Daricks

DARICKS. See DARCMONIM. The Daricks derive their name from Darius the Mede¹, otherwise called Cyaxares, uncle to Cyrus, who was left by this prince Governour of Babylon, and the territories won by him from the Chaldæans, while he was employ’d in his expedition against Egypt, Syria, and the countries adjacent. As Darius found immense treasures at Babylon amassed by the kings of Chaldæa, he ordered a gold coin to be made out of them; which, for the purity and fineness of it, for there was scarce any alloy in it, was for many ages prefer’d to all the coins of the East: they were scattered even so far as into Greece, where they were very much Bernard. de pond. & mens. antiq. p. 171.esteemed. According to Dr. Bernard, who has written concerning the Weights and Measures of the Ancients, a Darick weighed two grains more than a guinea. Other pieces of the same name and value were stamp’d afterwards, and there were even Half-Daricks, which were worth a moiety only of the first, and were but of half their weight.

Read this article in its place on the printed pages