The coins that are included in the Athos Digital Heritage database constitute a considerable body of evidence, which covers almost all the periods that followed the Hellenistic era, up to the present monetary production.????
The coins that are included in the Athos Digital Heritage database constitute a considerable body of evidence, which covers almost all the periods that followed the Hellenistic era, up to the present monetary production.
Ancient Greek and Roman coins are few in number, often in poor condition and mostly made of copper. However, there are coins, mostly from the Hellenistic period, in precious metal, issued from mints in northern Greece. For the most part, the collection includes Byzantine coins made under mosty of the Emperors and in every metal (gold, silver, copper) and mixtures. They come from the most prestigious mints of the Byzantine Empire (Constantinople, Thessaloniki, Kyzicus, Antioch etc), providing clear evidence on the numismatic production in Byzantium.
The collection of newer coins, of Western European origin, reveal a wide, yet diverse range of coin issues: coins from 13th-15th century Venice or from France, Poland, Germany, Russia and Austria etc., as well as many modern coins, coming from the second half of the 19th and the 20th century (Greek, Cypriot, English, Italian, Albanian, Serbian etc.).
Since their origin is largerly unknown, the collection of coins included in the Athos Digital Heritage database is unable to provide any evidence on the numismatic circulation in Mount Athos. It throws an interesting light, however, on the monk's interest on collecting and rescuing coins as historical objects.
