DOI issue:
Artykuły / Articles
DOI article:Van Alfen, Peter G.: Problems in the political economy of archaic greek coinage
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.22230#0022
PETER VAN ALFEN
Leslie Kurkę17 and Sitta von Reden18 have studied the role of coinage in the
internal power struggles of the archaic period, the former as a locus of conflict
between elites and non-elites, and the latter as a key component in the developing
“morał economy” of the polis. Both stress the symbolic aspects of coinage qua
coinage and its close identity with specific political forces. On a different tack,
Papadopoulos19 considers the role of coin iconography in “minting identity,” as an
active agent in shaping political and communal identity in the archaic Greek west.
The theme of using coinage (qua coinage) to generate political cohesiveness also
appears in von Reden's20 latest book, wherein she argues that aggressive Ptolemaic
monetization via coinage (as opposed to bullion) served to achieve greater political
consolidation in Egypt.
This brief, and by no means comprehensive survey illustrates sonie of the
recurrent themes in the political interpretation of Greek coinage, including the
effective veiling of monetary function, the insistence on a right of coinage, and
the use of coinage as a means - a tool and club - to achieve desired political ends.
Arguments that appear to follow these themes to extremes, favoring political inter-
pretations too resolutely, or without affirming the monetary functions of coinage,
have met with considerable backlash.21 In building his case against the presumed
link between political autonomy and coin production, for example, Martin22 denied
almost all political and symbolic motivations for Greek coinage, instead heavily
underscoring the many economic motivations a polis would have for producing
coins, including the hnancing of public works, the payment of salaries and doles,
and profit. Indeed, the most frequently argued economic motivation for the pro-
duction of Greek coinage is profit, the notion that ancient States, like their modern
Coinage: the Asyut hoard. London 1975, pp. 64-66, see the coinage as a product, and therefore, a symbol of the
new democracy. Others (e.g., J.H. KROLL, “From Wappenmiinzen to Gorgoneia to Owls”, ANSMusN26, 1981,
pp. 1-32) have argued that the owls were introduced under the tyrants.
17 L. KURKĘ, Coins, bodies, games andgold: the politics of meaning in Archaic Greece, Princeton 1999.
18 S. VON REDEN, Exchange in ancient Greece, London 1995; EADEM, “Money, Law and Exchange:
Coinage in the Greek Polis’’, JHS 117, 1997, pp. 154-76.
19 J.K. PAPADOPOULOS, “Minting identity: coinage, ideology and the economics of colonization in
Akhaina Magna Graecia”, CAJ 12, 2002, pp. 21-5.
20 S. VON REDEN, Money in Ptolemaic Egypt from the Macedonian conąuest to the end of the third cen-
tury BC, Cambridge 2008.
21 See, for example, J.H. KROLL, “Review of S. von Reden, Exchange in Ancient Greece’’, AJ A 101,
1997, pp. 175-176; IDEM, “Review of Leslie Kurkę, Coins, Bodies, Games, and Gold: the Politics of Mean-
ing in Archaic Greece”, CJ 96, 2000, pp. 85-90 and F. DE CALLATAY, „Sur les origines de la monnaie stricto
sensu (nomisma). A propos de deux livres recents (S. von Reden et L. Kurkę)”, RN 157, 2000, pp. 83-93 re-
views of Kurkę and von Reden. Cf. R. SEAFORD, "Reading money: Leslie Kurkę on the politics of meaning
in Archaic Greece”, Arion 9.3, 2002, pp. 145-165. E. MACKIL, P. VAN ALFEN, “Cooperative coinage”, [in:J
P.G. VAN ALFEN (ed.) Agoranomia: studies in money and exchangepresented to John H. Kroll, New York 2006,
pp. 201-246, take issue with the political interpretation of “alliance” or “league” coinages.
22 MARTIN, Sovereignty and Coinage in Classical Greece...
Leslie Kurkę17 and Sitta von Reden18 have studied the role of coinage in the
internal power struggles of the archaic period, the former as a locus of conflict
between elites and non-elites, and the latter as a key component in the developing
“morał economy” of the polis. Both stress the symbolic aspects of coinage qua
coinage and its close identity with specific political forces. On a different tack,
Papadopoulos19 considers the role of coin iconography in “minting identity,” as an
active agent in shaping political and communal identity in the archaic Greek west.
The theme of using coinage (qua coinage) to generate political cohesiveness also
appears in von Reden's20 latest book, wherein she argues that aggressive Ptolemaic
monetization via coinage (as opposed to bullion) served to achieve greater political
consolidation in Egypt.
This brief, and by no means comprehensive survey illustrates sonie of the
recurrent themes in the political interpretation of Greek coinage, including the
effective veiling of monetary function, the insistence on a right of coinage, and
the use of coinage as a means - a tool and club - to achieve desired political ends.
Arguments that appear to follow these themes to extremes, favoring political inter-
pretations too resolutely, or without affirming the monetary functions of coinage,
have met with considerable backlash.21 In building his case against the presumed
link between political autonomy and coin production, for example, Martin22 denied
almost all political and symbolic motivations for Greek coinage, instead heavily
underscoring the many economic motivations a polis would have for producing
coins, including the hnancing of public works, the payment of salaries and doles,
and profit. Indeed, the most frequently argued economic motivation for the pro-
duction of Greek coinage is profit, the notion that ancient States, like their modern
Coinage: the Asyut hoard. London 1975, pp. 64-66, see the coinage as a product, and therefore, a symbol of the
new democracy. Others (e.g., J.H. KROLL, “From Wappenmiinzen to Gorgoneia to Owls”, ANSMusN26, 1981,
pp. 1-32) have argued that the owls were introduced under the tyrants.
17 L. KURKĘ, Coins, bodies, games andgold: the politics of meaning in Archaic Greece, Princeton 1999.
18 S. VON REDEN, Exchange in ancient Greece, London 1995; EADEM, “Money, Law and Exchange:
Coinage in the Greek Polis’’, JHS 117, 1997, pp. 154-76.
19 J.K. PAPADOPOULOS, “Minting identity: coinage, ideology and the economics of colonization in
Akhaina Magna Graecia”, CAJ 12, 2002, pp. 21-5.
20 S. VON REDEN, Money in Ptolemaic Egypt from the Macedonian conąuest to the end of the third cen-
tury BC, Cambridge 2008.
21 See, for example, J.H. KROLL, “Review of S. von Reden, Exchange in Ancient Greece’’, AJ A 101,
1997, pp. 175-176; IDEM, “Review of Leslie Kurkę, Coins, Bodies, Games, and Gold: the Politics of Mean-
ing in Archaic Greece”, CJ 96, 2000, pp. 85-90 and F. DE CALLATAY, „Sur les origines de la monnaie stricto
sensu (nomisma). A propos de deux livres recents (S. von Reden et L. Kurkę)”, RN 157, 2000, pp. 83-93 re-
views of Kurkę and von Reden. Cf. R. SEAFORD, "Reading money: Leslie Kurkę on the politics of meaning
in Archaic Greece”, Arion 9.3, 2002, pp. 145-165. E. MACKIL, P. VAN ALFEN, “Cooperative coinage”, [in:J
P.G. VAN ALFEN (ed.) Agoranomia: studies in money and exchangepresented to John H. Kroll, New York 2006,
pp. 201-246, take issue with the political interpretation of “alliance” or “league” coinages.
22 MARTIN, Sovereignty and Coinage in Classical Greece...