Ancient Coin Stories

If you were a self-styling king worth anything in Greece during the 4th century BCE, or you wanted others to notice you, then you needed Amphipolis.

Amphipolis wasn’t just the hottest destination in the north. It had all the designer labels, and silver mines. Silver meant power, so three states jostled for its attention.

The first was Philip II. He had “badass” written all over him after losing an eye during a battle. His goal was nothing short of all of Greece and Asia Minor, and those silver mines provided a huge step toward paying the army necessary to accomplish it.

The next suitor was Athens. They’d been poking their noses in everything Greece related for the last two centuries, and they also had their own ambitions of regaining the power they had before the Peleponnesian War. Many of the other Greeks didn’t like them because they were a) snobby and b) talked a lot. Their speeches would just never end.

The final suitor was the Chalkidian League. Nowadays, few have heard of them, but back then they were a major player. Their capital was Olynthus, and they played between Athens and Philip to expand their influence.

In 357 BCE, Philip II finally succeeded in conquering Amphipolis. While he’d promised to hand it over to Athens, that never happened. It was just too nice of a place and Philip felt his own staters looked far better than those lame owls coming off the press.

So, he kept it, and Athens huffed and they puffed, and they gave a lot of speeches. Those speeches didn’t really do anything, and a few years later in 348 BCE Philip rolled right through the Chalkidian League. Not long after that, he defeated Athens itself.

It didn’t take too long to incorporate Amphipolis into Macedon. By the time Alexander the Great took over, it was as much a Macedonian capital as Pella. A large portion of the coins of Alexander the Great, Antipater, and Kassander were minted there.