Newton, Charles Thomas [Editor]; British Museum <London> / Department of Coins and Medals [Editor]: Select Greek coins exhibited in electrotype (London, 1872)

24

100. Athens. ^^'jg^etypeasprecetHn^ (Tetradrachm)
101. Athens. Ad Obv. Head of Gorgon.
All these coins are of the scale introduced by Solon,
rvhich remained in use until the time of Alexander the
Great when a reform took place in the coinage, and the
tetradrachm was issued of a somewhat lighter weight and
an enlarged surface.
The archaic style and execution of the Athenian coins
may perhaps be accounted for by tbe fact, that any
alteration in the appearance of coins having so wide a
circulation as the tetradrachms of Athens, might have
damaged their credit. This fixed hieratic character of the
coinage of one of the greatest Hellenic cities, remains,
however, an isolated fact in Greek numismatics.
102. Athens. Ad Obv. Head of Pallas, in Korinthian helmet, to
right.
Triptolemos was the great hero of the Eleusinian mys-
teries ; he introduced the worship of Demeter at Eleusis,
and received from her the dragon-chariot and seeds of
wheat The pig on the reverse has reference to the
connection of this animal with the worship of Demeter
and Persephone.
104. Aegina. Ad Obv. Sea-tortoise.
Rev. Irregular incuse.
105. Aegtna. Ad Obv. Land-tortoise, on either side, A !.
The early coins of Aegina are among the most ancient
specimens of money in existence, and some of them may
be of the eighth century n c., at which date it is related