Common Currency

There is some debate as to the exact origins of the first coins, although it is widely accepted that some of the Mediterranean’s earliest coinage came from Lydia in Asia Minor. The first Greek coinage was produced on the island of Aegina, some 24km south of Athens. Aegina was a trading nation that minted a coin known as the 'turtle', named for the sea-turtle design punched into it. Pebble-like in appearance, these early coins were made from electrum, an alloy of gold and silver.