Croeseid

Croesus is credited with issuing the first true gold coins with a standardised purity for general circulation,[1] and the world's first bimetallic monetary system.

[1] This makes it the world's first bimetallic monetary system[1] though the idea of smaller silver denominations had originated in Cyme (Aeolis) under Hermodike II.

[4] The lion attacking the bull motif on this coin type has been variously theorized as symbolizing the sun and moon, spring and winter (the fall of the constellation Taurus corresponded to the date of the spring sowing), strength and fertility, Asia Minor and Europe, and Lydia and its neighbor Phrygia.

[8] In the historical context of Lydia's alliance with Agamemnon of Cyme, an arrangement sealed by the marriage of Greek Hermodike II, possibly Croesus’ mother, to his father, Alyettes (AKA a later Midas).

Notwithstanding, the croeseid symbolism of peace between the Greeks of Asia Minor, Lydians and later Persians persisted long after Croesus’ death - until Darius the Great introduced new coins c.500BC.

When the Achaemenid Empire ruler Cyrus the Great invaded Lydia, together with the rest of Asia Minor, he adopted the bimetallic system initially introduced by Croesus, and continued to strike gold and silver coins at Sardis according to the model of the Croeseid until around 520 BC.

The deposit did not have any Daric and Sigloi, which also suggests strongly that these Achaemenid coins only started to be minted later, after the foundation of the Apadana Palace.