Greek
Silver Tetradrachm
Athens
450–440 BCE
ANS 1968.34.25
The ANS collection of ancient Greek coins is one of the five major collections in the world and comprises almost 100,000 items, classified according to regions and mints of the ancient world, from west to east, from Spain and Gaul (Celtic coins), Italy and Sicily through mainland Greece, all the way to modern Afghanistan. It includes all Greek coins, struck roughly between 650 BCE and the time of the Roman conquest, and also the bronze coinages of the Greek cities under Roman administration, known today as Roman Provincial Coinage, as well as the coinages of non-Greek peoples such as the Parthians, Celts, Iberians, Carthaginians, and ancient Arabians. The ANS has the largest collection of the coinages in the name of Alexander the Great of Macedonia and is particularly strong in the coins of the successors: Lysimachus of Thrace, the later Macedonian kings, the Seleucids of Syria and the Ptolemies of Egypt. These coinages can be studied in the NEH-funded, ANS-hosted online research tool, Hellenistic Royal Coinages (HRC). The ANS houses the most comprehensive collection of Greco-Bactrian and Indo-Greek coins, published in the Sylloge Nummorum Graecorum (SNG) series, and featured as well in the HRC component OXUS-INDUS. Ancient Jewish coins are another important area of strength.