1973.28

Drachma of Rhodos (Rhodes)

Silver 3.10 g. 14 mm. c. 265-188 BC.

Obv.: Head of Helios, three-quarter face to r., hair loose.

Rev.: Rose and bud. In left field, symbol, perhaps grapes. Above, magistrate’s name ΑΡΙΣΤΟ[---] (Aristo-).   Below flower, Ρ Ο (Rho-, abbrev. ‘of the Rhodians’) separated by rose stem.

Similar coins were produced in three denominations for at least a century. During that period, however, the weight of the drachma was reduced considerably

Rhodos (Rhodes) was founded in 408 BC by the confederation of three older cities; the sun-god Helios was its patron. The rose became its symbol, through a pun on the word for ‘rose’, ῥόδον.

Through its strong navy, commercial wealth, political stability, and adroit diplomacy the island state of Rhodos maintained its independence in the turbulent Hellenistic world and was a power of the second rank to be reckoned with, until it fell foul of its ally Rome c. 165 BC.

The silver coinage of Rhodos in the late Hellenistic period has a peculiar feature. A silver coinage on the basis of a drachma weighing c. 3.4 g. (like this coin) and didrachmas of c. 6.7 g. continued the traditional Rhodian standard that was based upon the silver siglos that had been current in western regions of the Persian empire. At the same time, a light-standard silver drachma of c. 2.5/2.8 g. was also produced with similar but plainly distinguishable designs to those on the coins of the heavy standard. On the light-standard the obverse head of Helios is in profile. These light-weight drachmas are hardly ever found on Rhodes itself or in the territories on the nearby coast of Asia Minor under Rhodian rule. They are found throughout the Aegean and in mainland Greece and seem to have been a trade currency for international use.

There is no other known case of a Greek polis having a dual currency system, one for domestic use and the other for international exchange. The Rhodian heavy standard did not relate readily to other standards in use, such as Alexander the Great’s and the Attic standard it was based on. It has been pointed out that a large part of Rhodian trade was with Ptolemaic Egypt, where imported Rhodian coins would have been melted down for bullion or restriking (cf. 1976.01 etc.), so that the awkward Rhodian weight-standard would have caused very little difficulty there. The light Rhodian standard was easily interchangeable: 17 Rhodian light silver drachmas of c. 2.5/2.7 g. equating with 10 Attic drachmas of 4.3 g.

O. Hoover, Handbook of Greek Coinage 13 vols (Classical Numismatic Group, Lancaster, PA, 2009-2013), 6, 1444.

O. Mørkholm (P. Grierson and U. Westermark, eds), Early Hellenistic Coinage from the Succession of Alexander to the Peace of Apamea (336-186 BC) (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1991), 157, 90.

Cf. N. Davis and C.M. Kraay, The Hellenistic Kingdoms: Portrait Coins and History (London, Thames and Hudson, 1973), pp. 120-121 no. 60.