Terracotta jar
Found with thirty gold staters inside.
Thirty gold staters, each stamped with the confronted foreparts of a lion and a bull, were found in this small jug. The Greek historian Herodotus wrote that the Lydians invented coinage and that Kroisos, who reigned from about 560 to 546 B.C., was the first king to issue both gold and silver coins. This jug was probably buried for safekeeping shortly before the Persian conquest of Sardis in 547 B.C
Thirty gold staters, each stamped with the confronted foreparts of a lion and a bull, were found in this small jug. The Greek historian Herodotus wrote that the Lydians invented coinage and that Kroisos, who reigned from about 560 to 546 B.C., was the first king to issue both gold and silver coins. This jug was probably buried for safekeeping shortly before the Persian conquest of Sardis in 547 B.C
Artwork Details
- Title: Terracotta jar
- Period: Archaic
- Date: ca. 560–546 BCE
- Culture: Lydian
- Medium: Terracotta
- Dimensions: 4 5/8 × 4 in. (11.8 × 10.1 cm)
- Classification: Vases
- Credit Line: Gift of The American Society for the Excavation of Sardis, 1926
- Object Number: 26.59.6
- Curatorial Department: Greek and Roman Art
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Lydian
ca. 560–546 BCE
Lydian
ca. 560–546 BCE
Lydian
ca. 560–546 BCE
Lydian
ca. 560–546 BCE
Lydian
6th century BCE
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