Porozumienia monetarne w starożytnej Grecji

Abstract

The subject-matter of the paper is the presentation of forms in which there was integration of means of payment that led Greek nation-town (polis) to the acceptance of a common currency. The pretext for these considerations became the introduction of the monetary circulation in Euro in Greece on 01.01.2002. The author in his article shows that the idea of a common currency was known in the poleis already in the 4 th century B.C. On the bases of finds of coins, it was determined that about the year 570 B.C., the Aeginetan stater, known also as "turtle" (chelona) was in circulation in Greek territory in the east as well as in trade by barter between the islands. This proves also that in reference to Aegina, Athens, Corinth talking about the functioning of coins of international range, and even the expression of them as "international currency" are substantial. A lot of attention is also devoted to the reasons that led to the usage of common coins, as a consequence of making alliances (e.g. military), unions and leagues. Those coins, in the last cases, were minted only on special occasions (e.g. payment to mercenaries) as a result their sphere was relatively smaller. In the assessment of the author, the numismatic proofs are of significant importance, because of the Jack of other documents and historical sources, to prove the fact that the idea of monetary uniformity is connected to the history of the ancient world. In order to accentuate this observation, present the example of the owl, which symbol is on the coin that has the value of one Euro. The omission of the existence of monetary agreements already in ancient Greece is therefore not justifiable when considering modern financial relationships.