The Athenian Empire: Using Coins as Sources

Coinage played a central role in the history of the Athenian naval empire of the fifth century BC. It made possible the rise of the empire itself, which was financed through tribute in coinage collected annually from the empire's approximately 200 cities. The empire's downfall was brought about by the wealth in Persian coinage that financed its enemies. This book surveys and illustrates, with nearly 200 examples, the extraordinary variety of silver and gold coinages that were employed in the history of the period, minted by cities within the empire and by those cities and rulers that came into contact with it. It also examines how coins supplement the literary sources and even attest to developments in the monetary history of the period that would otherwise be unknown. This is an accessible introduction to both the history of the Athenian empire and to the use of coins as evidence.

‘… this book will undoubtedly be immensely useful to all historians of 5th-century Greece. Unless new evidence is unearthed that would shatter today’s consensus, it may well be used for decades to come.’ Pavel Nývlt, Eirene. Studia Graeca et Latina

The first book to illustrate and integrate coinage comprehensively as historical evidence for the Athenian empire.

LISA KALLET is Cawkwell Fellow in Ancient History at University College, Oxford. She has published two influential books and articles on Thucydides, the Athenian empire, Attic epigraphy and Athenian democracy.

JOHN H. KROLL is Professor Emeritus of Classics at the University of Texas, Austin, and an Honorary Research Fellow of the Heberden Coin Room at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. He is the author of the volume of the Greek coins from the Agora Excavations and has written widely on other numismatic topics and on Greek weights and inscriptions. He has served as Trustee and Second Vice President of the American Numismatic Society.