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An Ancient
Tortoise
From Aegina
by Brian Holland
The Greek island of AEGINA is located off the coast
of Athens. Ancient Aeginetans were a seafaring people with trade links throughout the
mediterranean world. They were the first Europeans to recognize the need for a trade
coinage and produced a series of silver staters called Sea Turtles beginning in the 6th
century BC. These simple high relief coins were produced in large numbers and remained the
principle world trade coin until being replaced by the Athenian Owls in the 5th century
BC.
In 457 BC, AEGINA was conquered by Athens bringing the issuance of Sea Turtles to an
end. Worse yet was to befall the luckless Aeginetans for in 431 BC, they were expelled
from their island by the powerful Athenians at the outset of the Peloponnesian War
(431-404 BC), the most devastating and far reaching conflict to date in the history of
mankind. Only when Athens was finally defeated by Sparta and its allies in 404 BC were the
people of AEGINA able to return home.
With their maritime power at an end, the Aeginetans began producing a new stater called a
Land Tortoise. These coins were much more detailed than the prior Sea Turtles although
they retained the reverse punch used to force metal upward into the obverse die. Much
scarcer than the earlier Sea Turtles, the new staters are highly prized by collectors of
ancient greek coins for their high relief, rich detail, and simplicity of design. The coin
pictured below is a Land Tortoise stater of 404 - 340 BC.
 
  
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