PERSIA, Achaemenid Empire
Xerxes I to Darios II
AR Siglos. 5.51g, 16.1mm 
MINTED: Sardes mint, circa 485-420 BC
REF: Carradice Type IIIb, 16-31
OBVERSE: Persian king or hero in kneeling-running stance right, holding spear and bow, quiver over shoulder.
REVERSE: Incuse punch.

Grade/Notes:
Surface crystallization, with a somewhat weak strike, but a decent representation of the type.  
 
Historical Notes:
The Achaemenid Empire of Persia was founded by Cyrus the Great, who first toppled his Median overlords around 550 BC, and then proceeded to conquer the Lydian Kingdom, followed by the Neo-Babylonian Empire.  By the end of the 6th century BC, numerous Greek city-states in Asia Minor were subject to Persian rule, and in 492 BC, even Thrace and Macedonia had fallen to the Achaemenids.  At its height, the Persian Empire stretched from what is now Bulgaria, to Egypt, and to the Indus Valley in the east.

The massive invasion of the Greek mainland staged by Xerxes I (485-465 BC) was ultimately repulsed by allied Greek armies led by the Athenians and the Spartans, but the Persians continued to dominate affairs in the region for more than a century after the death of Xerxes.  The power of the Achaemenids was finally broken by Alexander the Great, who defeated the armies of Darius III (336-330 BC) and absorbed the Persian Empire into his own, even larger one.