The history of
Ancient Greek coinage can be divided (along with most other Greek art forms) into three periods, the Archaic, the Classical, and the
Hellenistic. The Archaic period extends from the introduction of coinage to the Greek world in about 600 BC until the
Persian Wars in about 480 BC. The Classical period then began, and lasted until the conquests of
Alexander the Great in about 330 BC, which began the Hellenistic period, extending until the
Roman
absorption of the Greek world in the 1st century BC. The Greek cities
continued to produce their own coins for several more centuries under
Roman rule. The coins produced during this period are called
Roman provincial coins or Greek Imperial Coins.
Denominations
The central denomination to the Ancient Greek monetary system was the drachm. The word
drachm(a) means "a handful", literally "a grasp". Drachmae were divided into six
obols (from the Greek word for a
spit of
iron),
and six spits made a "handful". This suggests that before coinage came
to be used in Greece, spits were used as measures of value, perhaps for
paying fines. In archaic/pre-numismatic times iron was valued for making
durable tools and weapons, and its casting in spit form may have
actually represented a form of transportable
bullion, which eventually became bulky and inconvenient after the adoption of precious metals. Because of this very aspect,
Spartan
legislation famously forbade issuance of Spartan coin, and enforced the
continued use of iron spits so as to discourage avarice and the
hoarding of wealth. In addition to its original meaning (which also gave
the
euphemistic diminutive "
obelisk", "little spit"), the word
obol (ὀβολός,
obolós, or ὀβελός,
obelós) was retained as a Greek word for coins of small value, still used as such in
Modern Greek slang (όβολα,
óvola, "monies").
The obol was further subdivided into
tetartemorioi (singular
tetartemorion) which represented 1/4 of an obol, or 1/24 of a drachm. This coin (which was known to have been struck in
Athens,
Colophon, and several other cities) is mentioned by
Aristotle as the smallest silver coin.
[1]:237 Various multiples of this denomination were also struck, including the
trihemitetartemorion (literally three half-tetartemorioi) valued at 3/8 of an obol.
[1]:247
