"The Persian daric was a gold coin which, along with a similar silver coin, the siglos, represented the bimetallic monetary standard of the Achaemenid Persian Empire.
Cyrus the Great (550–530 BC) 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. It seems Cyrus initially adopted the Lydian coinage as such, and continued to strike Lydia´s lion-and-bull coinage.
Darius I (521–486 BC) introduced a new thick gold coin which had a standard weight of 8.4 grams, equaling in value 20 silver coins. The gold used in the coins was of very high quality with a purity of 95.83% and it bore the image of the Persian king or a great warrior armed with a bow and arrow. Their use ended with Alexander the Great´s invasion in 330 BC, after which they were mostly melted down and recoined as coins of Alexander. This is believed to be the main reason for their rarity, in spite of their widespread usage at the time." - (en.wikipedia.org 28.09.2020)
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