Struck specifically for military pay and petty transactions during the Morean War — Venice's surprisingly successful campaign that temporarily wrested the Peloponnese from Ottoman control under Francesco Morosini. The designation "Armata and Morea" marks this as a purpose-issued coinage for both the fleet and the occupied Greek territories, an administrative distinction Venice took seriously enough to authorize a dedicated type rather than circulate existing Venetian copper.
Morosini captured Athens in 1687, an operation that incidentally destroyed the Parthenon when a Venetian mortar round detonated Ottoman powder stores inside. This coin was in active military circulation at that moment.
Struck specifically for military pay and petty transactions during the Morean War — Venice's surprisingly successful campaign that temporarily wrested the Peloponnese from Ottoman control under Francesco Morosini. The designation "Armata and Morea" marks this as a purpose-issued coinage for both the fleet and the occupied Greek territories, an administrative distinction Venice took seriously enough to authorize a dedicated type rather than circulate existing Venetian copper.
Morosini captured Athens in 1687, an operation that incidentally destroyed the Parthenon when a Venetian mortar round detonated Ottoman powder stores inside. This coin was in active military circulation at that moment.