Persian daric
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The daric was a gold coin used within the Persian Empire. It weighs around eight grams and bears the image of the Persian king or a great warrior armed with a bow and arrow, but who is depicted is not known for sure. The coin was introduced by King Darius I of Persia some time between 522 BC and 486 BC and ended with Alexander the Great's invasion in 330 BC.
The coin is mentioned several times in the Old Testament, as the children of Israel came into contact with it when their Babylonian conquerors were conquered by Persia.
In 1 Chronicles 29, David was asking an assembly of people to donate for the construction of the Temple. The people gave generously "toward the work on the temple of God five thousand talents and ten thousand darics of gold, ten thousand talents of silver, eighteen thousand talents of bronze and a hundred thousand talents of iron." Since David's reign is believed to be between c. 1011 and c. 971 BC according to Old Testament chronology, the use of the daric is regarded as a serious anachronism by some. However, others see it as a mere figure of speech used by the writer to help his readers. [1][2]
There is also a double daric issued either by Darius or Alexander around 350 BC- 330 BC but information on this is scarce.
Some, such as the Ancient Greeks, believed that this coin's name is derived from the name Darius, but in reality it appears to be derived from a Persian word meaning "gold"; in Middle Persian it is called zarig.
