Thread by @DocCrom

Ancient Coin of the Day: A really lovely example of a silver tetradrachm minted by the Koinon of Athena Ilias in the Troad, ca. 188-133 BC. A remarkable form of coinage that was centred around a shared festival of Athena. #ACOTD

Image: ANS 1945.33.5

Long considered to be a civic coinage of Ilium (ΙΛΙΕΩΝ), this form of coinage is now understood to be the 'festival coinage' of the confederation that administrated an annual Panathenaia festival in honour of Athena Ilias.

This accounts for why the usual civic indicator is absent from the coinage, and Athena herself is given such prominence., with the name of the chair of the board of agonothetes ('festival organisers') featuring on the Reverse.

Image: ANS 1967.152.422

The Koinon ran the festival from the last decade of the Fourth Century BC until the late First Century AD, with the minting of the coins seeming to coincide with the celebration of the Greater Panathenaea once every four years.

Despite the significance of such a festival, although known to us only from the epigraphic and numismatic records, a festival coinage is quite the innovation, perhaps designed to deal with expenditure relating to the festival rather than something akin to 'Disney Dollars'.

For more on this coinage, see:

Ellis-Evans, Aneurin. “The Koinon of Athena Ilias and Its Coinage.” American Journal of Numismatics (1989-), vol. 28, 2016, pp. 105–158.

jstor.org/stable/90017155

#ACOTD