Greek coinage of Italy and Sicily
Greek coinage of Italy and Sicily originated from local
Taras (or Tarentum) was among the most prominent city states.
By the second century BC some of these Greek coinages evolved under Roman rule, and can be classified as the first Roman provincial currencies.
Themes and design
A common theme in the Italiote coinage was to include portraits of gods or other mythological figures. Some featured animals and other symbols. For instance, the coins of
Some tyrants in Magna Graecia advertised their victories in the Olympic Games by striking coinage that referred to these specific achievements.[3]
Style of figures in coins can be compared to pottery from the region. This gives clues about when the pottery in question was made. Furthermore, ages of the cities such Sybaris are well known.[4]
Weight standard
The weights of silver coinage were inherited from
Sicilian (or Macedonian) talent was used for gold rather than a heavier talent used in mainland Greece.[6]
Magna Graecia
The region of Magna Graecia included originally Greek cities such as
The cities of Taras, Metapontum, Sybaris and Kroton were founded between c. 750 BC – c. 650 BC, and it is likely that they brought their knowledge of recently invented minting straight from their home cities.[10]
Taras
Coins of Taras from the 4th century BC picture a mounted cavalryman equipped with a shield. At that time no other Greek military equipped cavalry with shields. It can be deduced that the influence of Taras may have been responsible for the spread of shielded cavalry to other Greek polities.[11]
Throughout the
Sicily
During the 4th century BC coinage became scarce.
Syracuse
In the 6th century BC Syracuse began minting its own coinage. They used Attic-Euboic weight standard, and it was rapidly adopted by the other polities of Sicily. In the 5th century a strong government and widely militarized society ruled by tyrants left behind abundant coinage.[12]
Roman provincial currency
By 210 BC Rome was controlling all of the Greek cities in the region. At the beginning of the next century a clear Roman influence on the Greek coinage can be noticed. Both iconography and style of the coins had changed. Greek coinage from this period can be classified as the first instances of Roman provincial currency.[14]
See also
References
- ^ Henry Noel Humphreys (1851). Ancient Coins and Medals: An Historical Sketch of the Origin and Progress of Coining Money in Greece and Her Colonies; Its Progress with the Extension of the Roman Empire; and Its Decline with the Fall of that Power. Grant & Griffith. p. 43–45.
- ^ ISBN 0-89689-516-5.
- ISBN 978-1-55458-779-7.
- ISBN 978-1-108-08190-0.
- ^ Hands, Alfred Watson (1909). Coins of Magna Graecia: the coinage of the Greek colonies of southern Italy. p. 308–309.
- ^ Sir William Ridgeway (1976). The Origin of Metallic Currency and Weight Standards. CUP Archive. p. 304. GGKEY:70WJ4D8RWCP.
- ^ Henry Noel Humphreys (1869). The Coin Collector's Manual; Or, Guide to the Numismatic Student in the Formation of a Cabinet of Coins: Comprising an Historical and Critical Account of the Origin and Progress of Coinage, from the Earliest Period to the Fall of the Roman Empire; with Some Account of the Coinages of Modern Europe, More Especially of Great Britain. Bell & Daldy. pp. 66–72.
- ^ The Edinburgh Encyclopædia Conducted by David Brewster, with the Assistance of Gentlemen Eminent in Science and Literature. J. and E. Parker. 1832. p. 546.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-134-87784-3.
- ^ Saturday Review: Politics, Literature, Science and Art. Saturday Review. 1873. p. 223.
- ISBN 978-1-326-25656-2.
- ^ a b c A Companion to Greek Studies. CUP Archive. pp. 547–548. GGKEY:KAKSS01QG2W.
- ^ James Millingen, Ancient Coins, pp. 33-35; Sestini, Lett. Num. vol. vii. pl. 1.
- ISBN 0-87349-515-2.