This reproduction Athens Gold Stater is moulded directly from an original coin and is made from pewter then 22ct gold plated. The obverse shows Athena wearing a crested Attic helmet decorated with a spiral palmette and two olive leaves and the reverse an Athenian owl.
Housed in specially designed packaging, the coin pack has images of the Acropolis on the front, the two coins in the collection inside, as well as additional historical information about the coins and the rise and fall of the Ancient Greek empire.
The original Athens Stater coin was struck during the great siege of Athens in 296 BC from gold stripped from the statue of Athena in the Parthenon with an original selling at auction for £423,922 in May 2014!
There was not one country called Greece. Instead, there were small ‘city-states’ with each having its own government. Sometimes the city-states fought one another, sometimes they joined together. Athens, Sparta, Corinth and Olympia were four of the largest city-states.
The ancient Greeks tried out democracy, started the Olympic Games and left ideas in science, art and philosophy. These kingdoms preserved many aspects of Greek life but were eventually overcome by the rising power of Rome.
