Ancient Greek Coin History

The traditional pattern of coins today - a human figure on one side and a symbol of some type on the other - is carried forward from the traditional ancient Greek coinage.

Each Greek city-state was governed independently and functioned largely with its own economic structure.  Despite having their own government and rulers, the culture of each Greek city-state was reflected the independence and individuality of the population. In this culture it was common for the gods and icons of the people to be prominently depicted in the course of daily life, commerce and trade in the community.

These depictions often took the form of art impressed upon ancient Greek coins, which were often made and used within the city-state where they were minted.  The images on these ancient Greek coins provide a window into the history of an entire culture that is not readily found for other ancient civilizations.  As such, these images provide a treasure trove of the history of ancient Greek culture, showing images in fine detail of the people and places of the times.

With their minted coinage the Greeks introduced the concept within the region of the Mediterranean to various people contacted in the course of commerce and trade.

By the beginning of the 7th century Greek coins generally carried a design, or "type", on both sides of the coin that usually was meant to identify the Greek city-state where the coinage had been minted.

Many ancient Greek coins of silver found today were first minted by the Aegians, who lived on an island named Aegina.  As traveling seamen and merchants, Aegians carried on a robust trade in the region and readily came to use their coinage in the course of their merchant transactions.  The Aegians even developed a standardized system for valuing their coinage.  Ancient Greek coins of Aegina were minted with the image of a sea turtle as it represented the sea going culture of the people of Aegina.

Ancient Greek coins with the design of Pegasus were commonly used in regional trade outside of any one Greek city-state.  The Pegasus coin was common in Greece and parts of what is now Italy, and several islands as well.  Other coins of Greek city-state mintage also were used well beyond their city of mintage in the course of trading and commerce. 

Greeks in Athens started minting a silver coin around 500 BC.  The coin was called a tetradrachm, the name evolving from the Greek term "to grasp".  This ancient Greek coin was minted with an owl's head on one side, and was widely circulated throughout the known world.  Large numbers of ancient Greek "Owl" coins were minted and over time this coin became the standard in trade.  Use of the coins of Aegina began a steady decline in use as the Athens city-state became more and more powerful.

As the usage of coins continued to expand and be widely accepted in commerce and trade, the city-states continued to mint their own coins while adapting to a common weight so as to facilitate business.  As larger deposits of silver were discovered the metal became more commonly used in the minting of coins throughout the region.  Rulers in Greece, Persia, Macedonia and Italy produced coins for funding of their armies and their governments.