Lydian staters and early electrum coinage
The first coins are a starting point for questions about monetary ancestry, not a shortcut past the evidence.
What survives
Some of the earliest surviving coins were made from electrum, an alloy of gold and silver, in Lydia and neighbouring western Anatolia. Finds at the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus place early examples in the late seventh century BC; they do not identify a single invention year. [1]
Lion heads, inscriptions and other designs distinguish early issues, but the authorities responsible for all of them remain uncertain. [2]
From electrum to gold and silver
Separate gold and silver coinages replaced electrum under Croesus. The chronology remains debated. This was a coinage reform; it does not, on its own, establish an unbroken chain of account-unit conversions to currencies used today. [3]
Where it belongs in the atlas
A stater names a denomination or weight standard in these records. The atlas keeps this material as coinage evidence rather than adding a currency identity without an established account-unit boundary. No unsupported line from Lydia to modern currencies is drawn.
Open the underlying coinage record and claims → · Ephesian gold accounting → · Achaemenid daric →
Sources
- John H. Kroll, The Coins of Sardis, Archaeological Exploration of Sardis. Claims C245, C246 and C1035.
- British Museum, Electrum 1/6 stater. Claim C251.
- Chronological study recorded as S132. Claim C252 preserves the dating debate.