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Athens
- India and back
The journey of an ancient greek tetradrachm
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(16.89g) |
Seems to be
a heavily worn Athenian tetradrachm from 449 - 413 BC.
Right, agreed! But there is something very special about this coin. Actually
2 things.
Take a look at the counter/bankersmark above Athena's ear on the obverse.
And then look at these Indian punches found on typical Magadhan and Mauryan
coins from the 6th to the 4th century BC: |
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Magadhan
punches: 6th - 4th century BC
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Right. It is an Indian counter/bankersmark on an Athenian tetradrachm.
David R. Sear confirmed this theory on the Certificate of Authenticity:
"The solar countermark would indicate that this piece found its
way to India in the decades following its issue, possibly to the region
of the middle and lower Ganges Valley which was under the rule of the
kings of Magadha. The countermark was probably applied in the first half
of the 4th century BC. The other countermark is of uncertain origin but
may have been applied in Upper Egypt. The traces of mounting indicate
that the coin was worn as jewelry in ancient times or later. This would
account for its extermely worn state of preservation."
This is a very good sign that the coin had a long and far journey from
Athens to India. Amazing if you remember the methods of transportation
back then.
Trade was rather common between India and the greek world in ancient times.
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This map shows
the most common ancient trade routes from Attica to the Indus Valley.
This coin did travel a lot indeed. Just imagine that a one way route may
have lasted several weeks, even on the fastest way, the sea.
And according to the wear of the coin it did circulate several decades if
not centuries.
Click here for my page on 'Circulation
of Roman Republican Denarii'.
On the beginning of this page I mentioned that there are 2 special things
about this coin. Well, the second is that it was found in the Middle East,
the area of ancient Phoenicia in particular. This fact extends the journey
from Athens to India to the mediterranean area of Phoenicia.
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And last but not least, there is a second counter/bankers/temple-mark, a
V or a Λ . Egyptian coin hoards of Athenian tetradrachms
contain a rather high amount of coins marked with a V. Other sources tell
us that Sabaean coins and Greco-Palestinian coins sometimes have such marks
on the cheek. |
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References: cf. Svoronos (Corpus of the Ancient Coins
of Athens) pl. 14, 19; Sear (Greek Coins & Their Values 1)
2526; for similar solar countermarks, though with full disk, cf. Mitchiner
(Oriental Coins and Their Values: the Ancient and Classical World)
p. 527, nos. 4030-31
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COUNTERMARKS
