The Coins that Change-d Spain's History and Keep it Alive
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Much more than just a form a currency, coins share a lot about the society they belong to. The first coins in Spain, introduced by the Greeks, the Phoenicians, and the Romans, tell us about the country's early beginnings. #Coin, #Artifact, #Roman
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2023-08-10T14:40:02-07:00
Spain's history is a long and diverse one that saw the contributions of many different cultures. The Greeks, the Phoenicians, and the Romans were some of the first groups to inhabit and shape the country, and they played a large role in influencing Iberian language, culture, and lifestyle. One of the ways in which they did this was by bringing their ability to create coins to Iberia. Iberia was a land rich in metals, particularly copper, silver, and lead. This abundance in metals was the reason behind Iberia’s being a popular trading post, as parts of Europe would trade tin in exchange for Iberia’s metals. With this tin and their own copper, Iberians would create bronze, another metal with which they would make coins. These coins, whether Greek, Phoenician, or Roman, share much about ancient Spain and the societies that made it up in its beginning.
Greek
Though the Phoenicians were the first to settle in Spain, it was the Greeks who brought with them the concept of coin making. From them, Iberians learned how to make their own, mainly silver, coins. The Greek colonies of Rhode and Emporion in Catalonia were the first two places to begin the production of coins in Spain. In Greek society, these coins were often produced independently by the area or city in which they were to be used, a trait carried over to Iberia. Because of this, coins, while maintaining a general design, differed in appearance and occasionally weight. This also meant that even during Roman rule, Greek cities produced their own coinage, something that served as a means to depict local pride in addition to just currency.
Phoenician
The Phoenicians, initially unaware of how to make their own coinage, learned from the Greeks just as the Iberians did, in the late 5th century BC. Despite their late start, the Phoenicians produced many coins, called Punic coins, in the cities where they resided and many trading posts along the Mediterranean, allowing for quick exposure and movement of their coins. Some of these cities include Ebusus and Gadir, modern day Ibiza and Cádiz, respectively. At this time, Spain played a big role in the Atlantic Bronze Age, which can be seen by the fact that Punic currency was made primarily of bronze.
Roman
Despite the fact that the Greeks and the Phoenicians came before the Romans in Spain's history and that the Greeks are responsible for introducing the Iberians to metal coinage, Roman coins in Spain still made their own impact. Used as a minting city, modern day Cartagena, Spain was the site of the production of many Roman coins, though it was not the only one. Like with the Greeks and Phoenicians, Roman cities were each responsible for producing their own coins, which, again, allowed for local identity representation and a sense of pride. As a result of this, some Roman coins, also called denarii (plural for denarius), were made of varying metals, such as gold and bronze. Through continuous discoveries of these coins, several of which have occurred within the last few years, we can see that, like the modern American quarter and various modern Spanish coins, Roman coins often depicted a man on the front side and an animal, a horse in particular, on the back side. They also depicted inscriptions of Latin and the Iberian language, which have survived as a result of their preservation on the coins, and they depicted emperors of the time, which give us a look into how different emperors were represented and how economies were during different rules. According to some historians, the addition of coins into Iberian society was a step that signified, in some way, an advancement in their civilization that allowed for easier exchanging of goods and a building of wealth.
Overall, Spain's Greek, Phoenician, and Roman coins provide a look into the past and the role that they played in helping to create it, while allowing this history to continue surviving today.
