There are three major theories about this, and all could be correct at the same time. Even in the case of the Gallo-Belgic E staters, which were minted in their millions while Caesar was invading Gaul, the Celts faithfully maintained a horse on the reverse rather than just produce blank, or simplified, coins. There were plenty of Greek coins without horses that they could have copied, and they could have abandoned the horse at any stage, but on gold staters, which were the most prestigious of coins, this was rarely done. It’s not clear why the horse was chosen as the dominant animal on Celtic coins. Specifically, the focus is only on coins created after the Celts had transitioned beyond just copying the original prototype, but before they started adopting Romanised images. There are too many Celtic coins to try and discuss them all, so the focus here is restricted to some of the coins from Gaul and Britain. More than that though, having some theories about the meanings makes the coins more interesting to collect, and not being sure what they mean can lead the collector into studying Celtic history and art. There are some basic questions that the images could help to answer, such as who minted the coin, when and why. However, just because a problem is hard doesn’t mean it should just be ignored. As no theories can ever be proven to be correct, some numismatists avoid reading any meaning at all into the images. The problem is that the Celts didn’t write anything down, and the only people who could confirm any theories have been dead for 2,000 years. There has been plenty of speculation about the meaning of the imagery on Celtic coins, but no real consensus has been reached. “This need to look behind the surface of Celtic coin types has made a happy hunting ground for the crankish interpreter in pursuit of devious religious symbolism”
The conquests of Alexander extended Greek culture east, leading to the adoption of staters in Asia. Ĭeltic staters were also minted in present-day Czech Republic and Poland. British Gold staters generally weighed between 4.5 and 6.5 grams (0.14–0.21 ozt). These went on to influence a range of staters produced in Britain.
#Celtic stater series#
Some of these staters in the form of the Gallo-Belgic series were imported to Britain on a large scale. Gold staters were minted in Gaul by Gallic chiefs modeled after those of Philip II of Macedonia, which were brought back after serving in his armies, or those of Alexander and his successors. The best known types of Greek gold staters are the 28-drachma kyzikenoi from Cyzicus.Ī Celtic stater made from billon alloy found in ArmoricaĬeltic tribes brought the concept to Western and Central Europe after obtaining it while serving as mercenaries in north Greece. The use of gold staters in coinage seems mostly of Macedonian origin. (The reason being that one gold stater generally 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 established as 1:10). There also existed a "gold stater", but it was only minted in some places, and was mainly an accounting unit worth 20–28 drachmae depending on place and time, the Athenian unit being worth 20 drachmae. Staters were also struck in several Greek city-states such as, Aegina, Aspendos, Delphi, Knossos, Kydonia, many city-states of Ionia, Lampsacus, Megalopolis, Metapontium, Olympia, Phaistos, Poseidonia, Syracuse, Taras, Thasos, Thebes and more. In comparison, the Athenian silver tetradrachm (four drachmae) weighed 17.2 g (0.55 ozt).
The silver stater minted at Corinth of 8.6 g (0.28 ozt) weight was divided into three silver drachmae of 2.9 g (0.093 ozt), but was often linked to the Athenian silver didrachm (two drachmae) weighing 8.6 g (0.28 ozt). 160 BC), the largest gold coin ever minted in Antiquity. Gold 20-stater of the Greco-Bactrian king Eucratides I (c.