A guide to the principal gold and silver coins of the ancients ...

B.C. 480-400. 27
(16) 0EB. Herakles, walking, holding bow and club. Wt.
185 grs. f 17^ GEBAIO^. Herakles stringing his bow. Wt.
188 grs. (18) 0EBAION. Herakles carrying off the Delphic
tripod. Wt. 184 grs.
These Theban coins are fine examples of the style of
art immediately preceding that of Phidias. They are all
previous to 430.
19-23. Athens. 06y. Head of Athena. Rev. kQE. Owl and olive-
branch, in incuse square. (19) Decadrachm (wt. 659 grs.) ;
(20) Tetradrachm (wt. 265 grs.) ; (21) Didrachm (wt.
129 grs.) ; (22) Drachm (wt. 65 grs.) ; (23) Hemidrachm
(wt. 32-5 grs.).
It is instructive to compare these coins with I. B. 27, 28 ;
the later coins are " archaistic," the earlier truly archaic
in style. The archaic style and execution of the Athenian
money is to be accounted for by the fact that any alteration
in the appearance of coins having so wide a circulation
as those of Athens might have damaged their credit.
This fixed hieratic character of the coinage of one of the
greatest Hellenic cities remains, however, an isolated fact
in Greek numismatics.
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