Ancient Greek coinage

The history of ancient Greek coinage can be divided (along with most other Greek art forms) into four periods: the

or Greek Imperial Coins.

Weight standards and denominations

Denominations of silver drachma
Image	Denomination	Value	Weight
	Decadrachm	10 drachmae	43 grams
	Tetradrachm	4 drachmae	17.2 grams
	Didrachm	2 drachmae	8.6 grams
	Drachma	6 obols	4.3 grams
	Tetrobol	4 obols	2.85 grams
	Triobol (hemidrachm)	3 obols	2.15 grams
	Diobol	2 obols	1.43 grams
	Obol	4 tetartemorions	0.72 grams
	Tritartemorion	3 tetartemorions	0.54 grams
	Hemiobol	2 tetartemorions	0.36 grams
	Trihemitetartemorion	1+1⁄2 tetartemorions	0.27 grams
	Tetartemorion	1⁄4 obol	0.18 grams
	Hemitetartemorion	1⁄2 tetartemorion	0.09 grams

The three most important standards of the ancient Greek monetary system were the

slang (όβολα, óvola, "monies").

The obol was further subdivided into tetartemorioi (singular tetartemorion) which represented 1⁄4 obol, or 1⁄24 drachm. This coin (which was known to have been struck in Athens, Colophon, and several other cities) is mentioned by Aristotle as the smallest silver coin.^[5]: 237 Various multiples of this denomination were also struck, including the trihemitetartemorion (literally three half-tetartemorioi) valued at 3⁄8 of an obol.^[5]: 247

Archaic period (until about 480 BC)

The earliest known electrum coins,

, an alloy of gold and silver that was highly prized and abundant in that area.

In the middle of the 6th century BC, King Croesus replaced the electrum coins with coins of pure gold and pure silver, called Croeseids.^[7] The credit for inventing pure gold and silver coinage is attributed by Herodotus to the Lydians:^[8]

So far as we have any knowledge, they [the Lydians] were the first people to introduce the use of gold and silver coins, and the first who sold goods by retail.

— Herodotus, I.94^[8]

The Greek world was divided into more than two thousand self-governing city-states (in Greek, poleis), and more than half of them issued their own coins. Some coins circulated widely beyond their polis, indicating that they were being used in inter-city trade; the first example appears to have been the silver stater or didrachm of Aegina that regularly turns up in hoards in Egypt and the Levant, places which were deficient in silver supply. As such coins circulated more widely, other cities began to mint coins to this "Aeginetan" weight standard of 6.1 g (3.9 dwt) to the drachm, other cities included their own symbols on the coins.

Athenian coins, however, were struck on the "Attic" standard, with a drachm equaling 4.3 g (2.8 dwt) of silver. Over time, Athens' plentiful supply of silver from the mines at

, this large denomination was being regularly used to make large payments, or was often saved for hoarding.

International circulation

Archaic Greek coinage seems to have had a very wide circulation in the

• 
  ΦΑΝΕΩΣ

  (retrograde). Rev.: Two incuse punches, each with raised intersecting lines.
• 
  Archaic coin of Thasos, c. 500–463 BC.^[11]
• 
  Archaic coin of Chios, c. 490–435 BC.^[12] Earlier types known.
• 
  Archaic Aegina coin type, "windmill pattern" incuse punch. c. 510–490 BC.^[13][14][15]
• 
  Athens coin (c. 500/490–485 BC) discovered in the

  Ancient India. This coin is the earliest known example of its type to be found so far east.^[16]

Classical period (480–323 BC)

The Classical period saw Greek coinage reach a high level of technical and aesthetic quality. Larger cities now produced a range of fine silver and gold coins, most bearing a portrait of their patron god or goddess or a legendary hero on one side, and a symbol of the city on the other. Some coins employed a visual pun: some coins from Rhodes featured a rose, since the Greek word for rose is rhodon. The use of inscriptions on coins also began, usually the name of the issuing city.

