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Kingdom of Lydia or Persia, Croesus or Cyrus, Siglos

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Kingdom of Lydia or Persia, Croesus or Cyrus, Siglos (obverse) Kingdom of Lydia or Persia, Croesus or Cyrus, Siglos (reverse)

This Siglos, a half stater made of silver, was most likely struck after 546 BC. That was the year in which the Persian King Cyrus the Great (559-530 BC) defeated Croesus (c. 560? -546? BC), the famous inventor of the bimetal monetary system and legendary rich king of Lydia.

The Persians had no monetary system of their own at that time, and this may be why they continued to issue Croesus' coins, initially without major changes. In the early period the Persian coins differed so little from the coins of the Lydians that they are often difficult to distinguish. Only later appeared differences in style.

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