Numismatics of Classical Antiquity

The collection of ancient Greek coins spans across a millennium – from VI century B.C. to V century A.D. The museum collection includes the famous Syracuse decadrakhmas, coins minted by the great rulers of the past – the Persian King Darius, the Macedonian Kings Phillip II and Alexander the Great, coins from ancient kingdoms including the Seleucids kingdom, the Pont Kingdom, Parthia, Thracian kings, Cartagena, Greek poleis of the Northern Black Sea region etc.

The highlight of the collection is a treasure trove found in the Odessa region (the village of Orlovka) containing Electra coins of the town of Kizik.

The Roman period is represented in the collection by coins minted in the Roman Republic and Roman Empire. The collection holds coinage belonging to all Roman emperors. Some silver denarii though being small in size have significant value as outstanding examples of the art of glyptic portrait.