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Greek Coins :
Athenian Coins : Athenian Silver Tetradrachm in the New Style
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Athenian Silver Tetradrachm in the New Style - C.6109
Origin: City of Athens
Circa: 177
BC
Dimensions:
1,125" (-1646692.2cm) high
16.7Grams
Collection: Numismatics
Style: New Style
Medium: Silver
Condition: Fine
$3,400.00
Location: United States
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| Description |
Obverse, head of Athena wearing Athenian
helmet in right profile; pellet border,
encircling;
reverse, owl facing right and standing on
an amphora marked with the letter
Lambda, on the left small Asklepios; on
the two sides of the owl letters Athe[naion]
and the names of the two coin
magistrates, Mened[emos] and Epigeno[s],
all within laurel-wreath.
The tetradrachm – a silver coin equivalent
to four drachmae – first came into
circulation in Athens in 510 BC, replacing
the earlier “heraldic” type of currency. The
tetradrachm was to become the most
authoritative coinage of Classical Greece
and was adopted by many other city-
states. It would remain barely changed
over the next three centuries.
By 2nd century BCE Athens’ fortunes had
waned, conquered first by Sparta and then
Macedonia.
Shifts in the Socio-economic and political
landscape give rise to a new-style of
coinage, showing Athena wearing a
crested helmet on the obverse and a
highly-stylized owl standing upon a
prostrate amphora on the reverse.
This issue, which was minted almost four
hundred years after the first tetradrachms
marks the changes to a very distinct
iconography that would endure until the
Roman conquest.
Bibl.: Sundwall, J. 1907, Untersuchungen
Ueber die Attische Muenzen des Neueren
Stiles, Helsingfors, p. 93.
- (C.6109)
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