Greek Coin Pack - Athens Stater

Product Description: This reproduction Athens Gold Stater is moulded directly from an original coin and is made from pewter that is 22ct gold plated. The wallet type packaging has a hole on the front in which the coin is held in a clear blister. The coin pack has images of the Acropolis on the front, the two coins in the collection inside, as well as additional Greek images. It has historical information about the coins and about the rise and fall of the Ancient Greek empire.

Information: The reproduction Athens Stater coin was struck during the great siege of Athens in 296 BC from gold stripped from the statue of Athena in the Parthenon. The obverse shows Athena and the reverse an Athenian owl.

Greece started to emerge from the Dark Ages in the eighth century BC. The Ancient Greeks lived in mainland Greece and the Greek islands, but as the population expanded, also in what is now Turkey and in the colonies scattered around the Mediterranean Sea coast. There were Greeks in Italy, Sicily, North Africa and as far west as France. Sailing the sea to trade and find new land, Greeks took their way of life to many places.

There was not one country called Greece. Instead, there were small ‘city-states’. Each city-state had its own government. Sometimes the city-states fought one another, sometimes they joined together. Athens, Sparta, Corinth and Olympia were four of the largest city-states.

The Greeks created a way of life that other people admired and copied. The Romans copied Greek art and Greek gods for example. The ancient Greeks tried out democracy, started the Olympic Games and left ideas in science, art and philosophy.

Alexander the Great intended to create a Greek empire that incorporated most of the known world. Unfortunately, he died in 323BC and the empire was split among his quarrelling generals. These kingdoms preserved many aspects of Greek life but were eventually overcome by the rising power of Rome.