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
Coinage and Trade

Large silver or gold coins were used in long-distance trade, where they provided a convenient way of paying for expensive or large quantities of goods. The coins were usually made of pure silver according to a weight standard. The designs were often deliberately simple and conservative so that users all over the Greek world and beyond would recognize them immediately.
Silver stater (550-465 BC) of the island city of Aegina depicting a turtle. Aeginetan "turtles" became the dominant trade coins in southern Greece and the islands in the 6th and early 5th centuries BC.
Silver stater (415-387 BC) of Corinth depicting the winged horse Pegasus. These staters were important for conducting trade with Corinthian colonies in Sicily and along the Adriatic coast.
Gold stater (370-350 BC) of Panticapaeum depicting a griffon standing on an ear of wheat. Panticapaeum, a Greek colony located in modern Ukraine, was one of the main breadbaskets of the Greek world.
Silver tetradrachmon (435-375 BC) of Cyrene with silphium. This plant, famous for its medicinal and culinary properties, was a major export of Cyrene in Libya.
Oktadrachmon of the Derrones (480-470 BC). This tribe in the Balkans produced large bullion coins, which are frequently found in the Near East. The rough design shows a man in a chariot drawn by oxen.