Currency in Ancient Greece As humans developed and became sophisticated we needed ways other than just barter to exchange goods. Currency began in Anatolia in 12,000 BC with the distribution of obsidian to the people. In 9,000 BC trade began in the Mediterranean with the use of grain and cattle as a way to trade. (Wikipedia) In these times money was based on their marketability and utility, this means that although they did not use what we think as currency at this time such as coins and bills, if they were an agricultural society they would trade grains for cereals and things that involved grain because of their process ability. The use of gold was traced back to the fourth millennium BC in Egypt and the use of silver at the same time in …show more content…
There are three periods in the time of Ancient Greece. The Archaic, Classical and Hellenistic periods, all of which have a different variation of currency. The Archaic period in Greece the first know coinage was mined in Lydia. This was around the time of 700 BC. (Coinage) The coins were used for personal use. There was also a very important reason this coinage existed. They were believed to be a mercenary payment. Mercenaries would collect the coinage as opposed to collecting an item as a sign of their services. These coins were made of electrum, an alloy of gold and silver that was prized very highly. These metals were prized so high due to the abundance in that area. By the 6th century BC, technology had made it much easier to produce highly prized coins. King Croesus introduced the idea of a Bi-metallic standard. (Wikipedia) This bi-metallic standard was then issued and used for gold and silver so that this coinage could be used in a marketplace setting. At this time, the Greek world was divided up into more than 2,000 self-governing city states. More than half of these city states issued their own currency. A Merchant usually only took their cities coin. This meant that they had to exchange money like we do today with our exchange. They …show more content…
Larger cities were now producing gold and silver coins at this time. Some coins actually used a type of visual pun, for example, a rose for the city Rhodes because the Greek word for rose is rhodon. They soon began using the name of the issuing city on the coin. The wealthier the city, the finer the coin. Syracuse has had a Decadrachm. This coin is actually the finest coin of the ancient world. Throughout this period coinage became similar and also recognizable.
The woman on this coin is Nellie McClung. Nellie was a Canadian feminist, politician, and social activist, prohibitionist and suffragette who was born on October 20, 1873 in Chatsworth, Ontario, and
The Lincoln penny has produced excessive amounts that has resulted in outrageous mintage numbering into the billions. While the cent production has surpassed the one billion count in the 1950s, a change has taken place. The Denver Mint had assumed the role as the nation's main source for the Lincoln pennies. The 1952 production of 746,130,000 D-mint cents quadrupled the Philadelphia output. As a result, Denver struck more than one billion Lincolns in the late 1950s.
The second economic reform initiated by Lycurgus changed the currency of the country from gold and silver to a type of money made out of heavy iron of very little worth. The enormous size and weight of the new currency required a large area of storage space and a great deal of strength in order to remove the money from the storage area. This strategy implied by Lycurgus was brilliant because for the first time having an abundance of money was more of a hassle than a convenience.
Today, it's believed the first coins used and were bronze in West Valley City, around 20017. Coins were employed by Lydia in Asia Minor. The coins of the Lydian were termed "starters" that was a unit of weight. Entrepreneurs were placed having a lion's mind impression and made out of silver and gold metal. Nowadays, as you may think, the coins which can be still outstanding are very useful.
During the tenth century BCE, Phoenician cities became great centers of trade and a major commercial presence. Greeks in Sicily and southern Italy were enthusiastic users of coins, so the Carthaginians began to mint coins to better facilitate trade with them. Metals were still the major trade of Phoenicians in the Mediterranean, perhaps since the first known base of the Phoenicians was close to copper rich Cyprus, near Larnaka in the ninth century. This was an important period for the Italian lands which early Greek traders and settlers traveled through and also for their home nations that grew as centers of trade. As Euboian cities subsided to more minor roles, Corinth dominated trade traffic, sending large numbers of their fine vases westward and bringing back food and raw materials. The Phoenicians overseas became busier traders than the Phoenicians of the Levant. As well, the far west Euboians extended their trading by linking Syria, Rhodes, Ionia and Corinth to Pithekoussai. Pithekoussai citizens were traders, craftsmen and craftswomen. Because of trade, the character of the eastern Mediterranean was changed as Egyptians began their expeditions along the Red Sea trading in ivory and ebony. More trade networks were created by the eighth century bringing Eastern culture to Etruria and southern Spain. Communities of merchants extended trade between Greece and Italy. Fifth
A system of government in which one person reigns, usually a king or queen. The authority, or crown, in a monarchy is generally inherited by the eldest son. The ruler, or monarch, is often only the head of state, not the head of governme
