perhaps one of the greatest military undertakings in history given the
amassed an army of 1,700,000 men for his invasion of Greece in 480 BC. An
entire city was needed to feed the army just two meals, and an entire river
ran dry when they drank. And huge quantities of silver coins were struck to
finance the massive military payroll and all the expenses of huge military
operations. The Hellespont was the water way at least a mile wide connecting
the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea and separating Europe from Asia
Minor. In order to move his vast army, Xerxes commanded his engineers,
mostly Phoenecians and Egyptians, to build a bridge. To do this, 674 ships
were tied together in a double row and planks were laid over the decks. The
planks were covered with brushwood and dirt to create a road. Xerxes
invaded Greece and very nearly succeeded in conquering the civilized world.
pass of Thermopylae, where the 300 Spartans led by Leonidas fought to
the Greek cities to prepare. Although Xerxes captured Athens, the Athenians
had fled with their fleet to the nearby island of Salamis where the Persian
fleet was defeated by the more experienced Athenian navy. The army of the
allied Greek city-states, led by Spartans was able to defeat the Persian army
at Plataea in 479 BC and effectively ended Xerxes' attempted conquest of
Greece.
existence still applies today, even though we average more than twice
coins of the ancients, our human experience can be greatly enhanced. In our
hands we have relics of great kings who commanded huge armies to
that are now unear thed from the paths of these ancient armies are
sometimes the only tangible links that we have. Now you can expand your
horizons to the Fifth Century BC with a modest contribution to the Jonathan
K. Kern Co.
single siglos averages 5.55 grams of nearly pure silver and depicts the
posture as the archaic art expression of running, and other describe him as
kneeling. These coins were struck with a heavy sledge hammer on very thick
oblong planchets, much like silver bullets, with a hand held upper die
depicting the archer. The lower die was probably imbedded in wood or stone
to secure it. The lower, or reverse die of these coins, was used in the manner
of the very first coins ever produced in the world. This lower die was a roughly
rectangular raised metal lump, appearing in hundreds of mysterious
variations. The raised reverse die creates hundreds of mysterious variations.
The raised reverse die creates an incuse impression for the backs of the
sigloi. Museum studies now in progress utilize the reverse incused
impressions for quick die referencing, since the obverse impression of the
Great King is frequently off center. These coins represented a huge explosion
in the production of coined money, and were struck rapidly to fill the need for
pre-weighed silver authorized by a powerful ruler.
to the Asia Minor mint of Sardeis, in Lydia and a bow and a dagger on the
they are countermarked with tiny punches by merchants or bankers, possibly
to attest to the quality of the silver.
congratulated himself upon his good fortune; but after a little while he wept. His uncle
Artabanus, who was with him at the time, asked about this strange expression of
contradictory feelings. "I was thinking," Xerxes replied, "and it came into my mind how
pitifully short human life is...."
known for his capture of the Roman emperor Valerian I in 260 A.D.
As a captive in his court Shapur used Valerian as a footstool. After
Valerian's death Shapur had Valerian's body stuffed and displayed
in a Zooroastrian temple. EF $177.; VF .................................... $77.
satisfaction guaranteed!
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