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Ancient Greek Coins Through the Time of Alexander the Great:
An Absurdly Brief Summary
J. Edward Taylor
The very first coins were struck in Lydia, on the west coast of what is
now Turkey, in the 7th Century BC. At that time, most exchanges were in kind,
not in cash, but to the East, precious metals were used as currency and carefully
weighed for each transaction. The earliest unit of value was an ox, as anyone
who has read the Iliad and Odyssey of Homer knows. This is logical, because
an ox is indivisible (without turning it into something else!). When metals were
used as currency for trade around the Mediterranean their values were adjusted
to the ox-unit. In the Aegean the gold unit of value or talant weighing 8.5
grammes was the price of an ox. The equivalent value was about 13 times
heavier in silver. It reached 25½ kilograms (about 60 pounds) or more in
bronze or copper, depending on the local availability of these metals. There
exist bronze talants of about this weight, cast in the shape of ox hides. Metals
were more practical currencies than oxen, and naturally over long distances
precious metals were more practical than bronze or iron. However, they had to
be weighed and re-weighed for every transaction.
Aristotle described how a recognized authority, by striking ingots of
gold, silver or electrum (an alloy of the two) with a mark certifying the quality
and weight of the metal, could vastly simplify transactions. The invention of
coins thus seems to have its roots in efforts to reduce transaction costs. Early
coins generally were valued only for the bouillon they contained, but the type or
image struck upon them by a governing authority certified the weight and
quality of this bouillon.
During the golden age of ancient Greek coinage, up to the conquests of
Alexander III (“The Great”) in 335-323 BC, local coinages flourished in
hundreds of Greek city-states and colonies around the Mediterranean. Each
locale had its own design or tipos. Examples include: Athena and the owl in
Athens; the Pegasos in Corinth; the wheat ear in Metapontum; a boy riding a
dolphin in Taras; a rose in Rhodes; a nymph being carried off by a Satyr on the
island of Thasos; horses in Larissa; the nymph Arethusa and chariot of
Syracuse; the hare of Messana. These images conveyed the authority of the
local state, but they also reflected identities of Greek city-states and their
people. Larissa was famous for its horses, Metapontum for its grain. Tarsos on
the dolphin was the legendary founder of Taras. The idea of putting Athena and
the owl on the coins of Athens is attributed to Pisistrates, the popular despot
who took control of Athens from a ruling oligarchy in the late 6th Century BC.
His displacement of the tipos of the oligarch families with Athena, the diety of
Athens, was critical to his appeal to the populace. Arethusa, the local fountain
goddess of Syracuse, appears on the obverse of the Syracusan tetradrachm;
Dionysos on the staters of Thebes, famous for its wine; and the Pegasus, who
according to legend was tamed by Bellerophone in Corinth (with the help of
Athena), is on all silver coins of that city-state as well as of its colonies.
The conquests of Alexander the Great transformed the numismatic
landscape of ancient Greece, ushering in what is known as the Hellenistic period
of Greek coinage. They snuffed out most of the diverse coinages of city states
and replaced them with one main type: Heracles wearing a lion skin on the
obverse and, on the reverse, Zeus seated on a throne, holding a scepter in his left
hand and an eagle, his symbol, in his right. These coins bear the reverse
inscription of “Alexander” ().