During the Archaic Age of Ancient Greece, circa 776-500 B.C.E., the population growth in Ancient Greece called a need for more food supplies, and this demand was met by trade, establishing colonies, and by warfare to seize more land (Making Europe 71). According to Kidner, the Archaic Age “brought a revival of culture, the economy, and political significance to Greece” (71). As Greece began to overpopulate, methods for dealing with the overpopulation had to be found, once of these methods was to import food, which caused an expansion of Greek commerce and production of trade goods (Making Europe 71). Another solution to the overpopulation of Greece was to find new land somewhere else, and during the colonization that lasted from 750-550 B.C.E., Greeks colonized coastal cities because they wanted access to trade routes across the sea (Making Europe 71). The revival of Greek trade also brought Near Eastern culture into Greece, including new styles or art. According to Kidner, “Greek sculpture assumed a very Egyptian look, and Greek pottery depicted many eastern designs…and Greek potters and sculptors soon used designs from their own myths and legents”
Greece is a country well known by its great interests and diverse cultures. It is located between the East and the West in the continent of Europe, which is known as a great location in the continent. “It covers about 130, 647 square kilometers of land and 1,310 square kilometers of water, making it the 97th largest nation in the world with a total area of 131,957 square kilometers. Greece became an independent state in 1829, after gaining its sovereignty from Turkey. The population of Greece is 10,767,827 (2012) and the nation has a density of 82 people per square kilometer. The currency of Greece is the Euro (EUR). As well, the people of Greece are referred to as Greek. Greece shares land borders with four countries; Macedonia, Albania,
People have always recognized the need for an authority to exercise control in society. This has taken shapes in many different ways from small groups to formal organizations. The ancient Greeks were no different. The Greeks established cities known as polis, and they had their own governments, which were systems for controlling their local societies.
A golden age is a time when a civilization reaches its highest period of advancement. The Greeks, more specifically the Athenians, reached their highest achievements starting in 477 B.C. This was the beginning of Athens' golden age. The Athenians used the money from the Delian league, a defensive alliance formed at the end of the Persian Wars, to rebuild their city-state. This is also a time when Athens created a direct democracy. In this golden age Athens also made significant advancements in science, math, and literature. Athens made many great contributions to many fields, but the two most significant advancements were in architecture and government, but the single handily the most important was government. These advancements continue to influence many societies today.
War in Ancient Greece was a major factor of the daily life of kings, royalty and even citizens, especially in Sparta. Sparta, being a city-state of warfare even down to the way children were raised, were a major factor in deciding the everyday life in many people beyond their own citizens. All other city states in Greece at the time were prepared for war if they weren’t in one already. Due to this, war proved to be nearly a constant in the life of Ancient Greek citizens.
The Classical Greece era dates back to 500-323 BCE and was considered to be the period of maturity, discovery and achievement. During this era Athens was governed by a democratic government, there came a more rational approach to exploring and explaining the world and the Greeks took art to a more realistic and humanistic approach for the first time. (Sakoulas, 2002) During the Classical era the culture was based on a blend of their old culture and the new. The old is based upon religious beliefs while the new happens largely in part due to trade routes.
Greek and Roman culture, although similar, are very different and an interesting blend of other cultures. The connections between cultures remind us that culture is not created and owned by a single group of people, but is enriched through the contributions of others. Since the Romans adopted culture from the Greeks, many traditions are the same. Through the expansion of Greece under Alexander, ideas from other cultures in the Middle East and Africa played a large part in the Greek teachings. When the Romans conquered the Hellenistic cities, they became fascinated with the idea of a Greek style of doing things. All things Greek were becoming popular. This is how much of the Greek way of life made its way into Roman culture.
Many subjects were taught to young boys which included grammatistes, kitharistes, and paedotribae (wikipedia.org/Ancient Greece). Older youths studied other subjects including the sciences. Since its beginnings in the Homeric and aristocratic customs, Greek education was immeasurably "democratized" during the firth century BCE. Plato, Isocrates, and the Sophists were an influence. During the Hellenistic period, gymnasium education was viewed as essential for participation and involvement in Greek culture. Education was an essential part of an individual in ancient Greece. The kind of education an individual received was ultimately based on social class. In ancient Greece, formal education was not granted to slaves (wikipedia.org/Education in ancient Greece). For example, In some poleis, laws were created and passed to prohibit the possibility of education for slaves. I will now conclude this paragraph by giving a brief summary concerning economics of ancient Greece society. During the fifth and fourth centuries BCE, ancient Greece was the most prestigious economy in the world. It is said to have also been one of the most prestigious pre-industrial economies (wikipedia.org/Ancient Greece) . The patterns of the Archaic period in Greece proceeded into the Classical period, around 500-400 BC, with both exchange and battling enormous benefactors to the
The invention of money was a major improvement in peoples’ lives. In the past, people usually had to travel all day to find the person who is willing to exchange their goods. In addition, the goods people want to exchange did not have the standard value of measurement. This led to unequal exchanges. Furthermore, it is not convenient to carry heavy goods from one place to another for an exchange. To solve these issues, money will be the only solution. Later, people tend to develop money from cowry shells to credit cards for the convenience and to improve their society.