Who made the Athenian coin?

Who made the Athenian coin?

Lydia was credited by the Greeks with inventing coins in the early 6th century BCE which were stamped by the state to guarantee value and be recognisable as genuine.

What were Athenian coins made of?

The coins were made of pure metal so they were not just a currency with symbolic value, but also bullion and thus a means of exporting the metal itself. Silver was probably the single most important Athenian export.

How was money made in Athens?

The Athenian economy was based on trade. The land around Athens did not provide enough food for all the city’s people. In exchange, Athenians traded honey, olive oil, silver, and beautifully painted pottery. Athenians bought and sold goods at a huge marketplace called the agora.

What were the first Greek coins made out of?

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.

How did Greeks make coins?

Greek coins were made by hand. The design for the one side was carved into a block of bronze or possibly iron, called a die. The design for the other side was carved into a similar punch. Athenian coins were also minted to an extremely high standard of purity.

Who invented coins?

Coins were introduced as a method of payment around the 6th or 5th century BCE. The invention of coins is still shrouded in mystery: According to Herdotous (I, 94), coins were first minted by the Lydians, while Aristotle claims that the first coins were minted by Demodike of Kyrme, the wife of King Midas of Phrygia.

How did Greeks make their coins?

What were drachma made of?

Initially a drachma was a fistful (a “grasp”) of six oboloí or obeloí (metal sticks, literally “spits”) used as a form of currency as early as 1100 BC and being a form of “bullion”: bronze, copper, or iron ingots denominated by weight.

Who first made coin?

True coinage began soon after 650 bc. The 6th-century Greek poet Xenophanes, quoted by the historian Herodotus, ascribed its invention to the Lydians, “the first to strike and use coins of gold and silver.” King Croesus of Lydia (reigned c.

Where are coins made?

There are four different U.S. Mint facilities that make coins. They are located in Philadelphia, Denver, San Francisco, and West Point (New York). The majority of the coins that the public uses today are made in Philadelphia or Denver.

What kind of coins did the ancient Greeks make?

From the start of 600 BC, every Greek city started to mint all of its own types of coins. Now, most of the ancient Greek coins were made of silver. A small little lump of silver was taken, this is put on a mold which was made of iron and then it was struck with a hammer repeatedly. The hammer had a different mold on it too.

Where did the silver coins from Athens come from?

For a period, Athens imposed her coinage on the subject cities of her empire, but the high quality of the silver in the coins meant that they circulated much more widely and have been found throughout the Mediterranean region and beyond in the Middle East and even India.

How are ancient coins made and how are they made?

Some ancient coins were cast in molds, but most were “struck” by hand. Yet after centuries of archaeology and numismatic research, there are still plenty of unanswered questions about how ancient coins were made. Bronze is easily cast in ceramic or stone molds.

How did the people of Athens make money?

Private individuals were able to make large amounts of money from hiring out slaves to work in the mines; one Athenian politician hired out as many as 1000 slaves. The coins were made of pure metal so they were not just a currency with symbolic value, but also bullion and thus a means of exporting the metal itself.