Recognizing the economic and political importance of having a uniform
coinage, Alexander quickly established his own mints in the places he
conquered, probably moving die makers from one mint to the next. As
Alexander conquered new city-states he established mints to strike a vast silver
coinage. For example, Martin Price, who wrote the most authoritative work on
the coinage of Alexander the Great, writes:1
“When Alexander arrived in Cilicia he found a well established
Persian coinage produced from Tarsus by the satraps. The silver
staters displayed the figure of Baal of Tarsus, seated and holding
his flowering sceptre...the same engravers clearly turned from
cutting dies for the Persians to producing those of the imperial
Macedonian coinage. Details of the throne, drapery, and figure
can be closely compared in the two series, and it is certain that the
mint began to strike the Alexander series without any serious break
in production...immediately after Alexander’s arrival in summer
333 BC.”
Alexander coins were considered sound money—the receiver knew that
the coin was of a certain weight in silver. The weights of the coins were
regulated by city officials called magistrates. It is some of their official symbols
and monograms that we find on the reverses of the Alexander coins, usually
underneath or to the left of the throne. The Alexander coinage was principally
used to pay soldiers, tribute (levies & taxes), and later protection money to
barbarians. When Alexander was alive, there were about 26 mints producing
his coinage, from Amphipolis to Alexandria and Babylon. After his death,
Greek rulers and cities throughout the former Alexandrian Empire produced
Alexander coinage at 52 mints at its peak. In all about 114 different mints
1
From The Coinage in the Name of Alexander the Great and Philip Arrhidaeus, by Martin
Jessup Price (1991), p. 369.
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produced Alexander coinage over a period of 250 years. The last “Alexanders”
were minted at Mesembria around 65 B.C.
Greek coinage was again transformed following Alexander III’s death in
323 BC, when the empire was carved up among the diadochi, Alexander’s
generals and administrators who succeeded him. A veritable mess ensued.
Ptolemy, one of the leading generals, received Egypt and managed to keep
control of it in the midst of incessant warfare. The general Antigonus had
control of Asia Minor, Syria, and Mesopotamia at one time (316); however,
Lysimachus, Seleucus I, and Ptolemy I united against him. Both Antigonus and
Ptolemy were defeated at the battle at Ipsus (in 301 BC), and Antigonus was
killed. Lysimachus took control of Thrace and later (in 301 BC, after the defeat
of Antigonus at Ipsus), West Asia Minor. In 286 B.C. he added Macedonia by
defeating Pyrrhus, but five years later he was defeated by Seleucus. The general
Seleucus (“the Nikator”) received Babylonia, enlarged his holdings by
conquering Susiana and Media, then invaded Northwest India. Later (c.305) he
yielded part of present Afghanistan to Chandragupta but received war elephants
in return. (These are depicted on the reverse of some of his coins.) When
Antigonus was defeated at Ipsus in 301 B.C., Seleucus gained a large part of
Asia Minor and all of Syria. He finally won Asia Minor by defeating
Lysimachus in the battle at Corupedion in Lydia in 281, an event that marked
the end of the Diadochi. This left the descendants of Ptolemy, Seleucus, and
Antigonus as the chief claimants to power in the Hellenistic age.
The new rulers’ mints continued producing the Alexander types for
varying lengths of time, gradually adding their names to the reverse. At this
point in the development of coinage, images of humans were rare and those of
living humans were never used as tipos. Lysimachus replaced Heracles with the
deified Alexander wearing the lion skin on the obverse of his silver tetradrachm.
Thereafter, eastern Greek coinage quickly evolved into a portrait gallery of
living rulers, a precursor of the Roman coinage to come. Seleucus I (the
Nikator) does not portray himself on coins, but the portraits of his successors
(Seleucus II-IV and Antiochus I-V), often beautifully crafted, become the
obverse types on Syrian coins. The mints of Syria, Egypt and Bactria all
created striking portrayals of their rulers. To the West, in mainland Greece,
Sicily and Southern Italy, the custom of not portraying living rulers persisted up
to Roman conquest.
Examples of Ancient Greek Coins and their Descriptions
Lydia Double Siglos (561-541 BC)
The earliest coins were struck in Lydia in electrum, a natural alloy of
gold and silver, and archeological evidence places the origin of coinage at
around the middle of the 7th Century BC. The introduction of gold and silver
coins (bimetalism) is attributed to Croesus between 560 and 545 BC. These
earliest of coins had a design on only one side (the obverse). The reverse bore
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the mark of the punch used to strike the coin, which numismatists call the
“incuse.”
Lydia under Persian Rule, Kroisos, 561-546 BC. AR Double Siglos (10.38
g). Confronted foreparts of lion and bull/Double incuse punch. Traité pl. 10, 7,
SNG von Aulock 2809.
