Since the creation of poleis as geographical-economic centres, coins are also appearing as a medium of transaction. Since they appeared in the 7th century BC in West Asia Minor, they were spread in the Greek mainland around the middle of the 6th century BC. At that time we have the first mintings of silver coins in South Italy, Sicily, North Greece and in most states of Central Greece. Coins constituted an economic medium after 600 BC as well. Therefore, their appearance can not be considered as the cause of prevalence of tyranny or of any other economic or social crisis of that time.


The first mintings were of high value and were useful only in big markets. For example the stater, the ordinary coin made of electrum and weighing 14-16 grams, depending on each region's weight system, could represent the monthly salary of a mercenary. However, mintings of lower denominations in the region of Ionia began relatively early. The value of most Lydian coins -bearing the symbol of the lion head from Ephesus- corresponded to 1/3 of the stater's value. There were even smaller denominations equivalent to 1/48 or even 1/96 of the stater.


Coins of the Greek world, especially when they first circulated, are characterized by a huge variety of emblems. Creatures of land, sea and air are fully represented. There are also representations of plants, human and divine figures. Examples of emblems are the bull, the deer, the lion, the cock, the griffin, the dolphin, the seal, the ear of cereal plants, the rose, various human-like divinities etc.

The first coins were significant, probably due to their value as objects made of a precious metal. This concept was prevalent among the Greeks, but mostly among the peoples living around the Greek colonies. When coins began to be used as a medium of transaction, those that were mostly used, were those that had been made of simple metal. The so-called dolphins or coins representing fish and made of copper in Olbia, on the Black Sea, were spread among the peoples of the surrounding region, in the beginning of the 6th century BC. Also, the small silver coins found in large quantities in the region of Colchis, the colchika, had been minted in the colony Phasis on the eastern Black Sea. Their content in silver varied to such a degree, that we conclude that they were probably used as currency.

| introduction | agriculture | trade | state organization | Archaic Period

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