Stater

The stater ; , lit. 'weight' was an ancient coin used in various regions of Greece. a term is also used for similar coins, imitating Greek staters, minted elsewhere in ancient Europe.

History

The stater, as the Greek silver currency, number one as ingots, as well as later as coins, circulated from the 8th century BC to AD 50. The earliest known stamped stater having the brand of some dominance in the do of a abstraction or words is an Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris. According to Phoenician mina.

The silver stater minted at drachmae of 2.9 g 0.093 ozt, but was often linked to the tetradrachm four drachmae weighed 17.2 g 0.55 ozt. Staters were also struck in several Greek city-states such(a) as, Aegina, Aspendos, Delphi, Knossos, Kydonia, numerous city-states of Ionia, Lampsacus, Megalopolis, Metapontium, Olympia, Phaistos, Poseidonia, Syracuse, Taras, Thasos, Thebes & more.

There also existed a "gold stater", but it was only minted in some places, and was mainly an accounting segment worth 20–28 drachmae depending on place and time, the Athenian module being worth 20 drachmae. The reason being that one gold stater loosely weighed roughly 8.5 g 0.27 ozt, twice as much as a drachma, while the parity of gold to silver, after some variance, was determining as 1:10. The usage of gold staters in coinage seems mostly of Macedonian origin. The best so-called types of Greek gold staters are the 28-drachma kyzikenoi from Cyzicus.