Reply to Thread

Message:: [QUOTE="DonnaML, post: 4552341, member: 110350"][USER=31620]@maridvnvm[/USER], I'm curious as to what makes this a "stater" rather than a "drachm."  What is the weight?  I know that the entry for this coin-type in Sear's Greek Coins Vol. I -- No. 1669 -- calls it a stater, but the approximate weight it gives is only 5.75 g., which seems awfully light for a stater, and is in the exact same weight range as what most sources describe as a drachm.  (Like mine described above, which weighs 5.36 g.) I'm sure that the term "stater" had different meanings in different localities, but my understanding is that in general staters were the approximate equivalent in weight to an Attic didrachm, although in Corinth the stater actually equalled three drachms in monetary terms. (See Wikipedia, which I know is not a reliable source in and of itself, but states that "The three most important standards of the ancient Greek monetary system were the Attic standard, based on the Athenian drachma of 4.3 grams of silver, the Corinthian standard based on the stater of 8.6 grams of silver, that was subdivided into three silver drachmas of 2.9 grams, and the Aeginetan stater or didrachm of 12.2 grams, based on a drachma of 6.1 grams.") In any event, my Corinthian stater weighs 8.46 g., and I'd be interested in knowing where staters weighed in the 5 gram range, never mind being only around 20 mm. or less.[/QUOTE]