Review of J. Ma, N. Papazardakas, and R. Parker, eds., Interpreting the Athenian Empire (Duckworth 2009) (original) (raw)
Related papers
Snapshot 1. A group of working men, with their tools: punches, hammers, anvils with dies set in them -the mint workers of fifth-century Athens, probably dêmosioi, public slaves owned by the democratic state. The date of this snapshot might be some time in the 440s: this year, the powerful arms of the mint workers will hammer out at least one million tetradrachms, and probably a lot more -big silver bits, each one worth enough to feed a family for a week. I wonder how this huge mass of money gets into circulation; what the lifecycle of a tetradrachm is, from argentiferous lead ore seam to coin to state payment to private consumption to taxation to tribute payment to the Athenian state again; what the monetary mass tells us about the economy of the Athenian-dominated Aegean; and whether any of the mint workers ever owned one of these coins they produced in such quantities.
What about coinage? Ch. 8 in Interpreting the Athenian Empire (2009).
J. Ma, N.Papazarkadas & R. Parker, eds., Interpreting the Athenian Empire. London, 2009
Inasmuch as the political, military, and economic might of Athenian imperialism was bound up with the amassing and expenditure of money in the form of coinage, it is only natural to ask what the study of coins has to contribute to knowledge of the Athenian archê. Two areas of numismatic investigation have a particular importance for the historian, one being the growth, scale, and circulation of Athens' own silver coinage, the other the impact of the archê on the coinages of its many constituent members, a question that has been discussed traditionally with reference to the dating and interpretation of the Athenian decree concerning Coinage and Metrological Standards. During the past decade and a half there has been a significant amount of new work in these areas, enough certainly to justify this brief overview of the current state of numismatic evidence and its implications for a fuller understanding of the fifthcentury Athenian hegemony.
How Athenian was the Athenian Treasury? Motive, Method and Meaning at Delphi
The Treasury of Athens at Delphi has traditionally been viewed as encapsulating the messages that the newly-democratic Athenian state wished to portray in the wake of the victory over the Persians at Marathon. Hitherto examinations have sought to understand the building by applying a dualist dynamic to the motives that led to its construction: Athens v Persia, War v Peace, Aristocracy v Democracy etc. This essay seeks a new appraisal of the evidence to develop an alternative set of ideas around why the building was created, and how the complex interplay of people, clans, philosophies and ideas brought to light a building that not only sought to reflect these complexities, but also to shape them; both product and shaper of the politico-religious life of early-fifth-century Greece.
Athenian Mercantilism: A New Approach to the Coinage Decree & the Law of Nicophon
Journal of Ancient History and Archaeology , 2019
Two fragmentary specimens of Greek epigraphy, both inscribed within a century of one another (ca. 450 and 375 B.C.) 1 and both, in one manner or another, dealing with regulations of Athenian coinage, have been the source of scholarly debate and controversy. The fifth century Athenian decree (ψήφισμα) on coins, weights, and standards 2 , has been referred to as one of "the most controversial texts in the history of Greek epigraphy." 3 The central debate surrounds its date, which then informs understanding of the nature of the decree and the motive behind its issuance. The fourth century Athenian law (νόμος) on approvers of silver coinage 4 likewise is subject to much debate regarding its textual reconstruction. Both the fifth century decree and the fourth century law aim to control elements of monetary exchange by eliminating the utilization, and later even the existence, of non-Athenian coinage. The differences from this perspective appear to be quantitative not qualitative-macro-managing and micromanaging monetary exchange. Notwithstanding, scholarship isolates the inscriptions and rarely considers any connection 5 . I aim to provide a better understanding of these two inscriptions and to explore the matter of continuity between these two pieces of Athenian legislation. Along with the matter of continuity, a series of related questions are treated here. (1) Was the Coinage Decree 6 a product of nascent Athenian imperialism, as scholarly consensus maintains, or rather a means to catalyze Athenian revenue via seigniorage? (2) How successful were the Coinage Decree and the Law on Coinage? (3) What does the numismatic evidence suggest regarding successful implementation of them? Namely, do coin finds signify the regularization of anti-counterfeiting measures? (4) Is there any perceivable quantitative reduction of non-Athenian silver coinage following the Decree or Law? λέξον δή, ἔφη, ἐκ τίνων νῦν αἱ πρόσοδοι τῇ πόλει καὶ πόσαι τινές εἰσι; δῆλον γὰρ ὅτι ἔσκεψαι, ἵνα, εἰ μέν τινες αὐτῶν ἐνδεῶς ἔχουσιν, ἐκπληρώσῃς, εἰ δὲ παραλείπονται, προσπορίσῃς (Xen. Mem. 3.6.5).