Ancient History Task 2 - Lochlan W: 3D Gallery

Athenian Tetradrachm

This Athenian tetradrachm is a small coin dated to be between 483 and 480 BC. It is made of silver and has the head of Athena with a helmet on one side and the emblem of the owl and an olive twig on the other side. This coin shows how early ‘golden age’ Athenian coins were minted and was part of the “Acropolis Hoard” where over sixty coins were found preserved. This source is an example of early Athenian coinage, shows the use of silver as the main early payment in Athens and continues to show the influence of Greek mythology on Athens in coinage.

https://www.theacropolismuseum.gr/en/athenian-tetradrachm-34

Athenian import taxes - Thucydides

https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0200%3Abook%3D7%3Achapter%3D28%3Asection%3D4

Oil sellers Lethykos

This white, red, and black clay Lekythos is a minute jar, that would have been used to store small quantities of liquid, such as incense, perfumes, or oils. Crafted out of black clay on a white background the scene shows a trade scene going on with two oil sellers sitting on stools and attempting to sell oil in the agora. It shows what would have been sold at marketplaces such as the agora, along with how pottery was crafted with multiple types of clay.

https://www.theacropolismuseum.gr/en/lekythos-6

The price to run naval ships - Thucydides

This source comes from book 6 of Thucydides “the Peloponnesian war”. It regards naval ships, describing that sixty talents could run sixty ships for a month, which means that one Athenian talent was worth a month’s labour from one military ship. This teaches us so much about how the military worked, people understood that the labour was paid, and this puts a number on average how much a ship cost to run at the time, allowing estimates for how much the whole navy cost to run as well as how rich Athens would have had to be to run all the ships they did.

https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Thuc.+6.8&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0200

Miniature Bronze Shield

This miniature bronze shield from the early 5^th century BC is an example of tribute to Athena. The inscription on the circumference reads “Phrygia the bread-seller dedicated me to Athena”, and there is a gorgoneion symbol as its centre the same as Athena’s shield. It was created from bronze, and shows both what was considered tribute toward Athena, as well as occupations of Athens as the “bread seller” dedicated the shield to Athena.

https://www.theacropolismuseum.gr/en/miniature-inscribed-shield

Lamp in the form of a Warship

This source is a Lamp in the form of a Warship, it is dated toward the end of the 5^th century. It is made entirely out of bronze, with a slot for a wick and otherwise shaped as realistically as a warship. This source tells modern day historians how the Athenians used and kept light, the shape of warships, what bronze was used for and what would be tributed to Athena due to its inscription on the side meaning ‘sanctuary of Athena’.

https://www.theacropolismuseum.gr/en/lamp-form-warship

The Chalkis stele

This large stele consists of two decrees between Athens and Chalklis, it is dated back to 446 BC and entirely made of marble. The inscriptions are demands from Chalklis, terms in which they would return to Athens’ sway after the Euboean rebellion. The first decree does not concern economy but the second term regards taxes to be paid by foreigners that live in Chalklis, which are defined to go to Athens.

https://www.theacropolismuseum.gr/en/stele-decrees-chalkis

Athens allies - Thucydides

This source is mainly regarding the main city-states that had to pay tribute to Athens as a part of the Delian league effort. This source again comes from Thucydides about the battle between Syracuse and its allies against Sicily, Athens and its allies. This source does not tell us about the tribute explicitly but does show how many city states at least worked with Athens, and who were paying tribute constantly as well as who were independent mercenaries.

https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Thuc.+7.57&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0200

Yearly Tribute to the league - Thucydides

This source again comes from Thucydides, in book two of “the Peloponnesian war”, describing the financial state of Athens as they prepare for war against the Peloponnesians mustering at Isthmus. This specific section of two lines is regarding the amount of tribute paid as a whole to Athens from the league yearly. This number of “six-hundred talents” can be used to estimate the prices of many things, especially regarding the pricing of building an supplying a naval ship.

https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0200:book=2:chapter=13&highlight=silver

Stele of economic privileges to Methoni

This large stele decree was discovered in the theatre of Dionysus and dated back to 430 BC at the earliest. The two decrees preserved intact bestow economic privileges on Athens’ ally Methoni. The first resolution has an agreement that the people of Methoni would have to pay the Athenians an annual tax of one sixtieth of the previous year’s profits and the second decree Methoni is given the privilege to trade and import grain from Byzantium. This shows us how Athenian allies were given taxes and allowed to trade outside of other allies, through decrees from Athens. It also shows us how other allies of Athens also needed to import grain to feed their populations due to their geography and how much taxes consisted of for the smaller city states.

https://www.theacropolismuseum.gr/en/stele-decrees-methone-pieria

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Ancient History Task 2 - Lochlan W