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{{Short description|Ancient Greek silver coin}}
[[File:Alexander the great temnos tetradrachm.jpg|thumb|right|280px|Tetradrachm struck at the [[Temnos]] mint circa 188–170 BC, showing [[Alexander the Great]] in the guise of [[Heracles]] and [[Zeus]] seated]]
The '''tetradrachm''' ({{lang-grc-gre|τετράδραχμον|tetrádrachmon}}) was a large silver coin that originated in [[Ancient Greece]]. It was nominally equivalent to four [[Ancient drachma|drachmae]].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia | title = Tetradrachm | encyclopedia = Merriam-Webster | url = http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tetradrachms | access-date =2008-01-20}}</ref> Over time the tetradrachm effectively became the standard coin of the [[Classical Antiquity|Antiquity]], spreading well beyond the borders of the Greek World. As a result, tetradrachms were minted in vast quantities by various polities in many weight and fineness standards, though the [[Athens]]-derived ''Attic standard'' of about 17.2 grams was the most common.

Because of their large size, tetradrachms were often used by various states or rulers to advertise themselves or to deliver political messages. Popularity of the tetradrachm outlived the political independence of the Greeks and it remained in wide circulation in the Mediterranean up until [[Crisis of the Third Century]], while debased varieties persisted in [[India]] and [[Central Asia]] into early [[Middle Ages]].

Due to their often high artistic level tetradrachms are [[Coin collecting|eagerly collected in modern times]], and well-preserved or rare specimens can reach considerable prices.

==In Athens==

In Athens it replaced the earlier "heraldic" type of didrachms and it was in wide circulation from c. 510 to c. 38 BC.<ref name="fleur">{{cite web | last = Androulakis | first = Yiannis | title = History of the Greek coins | work = Fleur-de-Coin | url = http://www.fleur-de-coin.com/currency/drachma-history | access-date = 2008-01-20}}</ref> [[File:Complete strike of Athenian tetradrachm..jpg|alt=|thumb|280px|An Athenian tetradrachm from after 499 BC, showing the head of [[Athena]] and the [[Owl of Athena|owl]]]]
The transition from [[Ancient drachma|didrachm]]s to tetradrachms occurred during c. 525–510 BC; the abandonment of the "heraldic"-type didrachms and the Archaic tetradrachms (early "owls") of the [[polis]] of [[Classical Athens|Athens]] apparently took place shortly after the [[Battle of Salamis]], 480 BC. This transition is supported by the discovery of contemporary coin hoards, and more particularly of a coin hoard found on the Acropolis in 1886. {{citation needed|reason=dead broken links|date=December 2020}}

The Athenian tetradrachme{{Verify spelling|date=November 2022}} was widely used in transactions throughout the ancient Greek world, including in cities politically unfriendly to Athens.<ref name="fleur"/> Athens had [[Mines of Laurion|silver mines]] in state ownership, which provided the [[bullion]]. Most well known were the silver mines of [[Laurium]] in Athenian countryside.<ref>[[Aristotle]], Athenian Constitution, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0046%3Achapter%3D22%3Asection%3D7 22.7]</ref> The Athenian tetradrachm was stamped with the head of [[Athena]] on the [[obverse]], and on the reverse the image of the [[owl of Athena]], the iconographic symbol of the Athenian polis, with a sprig of [[olive]] and a crescent for the moon. According to [[Philochorus]], it was known as {{lang|grc-Latn|glaux}} ({{lang|grc|γλαύξ}}, 'little owl')<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0057:entry=glau/c γλαύξ], Liddell & Scott</ref> throughout the ancient world<ref>Philochorus: Scholion to Aristophanes, ''Birds'' 1106.</ref> and "owl" in present-day English language [[numismatics]].<ref>Kraay, C.M. The archaic owls of Athens: classification and chronology.</ref> The design was kept essentially unchanged for over two centuries, by which time it had become stylistically archaic. To differentiate their [[currency]] from the rival coinage of [[Aegina#Coinage and sea power (7th–5th centuries BC)|Aegina]] using the Aeginetic stater of about 12.3 grams, Athens minted its tetradrachm based on the "Attic" standard of 4.3 [[gram]]s per drachma. The vast number of "owls-tetradrachms" available those days mainly from the silver mines of Laurium financed the several achievements of Athens, such as the reconstruction of the [[Acropolis of Athens#The Periclean building program|Acropolis]] and building the [[Parthenon]], as well as many wars, including the [[Peloponnesian War]].

==In other polities==

The tetradrachm's use as a currency was soon adopted by many other city-states of the ancient Greece, [[Asia Minor]], [[Magna Grecia]] and other Greek colonial cities throughout the [[Mediterranean Sea]]. With the armies of [[Alexander the Great]] it spread to other [[Hellenistic civilization|Greek-influenced areas]] of Asia.

Tetradrachms were common as trade coins.<ref name="Mørkholm1991">{{cite book|author=Otto Mørkholm|title=Early Hellenistic Coinage from the Accession of Alexander to the Peace of Apamaea (336–188 BC)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U_5Ez0kAOuIC&pg=PA8|date=31 May 1991|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-39504-5|page=8}}</ref>

<gallery mode="packed">
File:Bactrian bronze coin with a Kushan rider (c. 100–300 AD).jpg|Tetradrachm from [[Bactria]] under the [[Kushan Empire]] c. 100–300 AD.
File:Olympia-02.jpg|Tetradrachm of [[Olympia, Greece|Olympia]]
File:Sparta-02.jpg|Tetradrachm of [[Sparta#History|Sparta]]
File:Abdera coin (May 147).jpg|Tetradrachm of [[Abdera, Thrace|Abdera]]
File:Troy Tetradrachm.jpg|Tetradrachm of [[Troy]]
File:Kyme-02.jpg|Tetradrachm of [[Cyme (Aeolis)|Kyme]]
File:Bruttium-Rhegion-coin-435-425-BC.jpg|Tetradrachm of [[Rhegion]]
File:Greek Silver Tetradrachm of Naxos (Sicily).jpg|Tetradrachm of [[Naxos (Sicily)|Naxos]]
File:Tetradrachme van Aetna (tweede kwart 5e eeuw v.C.) KBR 27-8-2016 11-45-16 (square).jpg|Tetradrachm of [[Aetna (city)|Aetna]], 5th C. BC
File:Tetradrachme.wmt.jpg|Tetradrachm of [[Alexander the Great]]
File:Cleopatra Thea.jpg|Tetradrachm of [[Cleopatra Thea]]
</gallery>

==See also==
*[[Coin]]
*[[Coin in the fish's mouth]]
*[[List of historical currencies]]
*[[Stater]]

==References==
{{Portal|Money|Numismatics}}
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons|Tetradrachm}}
{{Wiktionary|tetradrachm}}
* [http://atheniantetradrachm.com/ Pictures of Athenian tetradrachms] ([https://web.archive.org/web/20100119053201/http://atheniantetradrachm.com/ archive])
*Tetradrachms from Sicily, Syracuse - [https://www.romanumismatics.com/historicarticles?view=article&article_id=11 The Demareteion Tetradrachm]
{{Ancient Greek coinage}}

[[Category:Coins of ancient Greece]]
[[Category:Coins in the Bible]]

Tetradrachm - Revision history

Ajay Kumar: Created a new article