Summary: Archeologists uncover a 2,600-year-old hoard of Persian gold coins called darics, linked to ancient mercenaries in Notion, Turkey.
In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom…” – Ezra 1:1 (ESV)
Ancient Buried Treasure
It was just announced last month that a treasure trove of roughly 2,600-year-old gold Persian coins were uncovered in the ancient Greek city of Notion in western Turkey.
The coins were found buried in a small ceramic pot inside a large courtyard house by a team of researchers led by University of Michigan archaeologist Christopher Ratté, director of the Notion Archaeological Project, and professor of ancient Mediterranean art and archaeology.
A figure of a kneeling archer is displayed on one side of the coins. This is a characteristic design of darics, gold coins made by the Persian Empire, often used to pay mercenary troops, said Ratté in a statement.
“The discovery of such a valuable find in a controlled archaeological excavation is very rare. No one ever buries a hoard of coins, especially precious metal coins, without intending to retrieve it,” Ratté explained. “So only the gravest misfortune can explain the preservation of such a treasure.”
This find promises to shed new light on the historical interplay between ancient Greek and Persian civilizations, who greatly influenced the Jewish people. It was the Persian King Cyrus who conquered Babylon, ending the forced Jewish exile and allowing the people to return to their homeland.
Chronological Sequence
The gold coins weigh approximately 8.4 grams and are on average 16 millimeters in diameter, slightly smaller than a dime. They were most likely minted at Sardis, 60 miles northeast of Notion, according to Ratté. The hoard, dated to the 5th century BC, provides another datapoint for historians concerning the timeline and history of Persian darics.
Daric coins were issued by the Persian Empire from the late 6th century BC until the conquest by Alexander the Great in 330 BC. During this period, the design of the coins remained essentially the same, with minor stylistic differences. Researchers use these slight variations to chronologically arrange the coins.
One of the important aspects of the newly discovered cache of coins is that they are independently dated by other artifacts associated with them. “This hoard will provide a firm date that can serve as an anchor to help fix the chronology of the (entire sequence of coins),” said Ratté.
The archaeological context for the hoard will “allow us to fine-tune the chronology of the Achaemenid gold coinage,” according to Andrew Meadows of Oxford University, formerly curator of coins at the British Museum and the American Numismatic Society. “This is a spectacular find … of the highest importance.”
Courtyard House Excavations
The almost completely unexplored ancient city of Notion is an extraordinary and well-preserved archaeological resource. Notion is located in Ionia, a region encompassing the central portion of the Aegean coast of Turkey and the Greek islands of Samos and Chios.
The city is a natural borderland with a long tradition of shifting cultural identities. Its proximity to other major archaeological sites, including Klaros, Kolophon, Metropolis, and Ephesus, further enhances its significance.
A comprehensive archaeological survey of ancient Notion was done between 2014 and 2018. Further excavations were launched in 2022. The best-preserved remains of the city date to the Hellenistic period, between the 3rd and 1st centuries BC, after the death of Alexander the Great.
However, excavation of a large courtyard house in the center of the Notion has shown the city was likely inhabited even earlier. Researchers found fragments of pottery from the 5th century BC in earlier walls built into the foundations of the 60×60-foot house. During July 2023, excavation beneath a section of the 400-square-foot central courtyard revealed a small ceramic pot containing the cache of coins. “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,” Ratté said.
Coins in Context
One of the main uses of the daric was to pay mercenary troops, so it is possible that this hoard was associated with military operations in the area around Notion, said the researchers. “According to the Greek historian Xenophon, a single daric was equivalent to a soldier’s pay for one month,” explained Ratté.
Most daric hoards have been found by looters who have “no concern for history.” This find is important and exciting because it was discovered within a scientific excavation by archaeologists.
“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. In the case of this hoard, we know precisely where it was found, and we have a great deal of circumstantial evidence for when it was deposited, probably in the late 5th century BC.”
The Spread of the Persian Empire
Military operations around Notion are frequently mentioned by ancient historians. As a border region between the Persian and Athenian areas of influence, Notion and nearby cities struggled with conflicting loyalties. Notion became part of the Persian Empire, in the mid-6th century BC, along with the other Greek cities on the west coast of Turkey.
