Cretan Cities. The Testimony of Coins

What the publication includes

The publication Cretan Cities. The Testimony of Coins presents coinage and coin circulation in ancient Cretan cities. It includes 124 coins issued or circulating in Crete during the classical and Hellenistic period.

Most of the coins presented come from the Alpha Bank Numismatic Collection. The rest belong to the Ephorates of Antiquities of Chania, Rethymno, Herakleion and Lasithi.

The publication includes a list of photos of all the coins and a wealth of references.

The catalogue of a major exhibition

The publication accompanied the exhibition “Cretan Cities. The Testimony of Coins” hosted by the Alpha Bank Numismatic Collection at the Museum of Ancient Eleutherna in 2019, in collaboration with the Ephorate of Antiquities of Rethymno and the University of Crete.

A typical example of a Cretan coin is the silver stater of Phaistos. This is one of the most beautiful coins in the Alpha Bank Numismatic Collection.

The history of cities and the testimony of coins

The first section of the publication presents the history and coins of the most important cities in ancient Crete. The cities are mentioned based on today’s geographical division of Crete into 4 prefectures: Chania, Rethymno, Herakleion, Lasithi.

There are 2 kinds of texts for each prefecture:

• Historical texts on the most important cities in ancient Crete, accompanied by relevant photos. The texts were written by the directors of the 4 Ephorates of Antiquities in Crete: Katerina Tzanakaki (Chania), Anastasia Tzigkounaki (Rethymno), Vasiliki Sythiakaki (Herakleion), Chrysoula Sofianou (Lasithi).
• Numismatic texts on the coinage of each city, the representations on coins and their chronological order. The texts were written by numismatists Manolis Stefanakis and Vasiliki Stefanaki.

Coin circulation in Crete

The 2nd section presents all the coins in circulation in Crete from the 6th to the 1st century BCE.

It includes individual coins, as well as sets of coins called “treasures”.

The section covers:

• Local coins from the 40 mints operating in Crete during the classical and Hellenistic period.
• Coins from other areas found in excavations in Crete.

It also includes a detailed list of Cretan “treasures” (6th-1st century BCE).

Important conclusions

The publication provides valuable information on a period of Crete that has not been studied and showcased as much as it deserves.

Coins reveal that during historical times Crete had city-states with exclusively indigenous population, self-sufficiency and local identity.

Edited by: Nikolaos C. Stampolidis, Dimitra Tsangari, Mimika Giannopoulou
Publisher: Alpha Bank
Place and time: Athens, 2019
Dimensions: 21 x 29.5 cm
Pages: 212
Cover type: Paperback
Greek ISBN: 978-618-5072-40-7
English ISBN: 978-618-5072-39-1