These warriors required a convenient way to carry their wages and the state needed a method of payment they could equally apply to everyone. The birth of coinage in wider Greece, though, was not really an invention of convenience but a necessity, driven by the need to pay mercenary soldiers. Athens and Corinth soon followed Aegina’s lead. 600 BCE (or even earlier) which were silver and used a turtle as a symbol of the city’s prosperity based on maritime trade. The first Greek coins appeared in Aegina c. Greek coins of particular city-states carried specific designs which were used for centuries, becoming instantly recognisable symbols of that city. Then, as now, coinage could only function if people had trust in its present and future value.
After public ridicule, Athens was famously forced to withdraw a batch of plated coinage that had been minted following a financial crisis c. In later centuries some states would abuse this margin and produce coins with lower and lower precious metal content in an attempt to create value where there really was none. Coins were usually slightly lighter than the same value weight in the pure metal so that the cost of minting them was covered or even a small profit attained. Lydia was credited by the Greeks with inventing coins in the early 6th century BCE which were stamped by the state to guarantee value and be recognisable as genuine.
#Ancient greece coinage portable#
From these bars and rods sprang the idea for a more portable and universal material which could be exchanged for any goods or service: coinage. The Greek word for grasp is drattomai and this is the origin of the drachma coin. The next step was to use metal rods or spits (an obelos from which the obol coin derives its name) which were 1.5 meters in length and six of which could be grasped in the hand. Eventually, some goods came to be exchanged for large metal bars, such as the bronze or copper talent, which both parties agreed to a value on. Trade in the ancient world was largely conducted through the exchange of one type of goods for another in a barter system that worked well for millennia. One of the great archaeological survivors, coins are an invaluable source of information on cultural practices, important individuals, and ancient international relations. The coinage of ancient Greece has given us some of the most recognisable images from antiquity as they were stamped with designs to proudly declare the identity of the city which minted them and guarantee their value.
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