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What to look for in the photograph
What to look for in the photograph
Details the record or source describes; every point cites its basis.
- 1 The figure the record calls a "king"
The record's title is "Daric with king" and it has no descriptive text. The bow and the spear visible in the photograph are not described in the record.
Per source 1
Documented object · Coins · Achaemenid, per the catalogue; geography Iran
Gold daric with a king
A small gold coin of the Achaemenid empire, assigned by the museum to Iran and dated to the fourth century BCE. The figure is a "king" per the record's title; more than that the record does not say.
Date as given by the sourceca. 4th century BCEAs worded by the source: ca. 4th century BCE; Achaemenid
What you see
What you see
A gold coin about 1.7 cm across. On the photographed side, a figure the record calls a "king"; in the photograph he holds a bow and a spear, but the record's brief entry itself describes no pose, weapon or reverse. The photograph is the collection image. Source 1.
What the record says
The record dates the coin "ca. 4th century BCE", assigns it to the Achaemenid period and culture and gives "Iran" as geography. It shows no mint, weight or provenance details. The coin was given in 1952 and is not currently on view.
Identification before story
"Daric" is the name of a type, and "king" describes an image. The record does not say which king, where the coin was struck or how it was used. The article on coins and hoards explains why identifying the type does not tell who last held the coin, and why the year of minting is not the year of burial.
Its place on the timeline
The site's Levant scheme has a "Persian period" (539 to 331 BCE), but this daric is not assigned to it: it is recorded as an object from Iran, and the Levant periods are a definition by a particular authority for a particular space. Under the Iran tab it appears by source date, and the coins article links it to the period of Persian rule in the Levant as a comparison, not as a placement.
Where it is now
Held by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, record 52.127.1. On 22 October 2026 the record stated "Not on view".
The object's connections
The object's connections
Culture, period, place, type and holder: every connection comes from the record or a cited source.
Object
Gold daric with a king
Region
Kind of find
Discussed in
Compare
- Bronze coin of CyzicusTwo coins: Achaemenid gold versus Roman provincial bronze, some six centuries apart
Source
Sources and further reading
The research and references behind this page. Rights to external content remain with their owners.
- 1
Daric with king, collection record 52.127.1
The Metropolitan Museum of Art · Checked
