165 
1881.] A. Cunningham— Relics from Ancient Persia. 
have been exactly 84 grains. But this value we know from numbers of 
existing coins to he too low, as the average of 10 good specimens, which I 
have recorded is 85 T9 grains, of which 6 are of 86 grains and upwards, the 
heaviest reaching 87‘9 grains. Accordingly I find that Hesychius fixes the 
value of the siglos at 8 Attic oboli, which would make it 1L2 x 8 = 89*6 
grains in weight. His words are ^lyXos vo/xicrfia UepcnKov Svvdfxevov oktoj 
6J3oXov<5 ’Attlkovs. The siglos is also mentioned in Attic inscriptions,according 
to Lenormant.* It seems probable therefore that the true value may have 
been between and 8 oboli. Now several ancient writers state that the 
Persian Daric was equal to 20 Attic drachms ; and as we gather from 
Xenophon that it was also equal to 20 Persian sigli, I conclude that this 
difference in value must have been due solely to the difference of rate of 
silver to gold in the two countries. In Greece, owing to the successful 
working of the gold mines in Thrace, the rate was only 10 to 1, while in 
Persia it was 13 to 1. That this value of 13 to 1 was not a fluctuating 
rate is proved by the fact that Sim, the Persian word for silver, has also 
the meaning of “ one thirteenthP I believe therefore that the weight of the 
siglos was to that of the Attic drachma exactly in the ratio of 13 to 10, 
which would make the siglos just 87'36 grains, or as nearly as possible 
intermediate between the two values given by Xenophon and Hesychius. 
Accepting this as the true weight of the siglos, the value of 1 Dario, 
or 20 sigli, will be 1747*2 grains of silver, and the Persian talent, which 
was equal to 300 gold Darics in value, and to 300 x 20 = 6000 silver 
sigli in weight, will be 524,160 grains, or 74*88 lbs. At 84 grains to the 
siglos, the Persian talent would have been exactly 72 English pounds avoir¬ 
dupois. Having thus established the normal weight of the siglos at 87*36 
grains, I will now proceed to fix the weights of other Persian coins begin¬ 
ning with the Daric. 
The Daric was the common coin of the ancient Persian empire, just 
as the sovereign or pound is the common coin of England at the present 
time. In value it was equal to 20 sigli; and as the rate of silver to gold 
was 13 to 1, the gold Daric must have been exactly one-thirteenth of the 
weight of 20 sigli, or 87*36 X = 134*4 grains, which is the full weight 
of the Attic stater. I am aware that many numismatists consider the 
Daric to have been a lighter coin than the Attic stater. But I believe that 
this opinion has been created by simply ignoring the fact that the Darics 
were much longer in circulation than the Attic staters of Philip and 
Alexander, and by comparing Attic staters of full weight with the averages 
of a number of worn Darics. For instance Mr. Head makes the normal 
weight of the Darics only 130 grains.f But as he makes the normal 
* Revue Numismatique, 1867, p. 362. 
f Coinage of Lydia and Persia, pp. 29-30. 