The wealthy cities of Sicily produced some especially fine coins. The large silver decadrachm (10-drachm) coin from

, a very expensive undertaking. As they were often able to finance more than one quadriga at a time, they were frequent victors in this highly prestigious event. Syracuse was one of the epicenters of numismatic art during the classical period. Led by the engravers Kimon and Euainetos, Syracuse produced some of the finest coin designs of antiquity.

Amongst the first centers to produce coins during the Greek colonization of mainland Southern Italy (Magna Graecia) were Paestum, Crotone, Sybaris, Caulonia, Metapontum, and Taranto. These ancient cities started producing coins from 550 to 510 BC.^[17][18]

• 
  Aegina coin type, incuse skew pattern. Circa 456/445–431 BC.
• 
  Coin of

  Macedon

  . Circa 470–430 BC.
• 
  Coin of Aspendos, Pamphylia. Circa 465–430 BC.
• 
  Coin from Korkyra. Circa 350/330–290/270 BC.
• 
  Coin of Cyprus, circa 450 BC.

Hellenistic period (323–31 BC)

The Hellenistic period was characterized by the spread of Greek culture across a large part of the known world. Greek-speaking kingdoms were established in Egypt and Syria, and for a time also in Iran and as far east as what is now Afghanistan and northwestern India. Greek traders spread Greek coins across this vast area, and the new kingdoms soon began to produce their own coins. Because these kingdoms were much larger and wealthier than the Greek city states of the classical period, their coins tended to be more mass-produced, as well as larger, and more frequently in gold. They often lacked the aesthetic delicacy of coins of the earlier period.

Still, some of the

(reigned c. 95–90 BC). The portraits "show a degree of individuality never matched by the often bland depictions of their royal contemporaries further West" (Roger Ling, "Greece and the Hellenistic World").

The most striking new feature of Hellenistic coins was the use of portraits of living people, namely of the kings themselves. This practice had begun in Sicily, but was disapproved of by other Greeks as showing

had no such scruples: having already awarded themselves with "divine" status, they issued magnificent gold coins adorned with their own portraits, with the symbols of their state on the reverse. The names of the kings were frequently inscribed on the coin as well. This established a pattern for coins which has persisted ever since: a portrait of the king, usually in profile and striking a heroic pose, on the obverse, with his name beside him, and a coat of arms or other symbol of state on the reverse.

The Hellenistic period conventionally ends with the

or "Greek Imperials" in older scholarship, until the third century AD.

• 
  Ai Khanoum.^[19]
• 
  Ai Khanoum

  .
• 
  Ai Khanoum

  .
• 
  Diodotus I (256–238 BC).
• 
  Diodotus II (235–225 BC)
• 
  Coin of

  Indo-Greek king Antialcidas

  (105–95 BC).
• 
  Coin of

  Hindu

  deities, circa 180 BC.
• 
  Coin of

  Indo-Greeks

  .

Minting

All Greek coins were

Coins as a symbol of the city-state

Coins of Greek city-states depicted a unique

. Coins of .

Ancient Greek coins today

Collections of ancient Greek coins are held by museums around the world, of which the collections of the

are considered to be the finest. The American Numismatic Society collection comprises some 100,000 ancient Greek coins from many regions and mints, from Spain and North Africa to Afghanistan. To varying degrees, these coins are available for study by academics and researchers.

There is also an active collector market for Greek coins. Several auction houses in Europe and the United States specialize in ancient coins (including Greek) and there is also a large on-line market for such coins.

Hoards of Greek coins are still being found in Europe, Middle East, and North Africa, and some of the coins in these hoards find their way onto the market. Due to the numbers in which they were produced, the durability of the metals, and the ancient practice of burying large numbers of coins to save them, coins are an ancient art within the reach of ordinary collectors.

