Description

• Celtic coins are a type of ancient coinage produced by the Celtic peoples across Europe. They were first produced in the late 4th century BC, and continued to be minted until the early 1st century AD. Celtic coins were typically made of silver or bronze, and often featured images of animals, humans, or deities. They are particularly attractive for their artistic approach and organic designs often based on Greek-Macedonian prototypes such as the coins of Philip and Alexander. The reason for this link seems to be that Greek military strategy often adopted Celtic warriors as mercenary troops, for which they paid in Greek gold coinage which in turn acted as prototypes for Celtic local coinage.
• The Greeks considered themselves as composed of 4 tribes including Aeolians, Achaeans, Dorians and Ionians and there are varying references to the earliest coinage being produced either by the Lydians or Aeolians at Kyme and their king Midas. Ancient Greek coinage consisted of Staters, Drachms (and multiples thereof) as well as the smallest denominations of Obols and Hemiobols. The earliest coinage were Obols some of which have been found dating earlier than 800BC. Given that Greek culture was made up of many city-states there was great variety of production, though the economic strength of Athens came to predominate in coinage types and standards. As Greek coinage was among the first it was also highly influential on later and surrounding cultures, partly due to the many colonies they settled across the Mediterranean as well as due to Alexander the Great's conquests. The Greek military tendency to use foreign mercenaries, particularly from north European Celtic tribes also meant that Greek coinage came to influence Celtic production and it is interesting to observe the similarities and progressions from Greek types of Philip or Alexander across to Celtic equivalents.