Drachmas Doubloons and Dollars: The History of Money
(Exhibition Home)
Ancient Greece and the Mediterranean World
Introduction
Early Greek Coins - Experimentation With Coinage - Coinage and Trade - Athenian Coinage - Everyday Coinage - Coinage and War - Alexander the Great - Hellenistic Portrait Coins
Early Greek Coins

The first coins were made of electrum, an alloy of gold and silver that occurred naturally in local rivers. In the 6th century, Croesus, king of Lydia, began to strike coins of solid gold and silver. Soon afterwards, cities and rulers all over the Mediterranean world adopted coins for long-distance trade and local commerce.
Electrum 1/6 stater (7th century BC) struck with two square punches.
Lydian electrum 1/3 stater (mid 7th century BC) depicting a lion's head, the badge of Lydian kings.
Lydian gold stater struck during the reign of King Croesus (561-546 BC), with the foreparts of a lion and a bull.
Silver tetradrachmon (c. 545 BC) of Athens with facing lion.
Silver tetradrachmon of the Orescii tribe in Thrace with a man-headed bull carrying off a nymph. Both were followers of Dionysos, the god of wine -an important product of the region.