Greek Coin
Ancient Greek Coins Collection
The Greeks learned about coinage from the Lydians (their neighbors and inventors of the first coins). Between 500 B.C. and 400 B.C., Greece’s various city-states produced some of the most beautiful coins the world has ever known. Early Greek coins are crude little bean-shaped pieces with punched designs of animals or other objects. But over time, the designs became more sophisticated and the beans flattened out into the thin, round pieces that are the hallmark of coins today.
During this period, the Greeks at Athens issued large silver coins called tetradrachms with a bug-eyed owl on one side. The owl was the symbol of the goddess Athena, who considered the bird sacred. In turn, Athena was revered by the people, who considered her sacred and named their city after her. The ultimate Greek coin was the impressive decadrachm, a large silver coin from Syracuse (Greece, not New York).
A drachm or drachma is the basic unit of Greek money, even in modern times. Tetra means four, so a tetradrachm equals four drachma. Also, because values of coins were based on their weight, a tetradrachm weighs exactly four times as much as a drachma. A decadrachm equaled ten drachma.
The Greeks employed interesting and unusual designs for their coins, including grapes, roses, wheat, eagles, crabs, dolphins, and rabbits, not to mention images of many of the Greek gods and goddesses. Yet while they made liberal use of images of gods and animals on their coins, they shunned portraits of real people. Even Alexander the Great’s image never appeared on his own coins until after his death, and by then he had been converted to a god by many of his successors and fans. Some Greek coins show Alexander wearing a lion’s head as a helmet; another shows him with the tusked head of an elephant atop his own head!
As Greek civilization declined, so did its coins. At one point, the Greeks became so desperate for metal for their coins that they made them out of bronze and then silver-plated them to make them look like their more valuable counterparts. They even melted down the statues of the goddess Nike to make gold coins.
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Segolds – Pictures of Ancient Greek Coins Performed by Gold
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A tetradrachm commemorating the Battle of Cos, BC253 Photo Mugs Obverse Head of Neptune, hair with sea weed (right). Reverse Apollo, nude, holding a bow in his right hand, seated on the prow of a war-galley. Greek inscription. Mint mark and M (below). Celebrates the victory of Antigonus Gonatas, King of Macedon, over the Egyptian fleet….. |
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Alexander the Great, King of Macedon Photo Mugs Alexander the Great, King Alexander III of Macedon, wearing the horns signifying his descent from Jupiter-Ammon who was worshipped as a ram. …. |
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Classical coin depicting Emperor Caracalla and a galley Photo Mugs Obverse Head of Emperor Caracalla (right). Reverse A galley under sail (right). Legend in Greek obverse and reverse….. |
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Mantovani at the Movies $4.18 All products are BRAND NEW and factory sealed. Fast shipping and 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed…. |
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greek songs mama never taught me LP … |
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Greek Songs My Mama Never Taught Me … |
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Ancient Greek Silver Tetradrachm with Head of Apollo – 24H x 24W – Peel and Stick Wall Decal by Wallmonkeys $33.99 WallMonkeys wall graphics are printed on the highest quality re-positionable, self-adhesive fabric paper. Each order is printed in-house and on-demand. WallMonkeys uses premium materials & state-of-the-art production technologies. Our white fabric material is superior to vinyl decals. You can literally see and feel the difference. Our wall graphics apply in minutes and won’t damage your paint or l… |
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Hercules The Legendary Journeys – Season 1 $19.50 Forget Steve Reeves and all those Italian strongmen who played stiff, humorless versions of the mythic demigod in 1960s Saturday matinee fodder. Hercules: The Legendary Journeys (a cluster of 1990s television films followed by a syndicated series)… |
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Athenian Ancient Coins $23.00 Coinage of Ancient Athens Athens was among the first Greek cities who cut their own coins. The silver mines at Lavrion had ample supplies of silver. The early coins had no inscriptions and bore only emblems. During the 6th century BC, Athenians struck their new tetradrachm with the head of their patron deity, goddess Athena on the observe and the Owl, the goddess’ sacred bird, the bird of wisdom, … |
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Modern Greek (Hellenic) Coins $20.00 Drachma (pl. drachmas or drachmae) is the name of:1. An ancient currency unit found in many Greek city states and successor states, and in many South-West Asian kingdoms of the Hellenistic era. 2. The modern Greek currencies. Ancient drachmaThe name drachma is derived from the verb “dratto” (to grasp). Initially a drachma was a fistful (a “grasp”) of six oboloi (metal sticks), which were used as a… |