Origins of Greek Coinage
Coinage was invented in Lydia, on the eastern shore of the Aegean
in the late 7th century BCE and spread quickly across the Greek islands,
then across the Greek mainland and to the Greek colonies in South Italy,
Sicily, Africa, Spain and the Black Sea.
The arrival of coinage greatly facilitated trade and the bonds
between scattered city-states and caused many a Greek to mutter, "Why
didn't we think of this before?" No longer did you have to drag cows or
grain bushels around to make purchases. And now it was possible to become
wealthy without necessarily having to risk your life accumulating or
plundering land, stock, slaves or other large material goods.
The first images on coins were sacred or totem animals, such as
lions and bulls. They were engraved in a bronze die set in an anvil (the
"anvil die"). The annealed (fire-softened) flan was set on the die and
struck with a "hammer die." The anvil die became the obverse and is often
convex from taking the blow of the hammer die (the reverse). Early on, the
hammer die struck a square or rectangle image, but soon images were placed
on the reverse. They did not use collars to center coins, so many ancients
are endearingly off-center, which detracts from their value to collectors.
Before long, the Greeks discovered that coins were most pleasing
with a bust obverse ("heads") and a full figure of animal or person/deity
or some other symbol reverse ("tails"). It is a real statement about the
Greeks that, until the conquests of Alexander the Great, the humanoid faces
and forms they put on their coins were never of humans - only gods and
goddesses.
Is it Archaic, Classical or Hellenistic?
Coins made before the Greek victory over the Persians in 479 BCE
are considered archaic. Archaic coins are noted for being thick and of
moderate diameter. Their art often lacks true perspective, so that in
profile, the human eye is seen as if from the front. The most famous
ancient coin, the Athena/Owl tetradrachm of Athens is a great example of
this. Full-figure deities often walk stiffly, as in Egyptian art.
Aesthetically, archaic art is bold, stunning and rich with sacred
implication. It carries echoes of the Bronze and even Neolithic ages, when
people lived in more intimate contact with nature and the sacred. In later
eras, the roles and objects of civilization displace become more prominent.
Classical coins go from 479 to Alexander's taking of the throne in
336 BCE. This is the flower of all numismatic art and has never even come
close to being equalled. Classical and archaic coins have few words.
Often they say only the name of the issuing city. Hellenistic coins are
noted for the widespread use of emperors on the obverse and for multi-word
legends about these rulers. These rulers were the generals of Alexander
the Great who started dynasties from the carved up territories left after
his death. Here, we see earthly power eclipsing divine power as the prime
societal motivator.
Shall I Collect Roman or Greek? (or Roman Provincial?)
Probably three-fourths of the ancient coins traded are Roman, while
the rest are Greek. The term "Greek coins" is used to mean all coinage of
the Western world - Greek, Celtic, Phoenician, whatever - up until the
death of Cleopatra and the rule of the first sole Roman emperor Augustus,
about 33 BCE. This marks the start of Roman rule over most of the old
Hellenistic empire and the start of Roman Imperial and Roman Provincial
coinage. However, Roman Republic coins (before the Empire) are still
considered Roman, not Greek.
Roman Imperial coins are the ones from Rome and its mints, bearing
mintmarks (in later issues) and the emperor obverse and usually a deity
reverse. Roman Provincial coins are the ones from the former Hellenistic
empires of the Eastern Mediterranean (now Roman provinces), still bearing
Greek inscriptions with Roman emperor obverse and a local temple, deity or
symbol reverse. They are cheaper than Roman Imperial coins and represent a
fascinating and complex subfield for collecting. The Romans let some
cities, like Athens, just keep making coins with their old Greek images
(Athena).
Roman coins are more approachable to the beginner, generally. They
are cheaper and more plentiful than Greek and they use the same alphabet we
do. Romans coins are organized by rulers' images, just like British coins.
Large numbers were made to supply their vast empire and you can get them
starting at a dollar.
Greek coins were issued by cities (in Archaic and Classic times)
and have Greek images and legends. Don't let Greek letters scare you off.
Most are the same as Latin and English; you only need to learn a few new
ones: pi, phi, lambda, gamma, upsilon, etc. and pretty soon you are reading
Greek! You can no longer protest: "It's all Greek to me." You can show
off to your friends and hint that you are not just a coin collector; you
are a classicist. Sort of.
As for the Greek images, no you don't have all these despots lined
up in chronological order. You do have to learn a few dozen deities and
pretty soon you will be picking them out without even using the book.
Apollo is the one with long hair and no beard, often carrying a lyre.
Demeter has grain stalks in her hair. Dionysos always has an ivy leaf
wreath. Zeus looks like God - older, beard. Those are the main ones.
Greek coins are considered works of art, most of them. You can
read the emotion on the faces of the deities. They created the facing bust
and made it seem three-dimensional. No one can touch the Greeks. The
Roman aesthetic sense was more pragmatic: stern-looking emperor and rather
emblematic figures reverse, which in later times, on smaller flans decline
almost into stick-figures.
The Roman aesthetic sense was more pragmatic: stern-looking emperor and
rather emblematic figures reverse, which in later times, on smaller flans
decline almost into stick-figures, a style which persists through the
Byzantine era and well into the medieval coinages of all the European
states. Only in the 1600's, coincidentally when scholars begin to study
the classical aesthetic, do we see real art begin to emerge on coinage
again.
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