{"id":2929,"date":"2023-08-15T21:17:37","date_gmt":"2023-08-15T20:17:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rethinkq.adp.com\/?p=2929"},"modified":"2024-09-03T11:20:08","modified_gmt":"2024-09-03T10:20:08","slug":"artifact-first-coins-ancient-greece","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rethinkq.adp.com\/artifact-first-coins-ancient-greece\/","title":{"rendered":"The first coins in Ancient Greece"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<header class=\"entry-header bg-adp-tan block--article-header alignfull block--article-header\" >\n\n  \n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full entry--image\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"929\" src=\"https:\/\/rethinkq.adp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/ma-790.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2930\" srcset=\"https:\/\/rethinkq.adp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/ma-790.jpg 2000w, https:\/\/rethinkq.adp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/ma-790-300x139.jpg 300w, https:\/\/rethinkq.adp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/ma-790-1024x476.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/rethinkq.adp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/ma-790-768x357.jpg 768w, https:\/\/rethinkq.adp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/ma-790-1536x713.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/rethinkq.adp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/ma-790-1600x743.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A classic Athenian tetradrachm, made of silver ca. 500 BCE. Source: LACMA\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group entry--title-wrapper\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\"><div class=\"entry--social-share\">\n  <ul>\n    <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer\/sharer.php?u=https:\/\/rethinkq.adp.com\/artifact-first-coins-ancient-greece\/&#038;t=The first coins in Ancient Greece\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/rethinkq.adp.com\/wp-content\/themes\/rethink-quarterly\/img\/facebook.svg\" alt=\"Facebook logo - click to share this article on Facebook\"><\/a><\/li>\n    <li><a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/share?text=The first coins in Ancient Greece&#038;url=https:\/\/rethinkq.adp.com\/artifact-first-coins-ancient-greece\/\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/rethinkq.adp.com\/wp-content\/themes\/rethink-quarterly\/img\/twitter.svg\" alt=\"Twitter logo - click to share this article on Twitter\"><\/a><\/li>\n    <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/sharing\/share-offsite\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Frethinkq.adp.com%2Fartifact-first-coins-ancient-greece%2F\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/rethinkq.adp.com\/wp-content\/themes\/rethink-quarterly\/img\/linkedin.svg\" alt=\"LinkedIn logo - click to share this article on Facebook\"><\/a><\/li>\n  <\/ul>\n<\/div>\n\n            <a class=\"entry--tag tag-style\" href=\"https:\/\/rethinkq.adp.com\/artifact\/\">Artifact<\/a>\n\n        \n  <h1 class=\"entry-title\">The first coins in Ancient Greece<\/h1>\n\n\n<p class=\"is-style-summary-style\">Trade and commerce existed long before coins, but the idea of money was a revelation and a revolution.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n  <div class=\"entry--meta content-width\">\n           <p class=\"authors\">By\n                        <a href=\"https:\/\/rethinkq.adp.com\/author\/david-schaps\/\">David Schaps<\/a>\n\n             \n         \n     <\/p>\n    \n  \n  <p>15 August 2023  <span class=\"desktop-only\">\u2014<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/rethinkq.adp.com\/issue-9-back-to-school\/\">Issue 9: Back to School<\/a> \n  <\/div><!-- .entry-meta -->\n\n<\/header><!-- .entry-header -->\n\t<div class=\"entry-content content-width\">\n\n\n\n<p>Wealth, as it was first understood by the ancient Greeks, was derived from land, the animals it could sustain, and the fruit and grain it could produce. As Bronze Age towns grew into city-states, their economies became more sophisticated. Utensils that had once been prestige items were now used as payment. For example, a wayward official might be threatened with a 50-cauldron fine. Historian Herodotus writes that Rhodopis dedicated one-tenth of her substance to the temple at Delphi \u2014 this tithe was a large <a href=\"https:\/\/www.loebclassics.com\/view\/herodotus-persian_wars\/1920\/pb_LCL117.439.xml?readMode=recto\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">pile of iron spits<\/a> for roasting oxen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In this early period, the Phoenicians, seafaring people from the area surrounding modern-day Lebanon, dominated international trade. They dealt in silver, which was valued by weight and fineness. Rings and bracelets were sometimes roughly standardized for convenience; they, or any other silver available, could be chopped up to make the requisite weight. Silver for the Phoenicians, and later for the Greeks, was a true medium of exchange, but neither nation considered wealth a matter of how much silver one had. Not yet, at least.