More on the Coins of Ancient Greece

The Earliest Ancient Greek Coins

As noted, the earliest coins of ancient Greece closely resemble those of Lydia. They are thick lumps of silver (or electrum), showing on one side an image and on the back usually a simple punch mark.

While the earliest Lydian coins are thought to have been made before 600 BC., the invention of coinage spread rapidly from Lydia into the Greek settlements, such as Ionia, on the east coast of the Aegian Sea and from there to the central parts of ancient Greece. By around 550 BC., coins were for instance minted in Athens.

Athens: didrachm, 6th century BC.

The rapid spread of coinage across such distances - to Greek settlements in South Italy and Sicily in the west, and up to Macedonia and Trace in the north - has to do with the fact that all these places were parts of a single culture; the ancient Greece.

Most ancient Greek coins during the late sixth century BC. were still rather similar to the earlest Lydian coins: a design on one side and a punch mark on the other. However, they were usually made of silver rather than the electrum alloy. This seems logical, since the metal was produced locally and deposits of silver ore were far more commonly found than deposits of gold.

The coins have varying images. In Athens, a range of animal or inanimate object designs were used for the obverse, while at Corinth an image of the winged horse Pegasus was often employed.

Classical Period of Ancient Greek Coinage

During the fifth century BC., some of the most stunning pieces of coin art ever produced saw the light of day in parts of ancient Greece. The example below shows one of those masterpieces.

Syracuse: decadrachm, c. 480 BC.
Actual diam. 33x35 mm.

During this period, the city of Athens was very powerful and produced silver coins in great quantity. Athens had access to their own silver mines, and these were one important source of income. Typical for the coinage of Athens during these times is the "owl" coin; featuring the goddess Athena on one side of the coin and a little owl on the other.

Macedonia Dominates Coinage of Ancient Greece

In the later part of the fourth century BC., the pattern of coinage changed, as local coin production gradually came to an end. Coins were now primarily produced by the kingdom of Macedonia, first under Philip II (359-336), and later by his son Alexander III (336-323), known as Alexander the Great.

This was a gradual process, but coin hoards buried in the last decades of the fourth century BC. show that Macedonian regal coin issues were now dominating the circulation throughout Greece, Macedonia, Thrace and along the east coast of Asia Minor. Some local coinage still existed, but consisted now mostly of small silver coins and bronze coins.

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