Stater
The stater (Greek: στατήρ, literally "weight") was an ancient coin used in various regions of Greece. The term is also used for similar coins, imitating Greek staters, minted elsewhere in ancient Europe.
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History [edit]
The stater, as a Greek silver currency, first as ingots, and later as coins, circulated from the 8th century BC to 50 AD. According to Robin Lane Fox, it was borrowed by the Euboeans from the Phoenician shekel, which was of about the same weight and was also a fiftieth part of a mina.[1]
Original mintings of this coin such as practiced in Athens valued the stater at a tetradrachm (4 drachmas), though issues at other places or times applied the word "stater" to a didrachm (2 drachma) coin. The stater was also minted at Corinth.[2] Staters were also struck in some of the Mediterranean islands such as Aegina and Kydonia. For example, one silver coin struck in Kydonia was that of a stater featuring the Minoan goddess Britomartis.[3]
There also existed a "gold stater", but it was only minted in some places, and was mainly an accounting unit worth 20-28 drachms depending on place and time, the Athenian unit being worth 20 drachmas. (The reason being that one gold stater generally weighed roughly 8.5 grams, twice as much as a drachma, while the parity gold: silver, after some variance, was established as 1:10) The use of gold staters in coinage seems mostly of Macedonian origin. The best known types of gold staters are the 28 drachma Kyzikenos from Cyzicus.
Non-Greek staters [edit]
Celtic tribes brought it in to Western Europe after using it as mercenaries in north Greece. Gold and silver staters were minted in Gaul by Gallic chiefs modelled after those of Philip II of Macedonia, which mercenaries brought back West after serving in his armies, or those of Alexander and his successors. The conquests of Alexander extended Greek culture east, leading to the adoption of staters in Asia. Gold staters have also been found from the ancient region of Gandhara from the time of Kanishka.[4]
Gallery [edit]
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Corinthian stater. Obverse: Pegasus with Qoppa (Ϙ) beneath. Reverse: Athena wearing Corinthian helmet. Qoppa symbolised the archaic writing of the city (Ϙόρινθος).
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Gold stater of Alexander the Great. Obverse: Athena wearing Corinthian helmet. Reverse: Nike holding stylis and wreath. Possibly minted in Abydos c. 328-323 BC.
See also [edit]
References [edit]
- ^ Lane Fox, Robin. Travelling Heroes: Greeks and Their Myths in the Epic Age of Homer. P. 94. London: Allen Lane, 2008. ISBN 978-0-7139-9980-8
- ^ Smith, William. A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities. J. Murray, 1881.
- ^ Hogan, Michael C. html#fieldnotes Cydonia, Modern Antiquarian, January 23, 2008.
- ^ Prabha Ray Himanshu (2006-06-01). Coins in India. Marg Publications. ISBN 978-81-85026-73-2.
External links [edit]
- The British Museum- Electrum 1/6 stater (650-600 BCE)
- Silver stater with Pegasus and head of Athena wearing a Corinthian helmet, Akarnania, (Akarnanian Confederacy) c. 250–167 BCE, Thyrreion mint
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Look up stater in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. |
