Origin and fate of the greatest accumulation of silver in ancient history

Abstract

The capture of the Achaemenid treasuries in 331–330 BCE by Alexander the Great in Persepolis and Susa marked the demise of the 300-year-old Persian Empire and the advent of Hellenistic kingdoms. Alexander seized the equivalent of about 5000 tons of silver, which represented the accumulated tributes paid by subjugated people from the Aegean Sea to the Indus to their Achaemenid rulers. Die studies show that this gigantic amount of silver, the so-called Persian mix, had been used to produce most of the coinage of Alexander the Great himself and to an even greater extent those of the Diadochi, his successors. What remains to be understood is the origin of the silver of this immense treasure. Lead isotope abundances determined on both Persian sigloi and alexanders struck from Achaemenid silver trace the bullion source to the southern Aegean, Macedonia, and Thrace. Lead in pseudo-coinage from early Indian kingdoms is isotopically different from the rest, which attests to a limited Indian contribution to the Achaemenid treasuries. Studies of Iron Age hoards from the Levant leave open the possibility that the making of the Persian mix may have predated the Achaemenid expansion of the seventh century BCE. We speculate on the motivations of such massive hoarding by the Persian kings and on its economic implications.

Narrowing provenance for ancient Greek silver coins using Ag isotopes and Sb contents of potential ores

“…The Pb isotopic compositions (Blichert-Toft et al, 2022) of 15 of these coins are consistent with an origin of the silver from ores from Lavrion (Fig. 5).…”

“…Silver isotope abundances are also reported for coins from across the ancient Greek world. The companion Pb isotope data for these coin samples are reported in Blichert-Toft et al (2022).…”

“…by comparing isolated objects and poorly characterized ore samples. This is what statistical methods are striving to remediate to some extent, notably the convex hull approach described byGentelli et al (2021) andBlichert-Toft et al (2022).The lack of correlation between ε 109 Ag and  34 S (Fig.3a) indicates that the petrogenesis of mineralizations is generally of little relevance to the formation of an exploitable mine of silver bullion. As suggested byFujii and Albarède (2018) andMilot et al (2021a), the ε 109 Ag range (1 to +1 in parts per 10,000) is inherited from the source, most likely from the mantle, with little or no isotope fractionation.…”

Platinum-group elements and gold in silver coinage and the issue of salt cementation

“…Some samples were used (and previously damaged) in earlier studies by Desaulty et al 24 and for the ERC SILVER Project. 25 All coins were acquired from dealers formally compliant with the code of ethics. The identifications provided by the sellers were carefully checked and verified.…”

Preventing biofilm formation and eradicating pathogenic bacteria by Zn doped histidine derived carbon quantum dots

“…30 Silver and copper have been used for their antimicrobial properties in ancient civilizations, and other metals such as zinc, aluminium, and iron have also been shown to have antimicrobial activity. 31,32 The mechanisms behind the antimicrobial properties of metals include the ability to inhibit enzymes, generate reactive oxygen species, damage cell membranes, and prevent the uptake of essential microelements by microbes. 33,34 Moreover, Zinc is an essential micronutrient for many organisms, including bacteria.…”