It is a great pleasure to learn something new about the world in which our ancestors lived and in which we live now. In order to make our readers happy, the Qalam editorial staff, together with Citix @citix.me, a technology company, has prepared a project — important and interesting facts collected in a historical alphabet. You can now see them on Citix city smartboards, and read more on our website.
Daric
The Most Valued Gold Coin of the Ancient World, Minted by the Persians.
Made of 97 per cent pure gold, the Persian daric became the most important unit of currency in world trade, retaining this status for a long time. It was named in honor of King Darius, who began minting it in the sixth century BCE. The round coin, which weighed just over eight grams, depicted the king as a kneeling archer and had no images or inscriptions on the reverse, only a rectangular indentation from the minting process. The purity of the gold and the attractiveness of the coin were so esteemed that even in many countries far from Persia, darics were the preferred means of payment for large transactions.
Er-toqym
A Complete Set of Horse Harness.
Although the word er-toqym consists of only two words (‘er’ for saddle and ‘toqym’ for saddlecloth), a complete set of harness includes many other things: a saddle skirt (leather side flaps that cover the horse’s sides from the saddle downward), bridle, breastplate, crupper, cinch straps, saddle girth, and a kamcha whip. A good quality er-toqym was made to last a very long time, and it could cost as much as a whole herd of horses because it was often decorated with inlays of expensive stones, embossing, patterned leather, and so on.
