Numismata hellenica: a catalogue of Greek coins; with notes, a map ...

22
Metal Size Weight
N
M
3+ 132-7
272-7
EUROPEAN GREECE.
may attribute the inelegance of design and the coarseness of execution of the Athenian tetradrachmon,
compared with many other Greek coins of similar value, as any alteration in its appearance
might have damaged its credit. One very remarkable change, however, did take place, when the
thick tetradrachmon, in which there had been no difference of form or type since the time of Solon,
and the simplicity of which had perhaps rendered it liable to forgery, was spread into a much wider
surface, for the sake apparently of giving room for the names, or for initial portions of the names, of
two, or more commonly, three magistrates, together with one or more symbols. The drachma and
half drachma underwent a similar change, but these pieces are now extremely rare, compared with
those of the old mode. This reform in the Athenian coinage took place probably about the same
time that a similar change occurred in the Macedonian mint. The great success of Philip, in
working the Thracian mines of gold and silver, having made the Macedonian silver money a rival to
that of Athens in the commercial world, it became necessary to the Athenians to imitate Alexander
the Great in improving the appearance and enlarging the sui-face of the tetradrachmon. It is
observable, that none of the broad Athenian pieces of that denomination have any appearance in
their style or letters of an age older than that of Alexander, except in the legend AeE, where the
Epsilon was preserved until the time of the Roman empire. In enlarging the tetradrachmon,
however, the Athenians degraded the Solonian standard of the drachma, although it had been
confirmed
B. c. 403.
at the time of the reforms which accompanied or followed the Archonship of Eucleides,
On examining the table of weights in the Hunter Collection, in which there are more
than 100 tetradrachma, we may observe, that all the old tetradrachma weigh more than 260 grains
or more than C5 grains to the drachma on an average, and that all the broad or later tetradrachma
are below 260. From Strabo we leam that the Attic mines had failed in his time, but that there
were still workers who extracted some silver from the old imperfectly smelted scoriie. We may
infer, therefore, that the silver coinage of Athens, uiJess for domestic use, and in small quantities,
had ceased before the time of Augustus, having lasted more than seven centuries, and six from the
time of Solon. No Athenian coins have yet been published of a date earlier than that of Solon,
before whose time, the drachma was nearly, if not exactly, of the same weight as the vaxtla IpajQiii,
or Eginetan drachma, bearing to the Attic the proportion of about ten to seven.
The Athenian gold coinage was very limited, and only one denomination is known— the didrachmon
or stater. The striking of this money, if we may judge by its weight, style, and name, commenced
likewise in the reign of Alexander. Pericles, in his address to the Athenians, speaks only of gold in
bullion, and of that which formed part of the statue by Phidias in the Parthenon ; from several
passages in Lysias and Demosthenes it is evident that in their time Darics and Cyzicenes were
common as the circulating medium in gold, and they make no allusion to any Athenian coin of the
same kind.
The time of the introduction of copper money is more uncertain. The first attempt to introduce
it was unsuccessful (conf. Aristoph. Ran. v. 737- Eccles. v. 810), which is not surprising, the
Athenian copper coins having been, unlike those of Syracuse, mere tokens, worth only a small
portion of their nominal value,
while the minutest subdivision of the obolus in silver maintained
its just weight. But probably the introduction of copper into Athenian circulation occurred not
long after the first attempt. It is natui-al to believe, that after the introduction of a copper coinage,
the subdivisions of the obolus, which were inconveniently small, would cease to be struck ; and
accordingly we may remark, that all the extant examples of those subdivisions are of an archaic
character. From some fragments of the comic poet Philemon, who lived about 300 B.C., it is
evident that in his time the xaXicois of eight to the obolus was in common circulation.
In regard to pieces so small and so nearly of the same weight as were some of the subdivisions of
the drachma and obolus, it was evidently convenient to afford the means of distinguishing them from
one another by their types as well as their weight; and, accordingly, it is found that while the ordi-
nary types of the old tetradrachmon, didrachmon, and drachma, — namely, the head of Pallas and the
owl, both turned to the —are right, preserved on the obolus and half-obolus, the other denomina-
tions, namely, the pentobolon, the tetrobolon, the triobolon, the diobolon, the obolus and a half, the
three fourths of the obolus, and the one fourth of the obolus, had each its peculiar type, which was
almost invariable. Examples occur of a variation of type in the drachma, half-drachma, and
quarter-drachma, but they are extremely rare.
Head of Pallas to r. ft. Owl to r. looking adv. behind, crescent and two leaves of
olive on a stem ; in field to r., A0E and cista mystica. — Electrotype from
the B. M.
Head of Pallas to r. with a large round earring. Helmet fitting close, and without
ornament, but with decorated crest and covering the neck ; eye large and round ;
hair in formal ringlets round the forehead ; nose and chin pointed, ft. AOE-