Athenian Tetradrachm or “Owl” (c. 445 BC)
The Athenian Owl dominated and facilitated commerce throughout the
Mediterranean for more than a century. Slightly before 600 BC it replaced local
oligagchic types to become the stater, or chief coin, of Athens. After that, and
particularly after Athens’ defeat of the Persians, it became recognized
everywhere around the Mediterranean. It was the world’s first great
international currency, with an economic importance far exceeding that of any
other coin up to its time. Owls played a dominant role in trade around the
Mediterranean. These coins are still found occasionally in hoards uncovered as
far away as Sicily, to the west, and Babylon and beyond, to the east. The wide
geographic area over which they are found reflects the immense reach of
Athenian trade during the 5th Century BC.
In ancient times, when this coin was struck, it was the wage for one
month's adjudication of a district judge.
Attica, Athens, c. 445 BC. AR Tetradrachm (17.14 g). Head of
Athena right, wearing crested helmet/Owl standing right, head
facing, olive twig and crescent behind. Svoronos-Pick, plate 12,
21. SNG Berry 651. Boston MFA 1081. cf. Hirmer plate 119,
363. cf Starr plate XXII, 4’.
Islands off Thrace, Thasos, Stater (c. 435-411 BC)
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The island of Thasos was the principal mint in the region of Thrace in
the north of Greece. It had one of the most original types of any ancient Greek
coin: a Satyr carrying off a nymph. On the earliest of these coins, struck during
the first half of the 5th Century BC, the nymph raises her hand in protest, and the
style is somewhat crude and archaic. Towards the end of the 5th Century it is
replaced by this one, which clearly is of classical style: the treatment of the
Satyr and nymph became refined and harmonious. Seltman (p. 145) notes that
“The rough struggle on the earlier coins has been toned down to the more polite
abduction of a not unwilling nymph,” and he attributes the finer style to the
direct influence of Attic art. This later, classical type is considerably rarer than
the early, archaic one, and the specimen here stands out in terms of its artistry
and condition. Interestingly, the incuse punch (in a 4-square design) persists
through this coinage in Thasos, long after it has been replaced by an obverse
type at other major mints.
Islands off Thrace, Thasos, c. 435-411 BC. AR Stater (8.64 g). Satyr
advancing right, carrying protesting nymph; A to right / Quadripartite incuse
square. Le Rider, Thasiennes 6; SNG Copenhagen Supp. 103.
Metapontum Stater (c. 490 BC)
The coins of south Italy illustrate the leap of coinage westward.
Metapontion and three other Achaean colonies (Sybaris, Croton and Caulonia)
used a remarkable technique not found elsewhere: a relief design on the
obverse repeated intaglio on the reverse. The explanation for these strange
coinages is not clear. One view attributes the incuse technique to Pythagoras,
who moved to southern Italy right around the time these coinages began. It sees
the positive-negative idea as taken directly from the philosophy of Pythagoras:
light and dark, raised and incuse, an elegant and beautiful expression.
Practically, these coins presented some major problems of striking. Since there
were two dies used (in other words, the reverse is not just a "show-through" of
the obverse, like on most medieval bracteates), the dies had to be quite perfectly
aligned. If they were not, the flans would crack, and the minters were back to
square one. This is probably one reason why the flans got smaller and smaller,
and, most importantly, thicker, so that they would not break so easily. Another
explanation for the incuse method, suggested by Kraay, is simply that there was
not yet any generally accepted way of minting coins, so each area had its own
variations, and this technique, invented in Metapontum or Sybaris, may have
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been adapted from repousé work. The incuse coinages did not last long; they
were abandoned after about a century.
Metapontum. Circa 510-470 BC. AR Nomos (8.11 g, 12h). (Rev.) META on right, sixgrained barley ear / Incuse eight-grained ear. Noe 193 (same dies); HN Italy 1482.
Messana Tetradrachm (c. 420-413 BC)
We have it on the authority of Aristotle that the mule-team and hare on
this tetradrachm of Messana commemorate the Olympic victory by Anaxilas,
tyrant of Messana and, across the Strait of Messina in what is now Italy,
Rhegium, in 484 or 480 BC:
“Sicily was without hares until the time of Anaxilas of Rhegium,
but he imported and preserved them, and, as about the same time
he won a victory at Olympia with his mule-car, he placed on the
Rhegine coins the types of a mule-car and a hare.”2
The reverse type of the leaping hare is unique to Messana and Rhegium.