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the poems of Homer, dated to around the 8th century BCE, value was quoted in oxen: A victorious wrestler received a bronze tripod worth 12 oxen, the loser a maidservant worth four. In \u201cThe Iliad,&#8221; Glaucus and Diomedes exchange armor on the battlefield as a token of friendship across enemy lines. Homer comments that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.poetryintranslation.com\/PITBR\/Greek\/Iliad6.php#anchor_Toc239244954:~:text=robbed%20Glaucus%20of%20his%20wits\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">one of the gods had taken Glaucus\u2019 wits<\/a>, as he exchanges golden armor worth 100 oxen for bronze worth only nine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The rise of the coin<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>About a century later, in roughly 600 BCE, the first stamped coins appeared in Lydia, a kingdom in what is now western Turkey. Minted during the reign of Alyattas, the coin depicted the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.worldhistory.org\/article\/797\/the-importance-of-the-lydian-stater-as-the-worlds\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Lydian lion<\/a> \u2014 the feline symbol of the kings of Lydia \u2014 and was pressed into disks of electrum, an alloy of gold and silver.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This coinage introduced the concept of branding a precious metal with an official state seal, distinguishing coins from tokens, barter items and other limited forms of money that preceded them \u2014 and connecting them to their modern-day successors.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Lydian lion may have been introduced to pay soldiers, but the true reason remains unknown. Croesus, Alyettes\u2019 son and the last king of Lydia, also produced both gold and silver coins, as did the Persians who conquered him. All of these examples, however, were used more for hoarding than for trade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It was in Greece that coinage finally took off. Within a century of the appearance of the Lydian lion, more than 100 mints operated in Greece, which at the time consisted of more than 2,000 self-governing city-states. Most mints were small and minted coins only for special purposes \u2014 usually military in nature \u2014 but some city-states made wider use of their coins. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.colosseocollection.com\/blog\/2014\/6\/aeginas-turtle-coinage\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Aegina\u2019s \u201cturtles\u201d<\/a> circulated well beyond their island-state, and the preferred currency on the shores of the Black Sea was the electrum coins of Cyzicus, a Greek town in Anatolia, which is now part of Turkey.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>These paled in comparison, however, to the <a href=\"https:\/\/coinweek.com\/ancient-coins-famous-coin-antiquity\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">\u201cowls\u201d of Athens<\/a>, which became the most common currency in most of Greece \u2014 and far beyond. Produced in quantity from Athenian silver mines, the owls retained the names of utensils: a small coin, 8 millimeters in diameter and weighing 0.72 grams, was an <em>obol<\/em>, or a \u201cspit.\u201d The six-obol coin was a <em>drachma<\/em>, or a \u201chandful.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignwide size-large is-style-zoooom\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"730\" src=\"https:\/\/rethinkq.adp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Europeana.eu-9200517-ark__12148_btv1b5962163s-774f4fdfacd8c11060eaf9b29f9a56e3-1024x730.jpeg\" alt=\"A map of Ancient Greece from 1782, held by the Biblioth\u00e8que nationale de France.\" class=\"wp-image-2952\" srcset=\"https:\/\/rethinkq.adp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Europeana.eu-9200517-ark__12148_btv1b5962163s-774f4fdfacd8c11060eaf9b29f9a56e3-1024x730.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/rethinkq.adp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Europeana.eu-9200517-ark__12148_btv1b5962163s-774f4fdfacd8c11060eaf9b29f9a56e3-300x214.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/rethinkq.adp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Europeana.eu-9200517-ark__12148_btv1b5962163s-774f4fdfacd8c11060eaf9b29f9a56e3-768x548.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/rethinkq.adp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Europeana.eu-9200517-ark__12148_btv1b5962163s-774f4fdfacd8c11060eaf9b29f9a56e3-1536x1095.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/rethinkq.adp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Europeana.eu-9200517-ark__12148_btv1b5962163s-774f4fdfacd8c11060eaf9b29f9a56e3-1600x1141.jpeg 1600w, https:\/\/rethinkq.adp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Europeana.eu-9200517-ark__12148_btv1b5962163s-774f4fdfacd8c11060eaf9b29f9a56e3.jpeg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A map of Ancient Greece from 1782, held by the Biblioth\u00e8que nationale de France.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">A new kind of exchange<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Coins didn\u2019t do anything new per se, but they vastly simplified existing market exchanges. Moreover, coins were egalitarian; unlike bronze tripods or silver rings, anyone could have them, which meant citizens could acquire wealth regardless of family background. The market, now flourishing, offered a safety valve for the rural poor, offering an alternative to sharecropping for their wealthy neighbors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The biggest change, though, was conceptual. Coins, themselves interchangeable, were something that could be exchanged for anything, and everything was equivalent to a certain number of coins. There was no word for money; it was called <em>argyrion<\/em>, meaning \u201csilver,\u201d or <em>chremata<\/em>, \u201cuseful things.