Tetradrachm Information & Tetradrachm Links at HealthHaven.com

The obverse and reverse of an Athenian tetradrachm from c. 490 BCE. (Illustration from the Nordisk familjebok.)

The tetradrachm (Greek: τετράδραχμον) was an Ancient Greek silver coin equivalent to four drachmae.^[1] It was in wide circulation from 510 to 38 BC.^[2]

Many surviving tetradrachms were minted by the polis of Athens around the middle of the 5th century BC; the popular coin was widely used in transactions throughout the ancient Grecian world, including in cities politically unfriendly to Athens.^[2] The Athenian tetradrachm was stamped with the image of an owl, the iconographic symbol of the Athenian polis. To differentiate their currency from the rival coinage of Aegina, Athens minted its tetradrachm based on the "Attic" standard of 4.3 grams per drachma.

The tetradrachm's use as currency spread with the armies of Alexander the Great to the Greek-influenced areas of present-day Iran and India.^[3]