Editing Coin (section)

====Achaemenid coinage (546–330 BC)====
{{main|Achaemenid coinage}}
{{multiple image
| align             = right
| caption_align     = center
| image1            = PERSIA, Achaemenid Empire. temp. Darios I. Circa 520-505 BC.jpg
| width1            = 233
| caption1          = The first type of Siglos (Type I: "King with bow and arrows", upper body of the king only), from the time of Darius I, c. 520–505 BC
| image2            = Achaemenid coin daric 420BC front.jpg
| width2            = 130
| caption2          = Daric gold coin, c. 490 BC; one of the most successful of Antiquity.
}}

When [[Cyrus the Great]] (550–530 BC) came to power, coinage was unfamiliar in his realm. Barter and to some extent silver [[bullion]] was used instead for trade.<ref name="WM"/> The practice of using silver bars for currency also seems to have been current in [[Central Asia]] from the 6th century.<ref name = bivar/>

Cyrus the Great introduced coins to the Persian Empire after 546 BC, following his conquest of [[Lydia]] and the defeat of its king [[Croesus]], who had put in place the first coinage in history. With his conquest of Lydia, Cyrus acquired a region in which coinage was invented, developed through advanced metallurgy, and had already been in circulation for about 50 years, making the Lydian Kingdom one of the leading trade powers of the time.<ref name="WM"/> It seems Cyrus initially adopted the Lydian coinage as such, and continued to strike Lydia's lion-and-bull coinage.<ref name="WM"/>

Original coins of the [[Achaemenid Empire]] were issued from 520 BC – 450 BC to 330 BC. The Persian [[Daric]] was the first truly Achaemenid [[gold coin]] which, along with a similar silver coin, the [[Siglos]], represented the bimetallic [[monetary standard]] of the [[Achaemenid Empire|Achaemenid Persian Empire]].<ref name=iranica>Michael Alram, [http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/daric "DARIC"], ''[[Encyclopaedia Iranica]]'', December 15, 1994, last updated November 17, 2011</ref>

=====Coinage of Southern Asia under the Achaemenid Empire=====
{{see also|Achaemenid conquest of the Indus Valley|Coinage of India}}
[[File:Achaemenid_siglos_Kabul.jpg|thumb|upright|A siglos found in the [[Kabul hoard|Kabul valley]], 5th century BC. Coins of this type were also found in the [[Bhir Mound]] hoard.<ref name="Errington Bhir mound">{{citation |last1=Bopearachchi |first1=Osmund |author-link=Osmund Bopearachchi|last2=Cribb |first2=Joe |article=Coins illustrating the History of the Crossroads of Asia |editor1-last=Errington |editor1-first=Elizabeth |editor2-last=Cribb |editor2-first=Joe |editor3-last=Claringbull |editor3-first=Maggie |title=The Crossroads of Asia: transformation in image and symbol in the art of ancient Afghanistan and Pakistan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pfLpAAAAMAAJ |pages=57–59|year=1992 |publisher=Ancient India and Iran Trust |isbn=978-0-9518399-1-1 |ref={{sfnref|Bopearachchi & Cribb, Coins illustrating the History of the Crossroads of Asia|1992}}|quote =Coins of this type found in Chaman Hazouri (deposited c.350 BCE) and Bhir Mound hoards (deposited c.300 BCE).}}</ref><ref name=JC/>]]
The Achaemenid Empire already reached the doors of [[India]] during the original expansion of [[Cyrus the Great]], and the [[Achaemenid conquest of the Indus Valley]] is dated to c. 515 BC under [[Darius I]].<ref name="WM"/> An Achaemenid administration was established in the area. The [[Kabul hoard]], also called the Chaman Hazouri hoard,<ref name=OB300>{{harvnb|Bopearachchi, Coin Production and Circulation|2000|pages=300–301}}</ref> is a coin hoard discovered in the vicinity of [[Kabul]], [[Afghanistan]], containing numerous [[Achaemenid]] coins as well as many [[Ancient Greece|Greek]] coins from the 5th and 4th centuries BC.<ref name=JC>{{harvnb|Bopearachchi & Cribb, Coins illustrating the History of the Crossroads of Asia|1992|pp=57–59}}: "The most important and informative of these hoards is the Chaman Hazouri hoard from Kabul discovered in 1933, which contained royal Achaemenid sigloi from the western part of the Achaemenid Empire, together with a large number of Greek coins dating from the fifth and early fourth century BCE, including a local imitation of an Athenian tetradrachm, all apparently taken from circulation in the region."</ref> The deposit of the hoard is dated to the Achaemenid period, in approximately 380 BC.<ref>{{harvnb|Bopearachchi, Coin Production and Circulation|2000|p=309 and Note 65}}</ref> The hoard also contained many locally produced silver coins, minted by local authorities under Achaemenid rule.<ref name="WM70">{{cite book |last1=Metcalf |first1=William E. |title=The Oxford Handbook of Greek and Roman Coinage |date=2016 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780199372188 |pages=70–80 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=trkUDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA63 |language=en}}</ref> Several of these issues follow the "western designs" of the facing bull heads, a stag, or Persian column capitals on the obverse, and incuse punch on the reverse.<ref name="WM70"/><ref>{{cite book |last1=André-Salvini |first1=Béatrice |title=Forgotten Empire: The World of Ancient Persia |date=2005 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=9780520247314 |page=208 Coin no.381 for the Persian column capitals |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kJnaKu9DdNEC&pg=PA208 |language=en}}</ref>

According to numismatist [[Joe Cribb]], these finds suggest that the idea of coinage and the use of punch-marked techniques was introduced to India from the Achaemenid Empire during the 4th century BC.<ref>{{harvnb|Cribb, Investigating the introduction of coinage in India|1983|p=101}}</ref> More Achaemenid coins were also found in [[Pushkalavati]] and in [[Bhir Mound]].<ref name="CNG 309206"/>

<gallery>
File:Achaemenid Empire coin. Uncertain mint in the Kabul Valley. Circa 500-380 BCE.jpg|alt=Punch-marked coin minted in the Kabul Valley under Achaemenid administration. Circa 500–380 BCE, or c.350 BCE.|Punch-marked coin minted in the Kabul Valley under Achaemenid administration, c. 500–380 BC, or c. 350 BC.<ref name="CNG 309874">[https://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=309874 "Extremely Rare Early Silver from the Kabul Valley", CNG 102, Lot:649], CNG Coins</ref><ref name=JC/>
File:Gandhara bent bar.jpg|[[Gandhara]]n "bent-bar" punch-marked coin minted under Achaemenid administration, of the type found in large quantities in the Chaman Hazouri and the [[Bhir Mound]] hoards.
File:Gandhara1.JPG|Early [[punch-marked coins]] of Gandhara,  [[Taxila]]-[[Gandhara]] region.
</gallery>