Macedonian Stater

The Macedonian stater was the gold coin of the kingdom of Macedon, introduced by Philip II in the mid-4th century BCE and continued on a larger scale by his son Alexander the Great. Struck on the Attic weight standard at about 8.6 g of nearly pure gold, it became the leading gold coin of the Greek world for several decades and was copied for centuries by peoples beyond the Greek frontier.

Philip's gold coins were known in antiquity as philippeioi, or philips, after the king's name on the reverse. Alexander's staters carried a different design and his own name, and both series continued to be struck after the deaths of the kings who first issued them.

Philip II, king from 359 to 336 BCE, gained control of rich gold mines around Mount Pangaion after taking the settlement of Krenides in 356 BCE and refounding it as Philippi. The new supply of gold made a large royal gold coinage possible. The date at which the staters began is debated; many scholars place it in the 340s BCE, though earlier dates have been proposed. Gold was valued at roughly ten times silver at the time, so a stater was reckoned at around 20 silver drachmas, although the ratio moved with market conditions.

Philip's stater shows the laureate head of Apollo on the obverse and a two-horse chariot with the name ΦΙΛΙΠΠΟΥ on the reverse. It does not show a portrait of Philip himself; royal portraits on coins became common only under Alexander's successors.

Alexander the Great, who reigned from 336 to 323 BCE, introduced a new gold type: the head of Athena in a crested Corinthian helmet on the obverse and a winged Victory holding a wreath on the reverse, with the inscription ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΥ. His silver tetradrachms, showing Herakles and an enthroned Zeus, were struck on the same Attic standard. After the conquest of the Persian empire, the treasure captured at Susa, Persepolis and elsewhere was turned into coin at mints across the east, from Macedon and Asia Minor to Babylon. Macedonian gold gradually displaced the Persian daric described under Achaemenid coinage.

Alexander's successors kept striking staters in his name for some years before introducing their own types. The Antigonid kings of Macedon, the Seleucid rulers of Asia and the Ptolemaic kings of Egypt all issued gold, though the Ptolemies soon moved to their own weight standard. Gold coinage remained a feature of royal finance, used for large payments such as mercenary wages and subsidies, while silver carried most trade.

Philip's staters reached central and western Europe, probably as payments to Celtic mercenaries and through trade. Celtic peoples began to copy them, and over generations the head of Apollo and the chariot were redrawn into increasingly abstract patterns. Gold staters derived from Philip's design form the basis of much Gaulish coinage and, through it, of Iron Age British coinage, where the disjointed horse remained a characteristic motif until the Roman conquest. The Macedonian stater thus influenced coin design far beyond its period of issue.

The Macedonian stater is a clear example of how access to precious metal, military expansion and coinage reinforced one another. It linked the Attic system of the drachma and talent to gold, foreshadowing later gold coins such as the Roman aureus. It should not be confused with the modern Macedonian denar, the currency of North Macedonia.

• British Museum collection
• American Numismatic Society