this post was submitted on 30 Dec 2024
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Ancient Coins
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Yes, I was very surprised when I discovered that ancient coins were not out of my price range back in the day. I expected all ancient coins were museum pieces; the reality is that there are millions of them, and not all of them can be displayed in museums.
The octobol is a pretty interesting piece; supposedly Egypt had no silver mines to speak of, so in order to have coins with an equivalent value to the standard trade coin - the drachm - they had to strike large bronze coins instead.
Both denominations were pretty impractical; the hemitetartemorion was probably lost a lot, and the octobol would be too heavy for daily use...
Do you know the buying power of these? Would the big one cover a meal? A horse? A house?
It is very difficult to determine value across 2200 years, as the economy was su very different. Food was expensive compared to now, and clothes were super expensive.
A drachma - 6 obols - was a day's wages for a skilled worker, but what that meant in purchasing power relative to now is hard to determine. This is an octobol, so eight obols, or a little over a day's wage.