Bank of Greece Museum - Μουσείο της Τράπεζας της Ελλάδος

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The great commercial activity of Chios, due to the strategic position of the island in the sea routes of the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, dictated the issuance of currency from the middle of the 6th century. e.g. Chian archaic electron staters, such as the one in the picture, which belong to the first period of the city's coinage, are particularly rare. The sphinx, the winged monster with the body of a lion and the head of a woman, was the pre-eminent symbol of Chios and the emblem that stamped its coins in all its historical periods.

© 2019 - Bank of Greece

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© 2019 - Bank of Greece