Jenkins (p. 91) attributes it to being the animal of Pan, who appears underneath
the hare on some specimens. This one, however, has a rarer type of the hare and
fly. Aristotle reports that Anaxilas introduced hares into Sicily. Kray (214)
suggests that the hare may refer to a cult, associated with Pan, brought to
Messana under Anaxilas. Whatever its origin, it seems that Messanians
associated the hare with the worship of their god Pan, as it continued to be
struck long after the tyrant’s death. In 369 BC Carthage destroyed Messana,
putting an end to its coinage.
2
Pollux, Onom. V, 75.
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Sicily, Messana. , c. 420-413 BC. AR Tetradrachm. Biga of mules driven
left by female charioteer; in exergue, two dolphins meeting/Hare bounding right;
beneath, fly. 17.35 g. Caltabiano 516 (these dies), SNG ANS 373 (these dies),
Jameson 650 (these dies).
Alexander III, the Great, Lifetime Tetradrachm (327-323 BC)
This, like most lifetime issues, has both the legs of Zeus in front of the throne
on the reverse, with the feet placed on a low stool (most of the posthumous
issues have one leg pulled back). There are other differences between lifetime
and posthumous issues that vary from mint to mint. The tetradrachm pictured
below was struck at Tarsos. Lifetime issues from Tarsos of Alexander the Great
employed the plough symbol. No other city used the plough as a mint symbol
for Alexander's coinage.
Macedonian Kingdom, Alexander III, the Great, 336-323 BC, AR
Tetradrachm minted at Tarsos, c. 327-323 BC (17.17 g). Head right of young
Herakles wearing lion's skin/Zeus enthroned left, holding eagle and scepter; in
left field, plow; under throne, "theta"; above right, pellet. Price 3032. Muller
1284.
Seleucus I Nicator, Drachm (296/5-281 BC)
Seleucus, who had been one of Alexander’s most brilliant officers,
received the satrapy of Babylon soon after Alexander’s death and then extended
his empire until it stretched from the Aegean Sea to the Indus, ruling over the
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largest part of what had been Alexander’s empire. For a time Seleucus
continued minting the Alexander tetradrachms, but soon he developed a coinage
of his own along side it. This drachm is one. It depicts the head of Zeus on the
obverse and, on the reverse, an elephant quadriga pulling Athena. This type is
an allusion to Seleucus’ use of battle elephants from the time he entered into a
treaty with the Indian king Chandragupta, in which he bartered whole provinces
for 500 war elephants. The elephants proved decisive in the battle of Ipsus a
year later, in 303 BC. The floating anchor is a common device adopted by
Seleucus because of an anchor-shaped birth mark the he had on his thigh,
according to Seltman (p. 227). This is a well-centered, high-grade example of
an important type; note the remarkable detail on so small of a coin.
Seleucid Kingdom, Seleucus I Nicator, 312-281 BC, AR Drachm minted at
Seleucia-Tigris, 2nd workshop, ca. 296/5-281 BC (4.27 g). Laureate head of
Zeus right/Athena in elephant quadriga. SC 131.5c. ESM 78A.
Antiochos V, Tetradrachm (164-162 BC)
Of all the portraits of the Seleukid dynasts, this tetradrachm of Antiochos V, the
boy king, is among the most magnificent. Antiochos inherited the throne at the
age of 9 after the sudden death of Antiochus IV (brother of Seleucus IV) in 164
BC. He was murdered after two years by his cousin, Demetrius I.
Syria, Seleukid Kingdom, Antiochos V, 164-162 BC. AR Tetradrachm minted at Antioch
or Seleucis (16.61 g). Diademed head right of Antiochos V/Zeus enthroned left, holding Nike
and scepter; monogram in exergue and outer left field. Houghton CSE 141 (this coin). From
the Ma’aret en-Numan hoard (1979). This coin possesses a magnificent portrait of this childking, then about 10 years old.
