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The three most important standards of the ancient Greek monetary system were the Attic standard, based on the Athenian drachma of 4.3 grams (2.8 pennyweights) of silver, the Corinthian standard based on the stater of 8.6 g (5.5 dwt) of silver, that was subdivided into three silver drachmas of 2.9 g (1.9 dwt), and the Aeginetan stater or didrachm of 12.2 g (7.8 dwt), based on a drachma of 6.1 g ...
The mines of Laurion were an important source of metal during Ancient Greece and helped to fabricate many of the coins that were exchanged as money throughout the region. [19] Within the mines, located on the southeast portion of Attica, there are large silver deposits that also contain an abundance of copper and lead. [23]
While 0.72 grams was the weight of a standard Greek obol, the actual amount of silver that went into making the currency could vary from region to region. Obols in Athens were typically near the 0.72-gram standard, while Corinth was documented having 0.42-gram obols.
The drachma was the standard unit of silver coinage at most ancient Greek mints, and the name obol was used to describe a coin that was one-sixth of a drachma. [2] The notion that drachma derived from the word for fistful was recorded by Herakleides of Pontos (387–312 BC) who was informed by the priests of Heraion that Pheidon , king of Argos ...
The Achaean standard consisted of a stater of around 8 g, divided into three drachms of 2.6 g and obols of 0.4 g; these weights declined over time. It was first used in the mid-sixth century by the Greek city-states of Sybaris, Metapontum, and Croton, which had been founded in Magna Graecia by Achaeans from the Peloponnese, and it remained one of the main standards in Magna Graecia until the ...
The metals of antiquity are the seven metals which humans had identified and found use for in prehistoric times in Africa, Europe and throughout Asia: [1] gold, silver, copper, tin, lead, iron, and mercury. Zinc, arsenic, and antimony were also known during antiquity, but they were not recognised as distinct metals until later.
By the time of the Greek and Roman civilisations, silver coins were a staple of the economy: [63] the Greeks were already extracting silver from galena by the 7th century BC, [65] and the rise of Athens was partly made possible by the nearby silver mines at Laurium, from which they extracted about 30 tonnes a year from 600 to 300 BC. [68]
The Ptolemaic dynasty introduced standard coinage to Egypt, where pre-existing native dynasties made only very limited use of coins. Egyptian gold stater was the first coin ever minted in ancient Egypt around 360 BC during the reign of pharaoh Teos of the 30th Dynasty. These coins were used to pay salaries of Greek mercenaries in his service.