Tetradrachm (Coin) Depicting the Goddess Athena
490-322 BCE
Medium
Silver
Dimensions
Diam.: 2.3 cm (15/16 in.)
Classification
coin
Department
Arts of Greece, Rome, and Byzantium
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
199526
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
The use of coins as a form of money was invented in western Asia Minor in the early 7th century BCE. Made of gold, silver, bronze, and electrum (a gold-silver alloy), coins were literally worth their weight, but their value varied according to the percentage of their precious metal content. Occasionally a city needed more money than it had in reserves. By reducing the amount of precious metal and substituting a base metal, a coin could be produced of the same weight but no longer of the same val...
About the Artist
Ancient Greek
The artist known simply as "Ancient Greek" represents the anonymous masters of Attic vase painting, a cornerstone of Classical Greek art from the Archaic and Classical periods (circa 700–300 BCE). Little is known of their personal life, as ancient Greek potters and painters rarely signed their works or left biographical traces; early life and training remain not well documented. These creators ope...