Aegina's staters were the dominant trade coin of the Aegean through much of the sixth and fifth centuries, circulating from the Black Sea to Egypt long before Athenian owls achieved comparable reach. The island's control of maritime commerce — and its early adoption of a weight standard later named for it — made this type the de facto currency of interregional exchange. Herodotus records Aegina among the wealthiest states in Greece during precisely this period.
Production was halted abruptly when Athens, after years of naval rivalry, supported Aegina's conquest by Corinth and eventual subjugation in 457 BC. The coinage effectively ends with the political eclipse of the island.
Aegina's staters were the dominant trade coin of the Aegean through much of the sixth and fifth centuries, circulating from the Black Sea to Egypt long before Athenian owls achieved comparable reach. The island's control of maritime commerce — and its early adoption of a weight standard later named for it — made this type the de facto currency of interregional exchange. Herodotus records Aegina among the wealthiest states in Greece during precisely this period.
Production was halted abruptly when Athens, after years of naval rivalry, supported Aegina's conquest by Corinth and eventual subjugation in 457 BC. The coinage effectively ends with the political eclipse of the island.