermore, the practice of hoarding in the treasury drained gold and silver from the market and increased demand. The Achaemenid daric and siglos and Athenian “owl” coins also continued to circulate freely, as did satrapal issues. In 305 he began to issue a fairly uniform coinage, with a diademed head of the bearded Zeus on the obverse and a quadriga of elephants on the reverse, which circulated throughout his territory (Mitchiner, 1975, I, pp. A few small, independent rulers in northeastern Persia, Fārs, and Susa also continued to mint their own coins (Hill, pp. The legends on the coins were usually in Greek, and for a considerable time the Arsacids continued the Seleucid dating system (Sellwood, 1980, pp. Mint names are not included on the coins, though many carry monograms and counterstamps, which may have been related to internal mint administration or specific officials. In this period the coinage of Persia seems to have been largely left to local authorities; irregular issues with false dates and mint names abound, and the work of identification and sequencing is still in progress. About twenty min