1. Early forms of exchange in Greece involved barter trade, but the invention of scales led to the need for a handier means of exchange in the form of metal tokens called talents. 2. A talent was a unit of mass that could be made from copper, silver, or gold, and was later divided into smaller units called mna and obols that became the basis for Greece's monetary system. 3. The first coins appeared in western Asia Minor in the late 7th to early 6th centuries BC and were made of electrum, a gold-silver alloy, without images. Croesus of Lydia later introduced the first gold and silver coins called staters.

1. The History of coins in
Greece

2. Early forms of exchange
Barter trade (exchange of goods)
After the invention of scales we have
the need for a handier exchange
means in the form of
metal tokens

3. Talent
• it had the shape of the hide (skin) of an ox
•a plate of metal (copper, silver, gold)
• 1 talent = 25 kgr
• or approximately the mass of water required to fill an amphora

4. Mna
A talent was divided in mnes
(a unit for measuring mass)
1 talent = 60 mnes
1mna = 433gr of gold

5. Obols
ovolos= spit, iron rod
a metal (iron, silver) coin only it was not round
a palm could hold six obols

6. Drachma
6 Obols = 1 Drachma
from the Greek verb drattomai (=grab, grip) we get the word drachma
the name of the Greek currency from ancient times till it was replaced
by the Euro in 2001

7. Coins
• They appear in the end of the 7th c BC- beginning of the 6th c
BC in Minor Asia
• They were made of electron a mixture of gold and silver
• They were not absolutely spherical
• They had no emblazonment
• A hammering proved that they were legal

8. Staters
Croesus in 560BC, in Minor Asia separates the two minerals and
makes golden and silver staters

9. Some equations
• 1 drachma = 1/100 of a mna = 4.3 gr of gold
• 1 drc = 6 obols
• 2 drc = 1 stater
• 100 drc = 1 mna
• 600 drc = 1 talent

10. The first coins in the main Hellenic area
The silver staters
in the Island of Aegina

11. Athens
Next, the Athenians strike coins with various depictions on them
but in 510 BC they realize that they need one that will symbolize
their city and that everybody would recognize all over the world
the 4 drachmas coin

12. Macedonia
• Philip, the father of
Alexander the Great, in
345 BC cuts golden
staters.
• Alexander’s coins
became powerful and
remained as such for
two more centuries after
his death

13. Engraved topics: subjects related to religion,
mythology or elements of the natural
environment
Rhodes would “play “ with the
name and have roses
Metapontium in Magna Graecia
had wheat

14. Selinuntas in Sicily had celery Santorini had dolphins

15. Knossos the maze
Corinth had Pegasus and the angled
cross, a symbol of good luck.

16. Coins in Epirus

17. • Epirus = Άπειρος = Infinite land
• Inhabited by greek populations since 2500 BC
( Chaonians, Thesprotians, Dryops, Athamans, Molossians)
• Introvert, farming societies

18. Ambracia
The Corinthians formed the colony of Ambracia (the ancient name
of Arta) in the 7th and 6th c BC. It developed financially and since
the beginning of the 5th c BC it obtained its coin: a silver stater

19. The Corinthian influence ceases and they issue coins that
depict subjects related to their culture. In the middle of 3rd c
we have coins with the head of Dioni, wife of Zeus
worshipped in the oracle of Dodoni, and the obelisk of
Apollo, the patron god of Ambracia

20. King Pyrros, a Molossian king, makes Ambracia his capital
in 307 BC
Impressive silver staters

21. 232 BC
the Commonwealth of Epirus
National word
ΑΠΕΙΡΩΤΑΝ
(= genitive form = of the people of Epirus)

22. Material basically adapted from the publications of
Alpha Bank