Visual Timeline: Coinage

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700 BCE 600 BCE 500 BCE 400 BCE 300 BCE 200 BCE 100 BCE 0 CE 100 CE 200 CE 300 CE 400 CE 500 CE 600 CE 700 CE 800 CE 900 CE 1000 CE 1100 CE  
 
 
700 BCE: Coins first minted on the island of Aegina.
 
 
635 BCE - 585 BCE: Reign of Alyattes of Lydia. Minting of first coins made from electrum.
 
 
600 BCE - 300 BCE: Dionysos appears on the coins of Naxos, Mende and various other Greek city states.
 
 
600 BCE - 550 BCE: The silver stater coin of Calymna in Caria depicts a tortoise shell lyre on its reverse side.
 
560 BCE - 546 BCE: Reign of Croesus of Lydia.
 
 
560 BCE: Croesus of Lydia first manufactures coins of solid gold.
 
 
550 BCE: The silver drachma of Delos depicts a lyre - symbolic of Apollo - on its reverse side.
 
470 BCE: Gortyn on Crete begins to mint its own coinage.
 
 
360 BCE: Pan appears on the reverse of coins of the Arcadian League.
 
 
326 BCE: The first Roman coins are minted at Neapolis.
 
211 BCE: A new system of Roman coinage is introduced which includes the silver denarius.
 
200 BCE: Rome now dominates the production of coinage in Italy.
 
157 BCE: There is a boom in the production of Roman silver coinage, in part thanks to the acquisition of silver mines in Macedonia.
 
 
141 BCE: The Roman bronze as coin is devalued so that now 16 as equal one silver denarius.
 
 
135 BCE: The Roman magistrates responsible for coinage begin to stamp coins with images of landmarks, events and personalities.
 
 
100 BCE: Coins of Kos and Thespiai depict a lyre on their reverse side.
 
 
46 BCE: Julius Caesar mints the largest quantity of gold coins ever seen in Rome.
 
 
23 BCE: The brass orichalcum sestertius is first minted in Rome.
 
 
16 BCE: The Roman mint at Lugdunum is established.
 
 
64 CE: Nero reduces the weight and percentage of precious metal in Roman coins, a trend continued by several subsequent Roman emperors.
 
 
293 CE: Diocletian reforms the Roman coinage system, guaranteeing the gold aurei at 60 to a pound and minting the nummus coin.
 
 
301 CE: Diocletian reasseses the values of Roman coins and limits minting rights to between 12 and 15 mints across the empire.
 
 
312 CE: Constantine I introduces the gold nomisma (solidus) coin.
 
 
708 CE: Japan's first coinage, the Wado kaiho, is introduced.
 
 
996 CE: The first Korean coins are minted by the Goryeo Dynasty.
 
 
1097 CE: The Goryeo king, Sukjong, mints copper coins in Korea.
 
 
1102 CE: The Goryeo king, Sukjong, mints a second issue of copper coins in Korea.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
700 BCE 500 BCE 300 BCE 100 BCE 100 CE 300 CE 500 CE 700 CE 900 CE