What is a…
daric
plural: darics
Hebrew: אֲדַרְכֹּן —transliteration: adarkon (adarkoni)
This is a gold Persian coin. The word “daric(s)” does not appear in the original Hebrew Scriptures, but is used as the meaning of adarkon in most English translations, including the NASB, ESV, NKJV and NIV, as well as the ASV, AMP, AMPC, CEB, DARBY, etc.
and for the service for the house of God they gave 5,000 talents and 10,000 darics of gold, and 10,000 talents of silver, and 18,000 talents of brass, and 100,000 talents of iron —1 Chronicles 29:7 NASB
The King James Version translated the Hebrew word adarkon as “dram.”
It was a gold coin, bearing the figure of a Persian king with his crown and armed with bow and arrow or shooting arrows, running with a lance, or running with a dager. It weighed about 128 grains troy. The daric was apparently introduced by King Darius, and its name is associated with his name. The ancient Persian word dari means “golden.”
It was current among the Jews after their return from Babylon, while under the Persian domination.
It is the first coin mentioned in Scripture.
The Persians minted both gold coins (darics) and silver coins (siglos).
The Greeks referred to the daric as dareikós (δαρεικός).
Alexander the Great conquered the Persian Empire and melted down almost all of the darics and siglos, using them to mint coins of his imperial dominion, some including his image.
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