Editing Seleucid Empire (section)

===Monetization===
[[File:Antik Sİkkeler Antiochus III.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|Gold octodrachm of Antiochus III; Antioch mint 204-197 BC.]]

Currency plays an increasingly central role under the Seleucids; however, monetization was nothing new in their newly acquired lands.<ref name=":3" /> Rather, the introduction and widespread implementation of currency is attributed to Darius I's tax reforms centuries prior;<ref name=":3" /> hence, the Seleucids see a continuation rather than shift in this practice, i.e. the payment of taxation in silver or, if necessary, in kind.<ref name=":0" /> In this regard, the Seleucids are notable for paying their sizeable armies exclusively in silver.<ref name=":2" /> Nevertheless, there are two significant developments of currency during the Seleucid period: the adoption of the "[[Attic weight|Attic Standard]]" in certain regions,<ref name=":3" /> and the popularization of bronze coinage.<ref name=":2" />

The adoption of the Attic standard was not uniform across the realm. The Attic standard was already the common currency of the Mediterranean prior to Alexander's conquest; that is, it was the preferred currency for foreign transactions.<ref name=":2" /> As a result, coastal regions under the Seleucids—Syria and Asia Minor—were quick to adopt the new standard.<ref name=":2" /> In Mesopotamia, however, the millennia-old shekel (weighing 8.33 g silver) prevailed over the Attic standard.<ref name=":2" /> According to Historian R. J. van der Spek, this is due to their particular method in recording price, which favored bartering over monetary transactions.<ref name=":3" /> The Mesopotamians used the value of one shekel as a fixed reference point, against which the amount of a good is given.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=van der Spek |first=Robartus Johannes |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/272361591 |title="The Volatility of Prices of Barley and Dates in Babylon in the Third and Second Centuries BC." In Documentary Sources in Ancient Near Eastern and Greco-Roman Economic History, by Heather D. Baker and Michael Jursa |publisher=Oxbow Books |year=2014 |location=Oxford and Philadelphia |pages=234–259 |doi=10.2307/j.ctvh1dn9m.15|isbn=9781782977582 }}</ref> Prices themselves are accounted in terms of their weight in silver per ton, e.g., 60 g silver, barley, June 242 BC.<ref name=":4" /> The minute difference in weight between a shekel and didrachm (weighing 8.6 g silver) could not be expressed in this barter system, and a Greek tetradrachm would be "a far too heavy denomination...in daily trade."<ref name=":3" />

Bronze coinage, dating from the late fifth and fourth century, was popularized as a "fiduciary" currency facilitating "small-scale exchanges" in the Hellenistic period.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":2" /> It was principally a legal tender which circulated only around its locales of production; however, the great Seleucid mint at Antioch during Antiochus III's reign (which Numismatist Arthur Houghton dubs "The Syrian and Coele-Syrian Experiment") began minting bronze coins (weighing 1.25–1.5g) to serve a "regional purpose."<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Houghton |first=Arthur |date=2003 |title=Some Observations on Coordinated Bronze Currency Systems in Seleucid Syria and Phoenicia |url=https://www.academia.edu/8883704 |journal=Israel Numismatic Journal |volume=15 |pages=35–47 |via=Academia}}</ref> The reasons behind this remain unclear. However, Spek notes a chronic shortage of silver in the Seleucid empire.<ref name=":3" /> In fact, Antiochus I's heavy withdrawal of silver from a satrap is noted by the [[Babylonian astronomical diaries]] (AD No. – 273 B 'Rev. 33'): "purchases in Babylon and other cities were made in Greek bronze coins."<ref name=":3" /> This was unprecedented because "in official documents [bronze coins] played no part";<ref name=":3" /> it was a sign of "hardship" for the Seleucids.<ref name=":3" /> Nevertheless, the low denomination of bronze coinage meant it was used in tandem with bartering; making it a popular and successful medium of exchange.<ref name=":2" />