| From the Homeric epics we know that transactions | | | | drachma equalled six obeloi, retaining the old ratio of 1 |
| then were always calculated using animals, ever | | | | drax to 6 obeloi. The best known Athenian coin was |
| valuable in primitive societies. Later, metals began to | | | | the silver tetradrachm (4 drachmas). Its metal was so |
| circulate in the Mediterranean, the weight of which | | | | pure as to permit the people to hold it in their mouths, |
| determined their value. Talents were huge pieces of | | | | since pockets were unknown, at least so Aristophanes |
| metal weighing about 29 kg, in the shape of a | | | | tells us. Perhaps this is the origin of the custom of |
| stretched sheepskin. Around the 7th century, the rich | | | | placing a coin in the mouth of dead persons to pay |
| mines of Asia Minor made it feasible for colonial states | | | | Charon the ferryman who carried them into Hades. |
| to transact business using small rounded pieces of | | | | Ever conservative, the Spartans continued to utilise the |
| electro, i.e. a mixture of gold and silver. The oldest | | | | obelos, even after the use of coins became |
| examples of these coins were found on the eastern | | | | widespread, in order to avoid expensive innovations, as |
| Aegean island of Samos. | | | | Plutarch said in his biography of Lykourgos. But Athens |
| In mainland Hellas in the 7th century, transactions were | | | | imposed its drachma, which became established in |
| conducted with metallic rods known as obeloi. One | | | | trade as an indication of prosperity. Despite this, many |
| could hold six obeloi in the palm of one's hand, and this | | | | other cities declared their independence by minting their |
| was called a drax (handful). The word drachma, the | | | | own local currency. Money had entered people's lives |
| Greek currency up to the present day, is derived from | | | | through buying and selling, loans and fraud, all to make |
| this word. In the 6th century, when gold Persian coins | | | | profit. Any capable man could have a bench, or |
| called darks flooded Hellas, the island of Aegina was | | | | trapeza in the Agora, and could serve or speculate as |
| the first to mint its own coins, which were stamped | | | | he chose. Under the incomes policy introduced by |
| with a turtle. Athens followed, cutting drachmas out of | | | | Solon in the 6th century, competition was what spurred |
| pieces of pure silver, which on one side showed the | | | | production and exports, making the Agora the pulsating |
| head of the goddess Athena and on the other her | | | | heart of Athens in both the political and commercial |
| sacred bird, the owl, together with an olive branch. The | | | | sphere. |