See also

Part of a series on
Numismatics the study of currency
Glossary
Currency Coins Banknotes Forgery List ISO Circulating currencies Africa Asia Europe North America South America Oceania Local currencies Company scrip LETS Time dollars Fictional currencies Proposed currencies
History of money Historical currencies Aksumite Achaemenid Byzantine Chinese Filipino Greek Indian Italian Japanese Roman Thai Tibetan Medieval currencies
Production Mint Designers Coining Milling Hammering Cast Metals Errors
Collection Coin collecting Coins Commemorative coins Bullion coins Grading Notaphily Banknotes Commemorative banknotes Exonumia Credit cards Jetons Medals Tokens Cheques Scrips Scripophily Stocks Bonds
Numismatics portal  Money portal
v t e

• Art of ancient Greece
• Philippeioi
• Tetradrachm
• Silver stater with a turtle
  , early coin

Citations

Further reading

• ISBN 0-19-885098-0
• Head, Barclay V. (1911), Historia Numorum; A Manual of Greek Numismatics, Oxford: Clarendon Press.
• Hill, George Francis (1906), Historical Greek Coins, London : Archibald Constable and Co.
• Jenkins, H.K. (1990), Ancient Greek Coins, Seaby,
  ISBN 1-85264-014-6
• ISBN 975-8070-61-4
• Kraay, Colin M. (1976), Archaic and Classical Greek Coins, New York: Sanford J. Durst,
  ISBN 0-915262-75-4
  .
• Melville Jones, John R, "A Dictionary of Ancient Greek Coins", London, Seaby 1986, reprinted Spink 2004.
• Melville Jones, John R, Testimonia Numaria. Greek and Latin texts concerning Ancient Greek Coinage, 2 vols (1993 and 2007), London, Spink, 0-907-05-40-0 and 978-1-902040-81-3.
• Ramage, Andrew and Craddock, Paul (2000), King Croesus' Gold; Excavations at Sardis and the History of Gold Refining, Trustees of the British Museum,
  ISBN 0-7141-0888-X
  .
• Rutter N. K, Burnett A. M, Crawford M. H, Johnston A. E.M, Jessop Price M (2001), Historia Numorum Italy, London: The British Museum Press,
  ISBN 0-7141-1801-X
  .
• Sayles, Wayne G, Ancient Coin Collecting, Iola, Wisconsin : Krause Publications, 2003.
• Sayles, Wayne G, Ancient Coin Collecting II: Numismatic Art of the Greek World", Iola, Wisconsin : Krause Publications, 2007.
• Seaford, Richard (2004), "Money and the Early Greek Mind; Homer, Philosophy, Tragedy", Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
  ISBN 978-0-521-53992-0
  .
• Sear, David, "Greek Coins and Their Values: Volume 1", London: Spink, Seaby,
  ISBN 0 900652 462
• Sear, David, "Greek Coins and Their Values: Volume 2" London: Spink.
• Seltman, Charles (1933), Greek Coins, London: Methuen & Co, Ltd.
• Seltman, Charles, Masterpieces of Greek Coinage, Bruno Cassirer - Oxford, 1949.
• Thompson M, Mørkholm O, Kraay C. M. (eds): An Inventory of Greek Coin Hoards, (IGCH). New York, 1973
  ISBN 978-0-89722-068-2
• Sylloge Nummorum Graecorum:
  • American Numismatic Society: The Collection of the American Numismatic Society, New York
• Ward, John, Greek Coins and their Parent Cities, London : John Murray, 1902. (accompanied by a catalogue of the author's collection by Sir George Francis Hill)
• Hyla A. Troxell, Studies in the Macedonian Coinage of Alexander the Great, American Numismatic Society

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ancient Greek coins.

Library resources about
Ancient Greek coinage

---

• Online books
• Resources in your library
• Resources in other libraries

• Sylloge Nummorum Graecorum, website of Sylloge Nummorum Graecorum, a British Academy research project
• Coins from Cornell University's Collection of Antiquities
• Greek coins from Digital Library Numis (DLN)
• Coins from the
  Perseus Digital Library Project at Tufts University
• Historia Numorum Online
• Historia Numorum: A Manual of Greek Numismatics