The Greeks

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Copyright 2017 by Ron Rutkowsky, All Rights Reserved
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Map of Ancient Greece

Greek Coins

Image Courtesy of echizento on eBay

While I have enjoyed the beautiful coinage from the Ancient Greek world I have not been able to accuire much for my collection. The price of these beautiful works of art have always been beyond my price range. So I have to admit that my knowledge about them is very limited.

Ancient Greece was made of about 1,500 separate city states each with it’s own ruler, laws and customs. These city states didn’t always get along so there was constant fighting amount them. The history of Greece is well beyond the scope of this work, so I will not go into much detail.

The first coins appeared in the West in Lydia present day Turkey around 600 BC. They were struck in a metal known as electrum, a natural occurring metal of gold, silver, and trace metals found in the river beds.

Lydian Lion: Proported First Coin Type

Greek Coins

Image Courtesy of echizento on eBay

Excellent article on the Lydian Lion.

There were three periods in Greek History:
1. The Archaic Period from 650 – 479 BC
2. The Classical Period from 479 – 336 BC
3. The Hellenistic Period from 336 – 30 BC

In each period the art of coin making improved until the coins became miniture works of art in metal.

Greek Coins

Image Courtesy of echizento on eBay

Copyright 2017 by Ron Rutkowsky, All Rights Reserved
Previous: The Anonymous Follis
Next: Greek Coin Weights and Denominations