The Athenian Coinage Decree: Inscriptions, Coins and Athenian ...

ATHENA HADJI and ZOË KONTES
strict penalties for those who fail to comply with the
provisions of the decree. Furthermore, the fact that
Athenian archons were in charge in the allied city-states
is a definite sign of this attempt to extend control
over them. The decree is not a product of secure
Athenian imperialism but rather an indication of the
uncertain political and financial circumstances of the
Athenian state. Moreover, the epigraphic, literary,
numismatic and historical evidence available to us
reveals that the desperate measures of the decree were
never really implemented 22 .
In conclusion, the existence of an Athenian monetary
policy in the 5 th century is clear. The Coinage Decree
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was not therefore an isolated economic and political
statement. It was an attempt to control the marketplace,
a practice already seen in the late 6 th century as
evidenced by the Taranto hoard of 1911. The existence
of the 4 th century law confirms the continuation
of such a policy. Moreover, the 5 th century
decree is best interpreted as an attempt by the
Athenian state to reassert control over its allies at a
time when that control was weakening. The confirmation
given by the second Aphytis fragment that
Athenian archons were placed in the cities to enforce
the decree indeed suggests that this was a last
ditch attempt to establish control over the city states
under the guise of a common economic policy.
22. It is important to remember that the provision of the decree did
not only refer to coins but weights and standards as well. The standardization
of weights and measures would facilitate transactions
between the Athenian state and its allies. A characteristic example
of this is provided by the Grain-Tax Law of 374/3 B.C. (Stroud,
1998) The Athenian state was receiving tax in kind from the allies;
therefore the imposition of common standards would prevent the
loss of revenues from this policy. Also, the ideological implications
of the standardization of weights and measures are not negligible,
cf. the wide circulation of standardized lead weights in the Aegean
at the prime of the Minoan thalassocracy. (Petruso, 1979)