\u201d The coins themselves were collectively called <em>nomismata<\/em>, or \u201ccustomary things.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But it was an idea that had taken hold. Even more so than oxen, money measured everything, and the person with the most money was richest. Money could buy anything, and a sufficient sum could atone for most injuries. And unlike food or clothing, no amount was ever enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This was an entirely new way of thinking. In \u201cThe Odyssey,\u201d Homer enumerated the wealth of Odysseus: 59 herds of cattle, pigs, sheep and goats, plus Odysseus\u2019 chamber with \u201cgold and bronze piled up and clothing in chests and plenty of fragrant oil and barrels of delicious old wine.\u201d But nobody asked, \u201cHow many oxen is all of that worth?\u201d Through coins, though, everything could be thought of in terms of money.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A lawyer could now speak of \u201ca three-talent household\u201d (a talent was equal to 6,000 drachmas) just as we speak of \u201ca millionaire.\u201d Whereas Homer or the Hebrew Bible would never use a number to account for all of a person\u2019s wealth, today everybody thinks in those terms. We cannot imagine otherwise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The idea takes root<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>It took some time for this new idea to change the world, but change the world it did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Before, wealth followed power: Great men and women expected and received prestigious gifts. With coinage, wealth took the upper hand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the 550s BCE, an Athenian named Peisistratus twice achieved political power and ruled as a tyrant, and twice he was expelled. The third time, he proceeded more methodically. Collecting money from his political allies, he took the city with an army of hired soldiers and maintained his power by generosity. Future politicians followed his example.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Half a century later, Pericles, unable to match the generosity of his richer political rival Cimon, was advised &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.perseus.tufts.edu\/hopper\/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0046%3Achapter%3D27\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">to give the multitude what was their own<\/a>&#8221; \u2014 to curry favor with the poor by advocating for programs that would pay them out of the public till. Cimon, Pericles and their rivals all came from great families, but as coins made wealth more democratic, family connections became less important. By the next century, the great families had disappeared from Athenian politics, their place taken by people with newly acquired wealth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Politics are forever altered&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>We cannot credit coins with the rise of democracy, but this form of money did make it possible for people to manage their collective resources. Barter and gift exchanges were personal and subjective, but coins could be counted, and Athens demanded that its office-holders account for every obol. For the first time, public officials receiving gifts in exchange for personal favors \u2014 or bribery \u2014&nbsp;was frowned upon. Many Ancient Greeks did take bribes, but those who were caught and convicted were punished.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Money changed warfare, too. With an unexpected windfall of silver discovered near the city in 483 BCE, the Athenians built a navy, and when the Persian king Xerxes invaded, they defeated him at the Battle of Salamis in 480 BCE. After the war, they allowed their allies to contribute money rather than warships, converting an alliance of equals into an empire where Athens ruled the waves. The Athenians built walls down to the city&#8217;s port, and when the Spartans, the greatest land warriors in Greece, attacked them and ravaged their territory during the Peloponnesian War (431\u2013404 BCE), they withdrew behind their walls and supplied themselves with imports.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For the length of the 27-year conflict, Athenian naval power fought Spartan land power. But the greatest power of all was money, which both sides desperately needed to stay in the fight. During the war, a warship crew of 200 rowers would have been paid a talent for a month&#8217;s work, the equivalent of one drachma per rower per day. To cover costs, both sides appealed to the Persians for funds, which allowed the fighting to continue for decades. Sparta eventually won.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">A new commercial possibility<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Back in the commercial realm, another entirely new practice arose: using money to make money. In the market each morning, <em>obolostatai<\/em> (\u201cobol-weighers\u201d) lent trivial sums with which penniless retailers bought merchandise to sell during the day, returning the loan with interest in the evening. The <em>obolostatai<\/em>, like modern loan sharks, were held in contempt, but their small contributions kept many small retailers afloat.