A team of archaeologists and other researchers uncovered a cache of roughly 2,600-year-old gold coins that were likely an unknown mercenary’s salary. The gold was stored in a small pot in the ancient Greek city of Notion, located in western Turkey. The gold was discovered by the Notion Archaeological Project in July 2023, and the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism has officially given permission for the discovery of the coins to be made public this month.
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What are darics?
According to University of Michigan archaeologist Christopher Ratté, the coins show a figure of a kneeling archer. This image is a characteristic design of the Persian daric–a type of gold coin that was issued by the Persian Empire. The coins were likely minted at Sardis, roughly 60 miles northeast of Notion. The hoard of coins will provide more data on the Persian daric’s timeline and history.
“The discovery of such a valuable find in a controlled archaeological excavation is very rare,” Ratté said in a statement. “No one ever buries a hoard of coins, especially precious metal coins, without intending to retrieve it. So only the gravest misfortune can explain the preservation of such a treasure.”
Darics were created from the late Sixth Century BCE up until Alexander the Great’s conquest of the Persian Empire in 330 BCE. The design of the coins stayed the same with very small stylistic differences. Researchers have attempted to arrange the coins in chronological order by analyzing these minor stylistic differences. This newly discovered hoard of coins sticks out because it is independently dated by other artifacts that are associated with it.
“This hoard will provide a firm date that can serve as an anchor to help fix the chronology of the (entire sequence of coins),” Ratté said.
According to the British Musuem’s former curator of coins and Oxford University classics historian Andrew Meadows the archaeological context for the hoard is likely, “if it can be established accurately by other means, to allow us to fine-tune the chronology of the Achaemenid gold coinage. This is a spectacular find… of the highest importance.”
The best-preserved remains of the ancient city of Notion date back to the city’s Hellenistic period, between Third and First centuries BCE. However, the excavation of a large courtyard house at the center of the city shows that it was likely inhabited earlier. Fragments of pottery likely from the Fifth Century BCE were found in earlier walls incorporated into the foundations of the house. In July 2023, a dig beneath one area of the courtyard revealed the gold coins, buried in a small pot.
“The hoard was found in the corner of a room in a structure buried beneath the Hellenistic house. Presumably, it was stored there for safekeeping and for some reason never recovered,” said Ratté. “According to the Greek historian Xenophon, a single daric was equivalent to a soldier’s pay for one month.”
A military city
According to Ratté, darics have been found by looters with little concern for their historical value.
“An archaeological find without contextual information is like a person suffering from amnesia—a person without memories,” Ratté said. “It is still interesting and important, but the loss of knowledge is incalculable.”
With this specific hoard, archaeologists and historians know precisely where it was found, so they have a great deal of circumstantial evidence for when it was deposited and what was going on at the time.
The city of Notion was incorporated into the Persian Empire together with the other Greek cities on Turkey’s western coast in the Mid-Sixth Century BCE. It was eventually freed from Persian rule in the early Fifth Century BCE. However, it was reintegrated into the Persian Empire in the early Fourth Century BCE, where it remained until Alexander the Great’s conquest in 334 BCE.
Military operations around the city have been frequently noted by ancient historians. During the Fifth Century BCE, Notion was under Athenian domination despite being freed from the Persians. The Greek historian Thucydides documented the dramatic and conflicting loyalties of the inhabitants of Notion and nearby cities. This area occupied a border region between the Persian and Athenian spheres of influence.
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Thucydides recounted that between 430 BCE. and 427 BCE., a group of Persian sympathizers from the city of Colophon had occupied part of Notion with the help of Greek and “barbarian” mercenaries. An Athenian general called Paches killed the pro-Persian mercenaries, after luring their commander into a trap in 247 BCE. Persian sympathizers were ultimately expelled, and the city of Notion was reorganized under Athenian supervision.
This type of event may have led to this hoard of coins being deposited and lost, but it is not the only possibility. In 406 BCE, a decisive naval battle during the conflict between Athens and Sparta was fought off the coast of Notion. The city was an Athenian naval base at the time. During the Great Satraps’ Revolt, several governors in Western Anatolia erupted into renewed conflict in the 360s BCE, and Notion’s harbor became an important military asset. The harbor was likely reinforced during this period. The accepted chronology of Persian coins would favor a Fourth Century BCE date for the hoard from Notion.
The coins themselves are now being studied and cared for by the Ephesus Archaeological Museum in Turkey. Researchers are currently excavating new areas of the city that could clarify more of the archaeological context of the coins.