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The ancient Greeks themselves believed that the term dareikos was derived from the name of Darius the Great, an assessment that many modern scholars agree with. Others however have generally supposed that the Greek term can be traced back to old Persian dari [golden] and that it was first associated with the name of Darius only in later folk etymology. Both suppositions may be equally valid.
While the Persians had not traditionally used coinage, Cyrus the Great had introduced it to the Persian empire with the conquest of the Lydian Kingdom in 546 BC. The Lydian coinage series featuring a confronted lion and bull type was continued at first, but under the reign of the third Great King, Darios I, the Lydian gold stater was converted into a type bearing the stylised image of the Persian ruler or a hero, a type which would last with little modification until the conquest of Persia by Alexander in the 330s BC. One of the principal motivating factors behind this institution of an official Persian currency was the requirement to pay Greek mercenaries, who were accustomed to receiving payment in coinage, or for official use as bribes and subsidies.
Indeed, nothing demonstrates the power of the gold daric more succinctly than when Sparta was waging an increasingly successful war led by Agesilaos II against Persia in Asia Minor [398-395 BC]. Unable to defeat the Spartan army, the satrap Pharnabazos sent an Asiatic Greek by the name of Timocrates of Rhodes to distribute ten thousand gold darics in the major cities of mainland Greece and thus incite them to war against Sparta. Athens, Thebes, Corinth and Argos quickly entered into conflict with Sparta, precipitating a messenger to be sent to Agesilaos ordering him to return to Greece. The recall was a bitter disappointment to Agesilaos, who wryly observed that but for ten thousand 'archers', he would have vanquished all Asia.
While the Persians had not traditionally used coinage, Cyrus the Great had introduced it to the Persian empire with the conquest of the Lydian Kingdom in 546 BC. The Lydian coinage series featuring a confronted lion and bull type was continued at first, but under the reign of the third Great King, Darios I, the Lydian gold stater was converted into a type bearing the stylised image of the Persian ruler or a hero, a type which would last with little modification until the conquest of Persia by Alexander in the 330s BC. One of the principal motivating factors behind this institution of an official Persian currency was the requirement to pay Greek mercenaries, who were accustomed to receiving payment in coinage, or for official use as bribes and subsidies.
Indeed, nothing demonstrates the power of the gold daric more succinctly than when Sparta was waging an increasingly successful war led by Agesilaos II against Persia in Asia Minor [398-395 BC]. Unable to defeat the Spartan army, the satrap Pharnabazos sent an Asiatic Greek by the name of Timocrates of Rhodes to distribute ten thousand gold darics in the major cities of mainland Greece and thus incite them to war against Sparta. Athens, Thebes, Corinth and Argos quickly entered into conflict with Sparta, precipitating a messenger to be sent to Agesilaos ordering him to return to Greece. The recall was a bitter disappointment to Agesilaos, who wryly observed that but for ten thousand 'archers', he would have vanquished all Asia.