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But the Greeks also invented a business whose goal was to produce risky income from other people\u2019s money: the bank. They called this business a \u201ctable\u201d (<em>trapeza<\/em>), a word still used by Greeks today. The origins of the word \u201cbank\u201d are found in the Venetian word for the table, or \u201cbanco.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Some of the more aggressive lenders offered high-risk, high-reward maritime loans in which merchants borrowed large sums at high interest rates \u2014 sometimes 50% or more \u2014 that they had to repay if the ship made it back safely. In the case of shipwreck, though, the debt would be wiped clean, even if the borrower and crew managed to survive.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Banks never dominated the ancient Greek economy in the way they dominate our own. But money sure did.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"block--author\">      <div class=\"block-author__inner\">\n        <div class=\"author--image\">\n                      <a href=\"https:\/\/rethinkq.adp.com\/author\/david-schaps\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/rethinkq.adp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/david_schaps-298x305.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a>\n                  <\/div>\n        <div class=\"author--info\">\n                      <a href=\"https:\/\/rethinkq.adp.com\/author\/david-schaps\/\" class=\"author--name\">David Schaps<\/a>\n\n          \n          <p>David Schaps is Professor Emeritus of Classical Studies at Bar-Ilan University, former President of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.israel-classics.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Israel Society for the Promotion of Classical Studies<\/a>, a former editor of <em><a href=\"https:\/\/scriptaclassica.org\/index.php\/sci\">Scripta Classica Israelica<\/a><\/em>, and an orthodox rabbi. His books include &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.fulcrum.org\/concern\/monographs\/08612n822\"><em>Economic Rights of Women in Ancient Greece<\/em><\/a>,&#8221; &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.fulcrum.org\/concern\/monographs\/h128nf609\"><em>The Invention of Coinage and the Monetization of Ancient Greece<\/em><\/a>&#8221; (upon which this article is based), &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.routledge.com\/Handbook-for-Classical-Research\/Schaps\/p\/book\/9780415425230\"><em>Handbook for Classical Research<\/em><\/a>&#8221; and \u2014 under his rabbinical hat \u2014 &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.feldheim.com\/the-gates-of-heaven\"><em>The Gates of Heaven: A Beginner\u2019s Guide to Jewish Prayer<\/em><\/a>.&#8221;<\/p>\n          <div class=\"block--author-social\"><ul class=\"author--socials\"><li><a href=\"https:\/\/classics.biu.ac.il\/en\/DavidSchaps\" title=\"Author Website\" target=\"_blank\"><i class=\"fas fa-globe\"><\/i><\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n        <\/div>\n      <\/div>\n       <\/div>\n\n<div class=\"block--recommended-content alignwide is-style-bg-adp-tan\"><div class=\"block-recommended-content__inner\">\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Read more<\/h2>\n\n\n<div class=\"block--article-pushpoint pushpoint__small\">      <div class=\"block-article-pushpoint__inner\">\n        <a href=\"https:\/\/rethinkq.adp.com\/artifact-khipu-inka-accounting-system\/\">\n        <div class=\"pushpoint--image\">\n          <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/rethinkq.adp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/AN1172639-1084x576.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/>\n        <\/div>\n        <div class=\"pushpoint--info\">\n                    <span class=\"pushpoint--title\">Khipu, the ancient Inka accounting system<\/span>\n          <p>Long before Excel, accountants of the Inka Empire used knotted strings called khipu, or quipu, to record taxes and stock. \n<\/p>        <\/div>\n      <\/a><\/div> <\/div>\n\n<div class=\"block--article-pushpoint pushpoint__small\">      <div class=\"block-article-pushpoint__inner\">\n        <a href=\"https:\/\/rethinkq.adp.com\/cuneiform-tablets-secrets-mesopotamian-payroll\/\">\n        <div class=\"pushpoint--image\">\n          <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/rethinkq.adp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/GXNHC0-1084x576.jpeg\" alt=\"\" \/>\n        <\/div>\n        <div class=\"pushpoint--info\">\n                    <span class=\"pushpoint--title\">Cuneiform tablets reveal secrets of Mesopotamian payroll<\/span>\n          <p>Early payroll records were among humans\u2019 first steps toward a writing system, explains Ali H.O. Bnayan, an archaeologist and cuneiform expert from the Iraq Museum.<\/p>        <\/div>\n      <\/a><\/div> <\/div>\n\n<div class=\"block--article-pushpoint pushpoint__small\">      <div class=\"block-article-pushpoint__inner\">\n        <a href=\"https:\/\/rethinkq.adp.com\/history-time-tracking-clocks\/\">\n        <div class=\"pushpoint--image\">\n          <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/rethinkq.adp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/service-pnp-fsa-8d27000-8d27900-8d27970v-1011x576.jpeg\" alt=\"\" \/>\n        <\/div>\n        <div class=\"pushpoint--info\">\n                    <span class=\"pushpoint--title\">How time-tracking clocks shaped the working world<\/span>\n          <p>Despite being thoroughly embedded in today\u2019s professional life, \u201cclocking in\u201d is a relatively modern invention.