The Hellenistic World: Using Coins as Sources. “Megalopolis and the Achaean Koinon: Local Identity and the Federal State.” Teiresias 48.1 2018: 2–8.

Oxford University Press: Oxford 2010.Ĭlose, E. The coinage of the various states of the Peloponnese show how these states were able to reconcile the identities that both united them and showcased their uniqueness. Each member state had its own agenda and history, but worked under the umbrella of Achaean identity in order to be stronger and more efficient (Close (2018)). This examination of Achaean coinage has shown how integrated the society of the Achaeans was, and that whilst Polybius’ assertion that the Peloponnese was a “single state” (2.37) is apt, the situation was a lot more complicated. One did not trump the other, and from the view of inter-polis competition, the historical baggage of the term will have had an effect on how Megara was received within the league. The complicated layers of this coin show that the people of Megara want to advertise their history as Dorians, and the political reality of their position as members of the Achaean League. The Egyptologist Lynn Meskell has said that “identity is what is draped over a person by the groups of which he or she is part” ((1999) 32), indicating that identity is multi-faceted and complex, consisting of many layers. Across the Achaean monogram is the abbreviated ethnic, but rather than denoting the city of Megara, it draws attention to the Greek ethnic group of the Dorians. This coin from Megara helps to show the nuance that went into how the ancient Greeks identified themselves. Coinage was one media that expressed this. In fact, the network of poleis meant that they strengthened their local identities, and the environment of competition between the constituent members changed. The collective identity of the Achaean League didn’t mean that various local identities were weakened. Reverse: Achaean League monogram and abbreviation of word Dorian. Maintaining local identity in a federal stateĪchaean Hemidrachm, minted at Megara. Warren suggests that over 1600 dies were used in the minting of these bronze coins, which is an extremely heavy investment, especially compared to how other poleis minted coins in the Hellenistic Period (Warren (2007) Thonemann (2015) 74). These small poleis were committed to the league and were willing to invest heavily in that relationship.

This is further proved by the bronze coinage of the league, which was struck in over forty-five out of the seventy odd cities in the league. These ethnics and symbols helped to bind the cities to the league by associating them with the federal Achaean body and making them as one and the same, whilst celebrating the individual characters of the cities themselves it shows dedication to the federal ideal. Both motifs were common throughout the Hellenistic World. Reverse: Seated figure of the personified Achaea. The different mints are indicated with either abbreviations or with symbols, such as the Pegasus of Corinth.Īchaean tetrachalkon, minted at Corinth, Obverse: Zeus with sceptre and holding Nike in his hand. Each of these cities produced the coins to a similar blueprint: a head of Zeus Homarius on the obverse, and a monogram of the word Achaean on the reverse.

These coins were silver hemidrachms, worth half a drachm, and were minted in nineteen different poleis of the Achaean League. This has been interpreted as a way of showing “the social and political solidarity of the second-century Peloponnese.” (Thonemann (2015) 72). Polybius proudly states that the Achaeans “formed the states into a community of allies and friends, but they have also adopted the same laws, weights and measures and coinage…” (Polybius, Histories, 2.37). To examine this topic in depth I’m going to examine a coin from Megara and how the Megarians reconciled the ‘Dorian’ and ‘Achaean’ aspects of their identity.Īchaean Hemidrachm, minted at Sparta, with symbol of Dioscuri caps and abbreviation of LA on the reverse, and head of Zeus Homarius on the obverse. In this blogpost, I’m going to show how the coinage reflected the policy of collective identity. The coinage of the Achaean League acted as a means of spreading this message throughout the League. a modern example is me saying I am both European and British). Collective identity is how states and individuals can identify with both their home city and the overarching political body (i.e. In my undergraduate dissertation I wanted to show how the Achaean League developed its collective identity and how this affected the policy and the society of the League. On the Greek mainland in the Hellenistic Period, some of the city states united into federal leagues, the most successful of these being the Achaean League. Achaean League Coinage and Collective Identity

Hellenistic coinage