Then for a time in the early 5th century, Notion came under Athenian control. Later during the early 4th century BC, Notion was reintegrated back into the Persian Empire where it stayed under Persian possession until the conquest of Alexander the Great in 334 BC. This is the kind of back-and-forth conflict that led to the deposition and the loss of this hoard, according to Ratté.
The harbor of Notion was an important military asset because of its strategic location. A naval battle took place off the coast of Notion between Athens and Sparta in 406 BC. War also erupted during the Great Satraps’ Revolt in the 360s BC, when several of the Persian governors of western Anatolia rebelled against the central authorities.
Persia and the Bible
Jewish people were taken captive by King Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon in several different waves during the span of 606-582 BC. Scripture prophesied though that the Jews would be allowed to return to Jerusalem after 70 years of exile.
Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Daniel all prophesied that the Medes and the Persians would overtake the Babylonian Empire. Isaiah quoted God as saying, “I am stirring up the Medes against them… Their bows will slaughter the young men” (Isa. 13:17-18).
Another prophecy foretold that the Medes would expand beyond Babylon and affect all nations (Jer. 51:28). Babylon would be destroyed as “vengeance for [God’s] temple” (Jer. 51:11). Daniel prophesied of Babylon’s fall when interpreting Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of a statue. Daniel also warned of Babylon’s demise on the eve of its fall, by interpreting the writing on the wall (Dan. 5).
“Then from [God’s] presence the hand was sent, and this writing was inscribed… : Mene, Mene, Tekel, and Parsin. This is the interpretation of the matter: Mene, God has numbered the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end; Tekel, you have been weighed in the balances and found wanting; Peres, your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.” – Dan. 5:24-28 (ESV)
Persia attacked Babylon in 539 BC and within a short time, Daniel became a trusted adviser to the new Medo-Persian Empire. In about 537 BC, through the Edict of Restoration (Ezra 1:1-4; 2 Chron 36:22-23) the Jews were allowed by King Cyrus of Persia to return to Israel and begin rebuilding the city and temple, as prophesied. Eventually, the return under the direction of Ezra led to the rebuilding of the temple. The coin stash at Notion dates to a few decades after that point.
In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing:
“Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever is among you of all his people, may his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and rebuild the house of the Lord, the God of Israel—he is the God who is in Jerusalem.” – Ezra 1:1-3 (ESV)
This policy was an unprecedented change by Persia; from the expatriation of conquered peoples practiced by Assyrian, Babylon, and other Near-Eastern empires, to the repatriation enacted by Cyrus allowing his subjects, such as the Jews in exile, to return to their homelands and worship the way they wished. His policy is documented in the Cyrus Cylinder discovered in 1879.
Cyrus had been prophesied by name in Isaiah 44:28 and 45:1, a hundred and fifty years before he was born. This event is part of the sequence investigated in our next Patterns of Evidence film series. The prophecy about Cyrus has motivated many scholars to propose a second (later) author for part of the book of Isaiah. Due to a rigid presupposition against the possibility of supernatural revelation, their assumption is that the Cyrus prophecy was added to the book of Isaiah after Cyrus had allowed the return to Judah, and then made to look like a prophecy written 150 years earlier. However, there is no evidence to support that idea.
Later the kingdom of Persian was ruled by Artaxerxes II, or Ahasuerus, who married Esther. A key event in the history of Israel is described in the book of Esther which records the origin of the Feast of Purim and how the Jews were spared mass destruction.
God used the Persian Empire, as it conquered land from Egypt to India and all the way to Turkey, to set his captive people free, fund the rebuilding of the temple, and encourage his children that they are never forsaken. The hoard of daric coins from Nation, Turkey attest to the vast spread of the Persian Empire.
Conclusion
The coins from the hoard are now being studied and cared for by the Ephesus Archaeological Museum in Turkey. Researchers hope that continued excavation will clarify the archaeological context of the hoard, while study of the coins will provide further evidence for the date, function, and historical implications of this remarkable archaeological find.
Professor Ratté and his team are optimistic that the excavation will yield more insights into the ancient city’s complex past, offering a window into the interactions between the Persian Empire and the Greek city-states along Anatolia’s western coast.
The project is sponsored by U-M and the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology, in cooperation with Sinop University and is authorized by the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism.
Keep Thinking!
TOP PHOTO: Gold coin found in the hoard of Persian darics uncovered at Notion, which seems to have been buried by a soldier some 2,400 years ago. (credit: Notion Archaeological Project, University of Michigan)