\n<\/p>        <\/div>\n      <\/a><\/div> <\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<section class=\"wp-block-group alignfull section--sign-up has-background\" style=\"background-color:#7967ae\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center is-style-default has-white-color has-text-color has-large-font-size\"><a href=\"\/sign-up\/\">Sign up<\/a> to keep up to date with ReThink Q.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Trade and commerce existed long before coins, but the idea of money was a revelation and a revolution.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2930,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":true,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[387,386,56,384,385,393],"coauthors":[377],"class_list":["post-2929","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-artifact","tag-ancient-athens","tag-ancient-greece","tag-artifact","tag-coin","tag-money","tag-numismatics","issue-issue-9-back-to-school"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The first coins in Ancient Greece - ADP ReThink Q<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Trade and commerce existed long before coins, but the idea of money was a revelation and a revolution.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/rethinkq.adp.com\/artifact-first-coins-ancient-greece\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The first coins in Ancient Greece - ADP ReThink Q\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Trade and commerce existed long before coins, but the idea of money was a revelation and a revolution.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/rethinkq.adp.com\/artifact-first-coins-ancient-greece\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"ADP ReThink Q\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"David Schaps\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/rachel.codes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-08-15T20:17:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-09-03T10:20:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/rethinkq.adp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/ma-790.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"929\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"David Schaps\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@rachelcodes\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"David Schaps\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"8 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/rethinkq.adp.com\/artifact-first-coins-ancient-greece\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/rethinkq.adp.com\/artifact-first-coins-ancient-greece\/\",\"name\":\"The first coins in Ancient Greece - ADP ReThink Q\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/rethinkq.adp.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/rethinkq.adp.com\/artifact-first-coins-ancient-greece\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/rethinkq.adp.com\/artifact-first-coins-ancient-greece\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/rethinkq.adp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/ma-790.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-08-15T20:17:37+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-09-03T10:20:08+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/rethinkq.adp.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d0bb4ba3a0a65edfadebf728bbb547c1\"},\"description\":\"Trade and commerce existed long before coins, but the idea of money was a revelation and a revolution.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/rethinkq.adp.com\/artifact-first-coins-ancient-greece\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/rethinkq.adp.com\/artifact-first-coins-ancient-greece\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/rethinkq.adp.com\/artifact-first-coins-ancient-greece\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/rethinkq.adp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/ma-790.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/rethinkq.adp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/ma-790.jpg\",\"width\":2000,\"height\":929,\"caption\":\"A classic Athenian tetradrachm, made of silver ca. 500 BCE. Source: LACMA\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/rethinkq.adp.com\/artifact-first-coins-ancient-greece\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/rethinkq.adp.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The first coins in Ancient Greece\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/rethinkq.adp.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/rethinkq.adp.com\/\",\"name\":\"ADP ReThink Q\",\"description\":\"Telling the human stories of payroll\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/rethinkq.adp.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/rethinkq.adp.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d0bb4ba3a0a65edfadebf728bbb547c1\",\"name\":\"rachel\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/rethinkq.adp.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/699e6af4e3ba3b377022a080054acf94\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8d89326a4b2185513249eaef9cb80ada89d65cf61b43b9868fcfa1be0f69530f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8d89326a4b2185513249eaef9cb80ada89d65cf61b43b9868fcfa1be0f69530f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"rachel\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/rethinkq.adp.com\",\"https:\/\/rachel.codes\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/rachelcodes\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The first coins in Ancient Greece - ADP ReThink Q","description":"Trade and commerce existed long before coins, but the idea of money was a revelation and a revolution.