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About Die Numbers
All of the coins described above include references to die numbers. The
dies that were used to strike ancient coins almost never survive, but by carefully
comparing coins it is possible to find which were struck from the same dies, and
in what sequence. For some city-states (e.g., Syracuse in the 5th Century),
almost complete die records exist, so that discoveries of new hoards rarely
produce a coin whose die has not already been catalogued. In others, die studies
are less complete. Die numbers identify the connection between coins and dies
that have been catalogued by the most authoritative die studies, which are
different for different coins. The most authoritative die study of the coinage of
Alexander was by Martin Price, and the tetradrachm above was struck from
Price’s die number 3032 (die number 1284 in another die study, by Muller). In
some cases, only a single specimen from a given die is known to exist.
Through making dies and coining by the ancient process, modern
numismatists have found that ancient dies could last for up to 10,000
impressions of the lower (obverse) die and around 7,000 for the upper (reverse)
die. The reason for the difference is that the upper die was directly struck by
blows of the heavy hammer, so it wore more quickly. When one die (say, the
reverse) wore out, it would be replaced by a new one, resulting in a new pairing
of the ole obverse with a new reverse. Sometimes water would rust the dies, or
the hardening of the iron from which dies were sculpted would not be constant,
so the dies would gradually develop breaks or cracks. By lining up coins and
observing their die wear, the gradual development of die breaks, and the
overlapping of obverse and reverse dies, it is possible to chronologically order
coins from many ancient mints, thereby establishing the sequence of striking
and an approximate date of issue.
Ancient Coin Supply
The number of ancient coins in existence at any given time is, of course,
perfectly inelastic; nevertheless, new hoards occasionally are discovered, so the
long-term supply is less so, influenced to some degree by new search
technologies. Paul Rynearson, a noted numismatist and expert on ancient coins,
describes hoards thusly:3
Coins that are found tend to come as single finds, family caches
or large treasury hoards. Single finds are often of low grade and
usually bronzes. Family hoards tend to be groups of coins of
precious metals, which families entrusted to the eldest male; they
were selected specimens of coins circulating at the time. There
were no banks at the time, so wealthy families hoarded money in
the most precious metal possible. Their coins often were placed
in a container, such as a metal box or pottery vessel. Treasury
3
Personal correspondence.
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hoards have the largest number of coins in them, at times many
thousands. Usually of silver, but sometimes of gold, they are
normally found in metal boxes. In this type of hoard the coins
are usually in the highest state of preservation, as they had not
yet been given out in payment to mercenary soldiers,
magistrates, etc.
A hoard is any group of coins, however small. Some hoards are uncovered by
archeological digs, but most are found by accident, unearthed in farmers’ fields
or at construction sites. Sadly, the physical links from the 4th century B.C. to
our 21st century have been lost. Archeological evidence accompanying
discovered hoards can provide clues about the coins, but usually this
information is not available.
About 25 years ago a number of important hoards were discovered, with the aid
of metal detectors that could search for coins buried at a greater depth than
before. Today, metal detectors have not gotten much better, but they have
reached greater perimeters of ancient frontiers. Thus, we have more Celtic
coins being found in the north of England, as well as larger numbers of Greek
and Roman types being found in places like Albania and Bulgaria.
Today, most of the finest surviving ancient Greek coins are in museums, the
best-known collections being at the British Museum in London and the
American Numismatic Society in New York. (Others include the Numismatic
Museum in Athens, the Biblioteque Nacionale in Paris, and the Museum of Fine
Arts in Boston.) However, many extraordinary coins—and a vastly larger
number of less extraordinary ones—are in private collections. Over the years, a
number of famous private collections have been auctioned off, and catalogues
of these coins have become collector items in and of themselves. Several
reputable auction houses and dealers make ancient Greek coins available to
collectors, through occasional mail auctions and, increasingly, via on-line
auctions. There are a number of major auction houses in the United States and
Europe; examples include Classical Numismatic Group (CNG) in Pennsylvania,
Gorny and Mosch in Munich, Harlan J. Berk in Chicago. The most
comprehensive source of information about auctioned coins, including
estimated and realized prices, text descriptions, and photographs, can be found
at CoinArchives.com.
We thank the creator of CoinArchives.com, A.J. Gatlin, for making parts of the
website available to us in electronic form, and to Paul Rynearson, for his many
valuable insights.
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