1/3 stater, silver, 3.45 g, Sardis, Kroisos, King of Lydia (561-546 BC)
 

While gold coins were intended above all for long-distance trade, presents and soldiers' pay, silver coins represented trading objects. This coin was, however, hardly meant to be used on the everyday market, where small silver or copper was preferred: in Cyzicus there was 1/96 as the smallest division of the stater.
The Greeks in Asia Minor came increasingly under the trading and power influence of the Lydians, which only the biggest city of the Greeks, Milet, managed to escape. But the Lydians revered the Greeks, and Sardis had Greek characteristics. This friendly panorama changed abruptly shortly after this coin was minted: Cyrus, the Persian upstart, expanded his empire. The Babylonian ruler, the Lydian king Kroisos and the Greeks joined forces against Cyrus.
 

1/3 Stater 1/3 Stater
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But things turned out differently. It was not Kroisos, but Cyrus who was victorious. The Lydian empire was lost, and the Greeks in Asia Minor came under Persian rule. Thus began the long dispute between the Greeks and the Persians, which was not decided until the famous battles of Marathon and Salamis (479 BC).