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/rethinkq.adp.com\/artifact-first-coins-ancient-greece\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The first coins in Ancient Greece - ADP ReThink Q","og_description":"Trade and commerce existed long before coins, but the idea of money was a revelation and a revolution.","og_url":"https:\/\/rethinkq.adp.com\/artifact-first-coins-ancient-greece\/","og_site_name":"ADP ReThink Q","article_publisher":"David Schaps","article_author":"https:\/\/rachel.codes","article_published_time":"2023-08-15T20:17:37+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-09-03T10:20:08+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2000,"height":929,"url":"https:\/\/rethinkq.adp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/ma-790.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"David Schaps","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@rachelcodes","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"David Schaps","Est. reading time":"8 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/rethinkq.adp.com\/artifact-first-coins-ancient-greece\/","url":"https:\/\/rethinkq.adp.com\/artifact-first-coins-ancient-greece\/","name":"The first coins in Ancient Greece - ADP ReThink Q","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/rethinkq.adp.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/rethinkq.adp.com\/artifact-first-coins-ancient-greece\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/rethinkq.adp.com\/artifact-first-coins-ancient-greece\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/rethinkq.adp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/ma-790.jpg","datePublished":"2023-08-15T20:17:37+00:00","dateModified":"2024-09-03T10:20:08+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/rethinkq.adp.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d0bb4ba3a0a65edfadebf728bbb547c1"},"description":"Trade and commerce existed long before coins, but the idea of money was a revelation and a revolution.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/rethinkq.adp.com\/artifact-first-coins-ancient-greece\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/rethinkq.adp.com\/artifact-first-coins-ancient-greece\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/rethinkq.adp.com\/artifact-first-coins-ancient-greece\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/rethinkq.adp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/ma-790.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/rethinkq.adp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/ma-790.jpg","width":2000,"height":929,"caption":"A classic Athenian tetradrachm, made of silver ca. 500 BCE. Source: LACMA"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/rethinkq.adp.com\/artifact-first-coins-ancient-greece\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/rethinkq.adp.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The first coins in Ancient Greece"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/rethinkq.adp.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/rethinkq.adp.com\/","name":"ADP ReThink Q","description":"Telling the human stories of payroll","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/rethinkq.adp.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/rethinkq.adp.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d0bb4ba3a0a65edfadebf728bbb547c1","name":"rachel","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/rethinkq.adp.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/699e6af4e3ba3b377022a080054acf94","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8d89326a4b2185513249eaef9cb80ada89d65cf61b43b9868fcfa1be0f69530f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8d89326a4b2185513249eaef9cb80ada89d65cf61b43b9868fcfa1be0f69530f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"rachel"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/rethinkq.adp.com","https:\/\/rachel.codes","https:\/\/x.com\/rachelcodes"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rethinkq.adp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2929","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rethinkq.adp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rethinkq.adp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rethinkq.adp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rethinkq.adp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2929"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rethinkq.adp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2929\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rethinkq.adp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2930"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rethinkq.adp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2929"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rethinkq.adp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2929"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rethinkq.adp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2929"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rethinkq.adp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=2929"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}