v. The .Euboic talent in Greek money had a didrachm of 129 grains; but its system of division, though coming very near the Attic, is evidently dif ferent. The weight of its didrachm is identical with that of the Dark, showing the Persian origin of the system (R. S. Poole, art. WEIGHTS, Smith's Diet. of the Bible).
The order of origin may be thus tabulated:— Macedonian, 224 didrachm. IEginetan, 196 „ Attic-Solonian, 135 „ EuboIc, 129 ; Later Phoenician, 236.
3. Coined Money mentioned in the Bible. —The earliest mention of coined money in the Bible refers to the Persian coinage. In Ezra (ii. 69) and Nehemiah (vii. 70) the word ?inz-11 occurs, and in Ezra (viii. 27) and I Chron. (xxix. 7) the word both rendered in the LXX. by xpuo-oiis, and in the Vulg. by solidus and drachma. Many opinions have been put forward concerning the derivation of the words Adarkon and Darkemon [ADARCONIM ; Smith's Diet. of Bible, s. v.DARIc]; but a new suggestion has, however, recently been made, which, though ingenious, will not, I think, meet with much support. Dr. Levy (7iid. Miinzen, p. 19, note) thinks that the root-word is Trl, to stretch," tread," step forward,' from the forward placing of one foot, which a man does in bending the bow, and that from this word was formed a noun, n711, or with the Aleph prefixed 11717N, archer,' which is the type upon these coins, espe cially as the ancients called the old Persian coins roVrat. That the more extended form pani could have been formed from the simple 11717 is very possible, as the Mew could have been easily inserted. All however agree that by these terms the Persian coin Dark is meant. This coin was a gold piece current in Palestine under Cyrus and Artaxerxes Longimanus. The ordinary Dark is not of uncommon occurrence ; but Levy (/. c.) has given a representation of a double piece, thereby making the ordinarily received Dario a half-Dark. Of the double piece, he says, three only are known. In this he is mistaken, as Mr. Borrell the coin -healer has a record of no less than eight specimens (F. W. Madden, Hist. of X-wish Coinage, etc., p. 272, note 4). The whole piece is not allowed by Mr. Poole in his article WEIGHTS (Smith's Diet. of Bible), nor is a specimen of it in the British Museum.
Besides these gold pieces, a silver coin also cir culated in the Persian kingdom, named the siglos.
[See the note s. DRACHM, vol. i. p. 699.] Mention is probably made of this coin in the Bible in those passages which treat of the Persian times (Neh. v. 15; cf. x. 32). Of these pieces 20 went to one gold Dario (Mommsen, Geschichte des ROM. Miinzwesens, pp. 13 and 855), which would give a ratio of gold to silver Ito 13 (Herod., iii. 95). These coins also have an archer on the obverse. As long, then, as the Jews lived under Persian domination, they made use of Persian coins, and had no struck coins of their own. In these coins also were probably paid the tributes (Herod., iii. 89).
On the overthrow of the Persian monarchy in B.C. 333, by Alexander III. the Great, Palestine came under the dominion of the Greeks. Dur ing the lifetime of Alexander the country was governed by a vice-regent, and the high-priest was permitted to remain in power. Jaddua was at this time high-priest and in high favour with Alexander (Joseph.Antiq. xi. S. 5). At this period only Greek coins were struck in many cities of Palestine. The coinage consisted of gold, silver, and copper. The usual gold coins were staters, called by Pollux 'AXqdvSpetot. The silver coins mostly in circula tion were tetradrachms and drachms. There are two specimens of the tetradrachms struck at Scythopolis (the ancient Bethsean), preserved in the Gotha and Paris collections. There are also tetradrachms with the initials IOH struck at Joppa, which, being a town of considerable importance, no doubt supplied Jerusalem with money. Some of his coins bear the monograms of two cities sometimes at a great distance from each other, showing evidently some commercial intercourse be tween them. For instance, Sycamina (Hepha), and Scythopolis (Bethsean), Ascalon, and Phila delphia (Rabbath-ammon). (Muller, Nunn's/na l/glee d'Alexandre le Grand, 1464. Pl. xx.) Shortly after the death of Alexander the Great in B.C. 324, Palestine fell into the hands of Ptolemy I. Soter, the son of Lagus, from whom Antigonus wrested it for a short time, until, in B.C. 301, after the battle of Ipsus, it came again into his hands, and afterwards was under the government of the Ptolemies for nearly roo years.