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 On January 15 2010,
the temporary exhibition of the Athens Numismatic Museum entitled “All
that glitters: the Belgian contribution to Greek numismatics” ended
successfully. This endeavour was the result of the cooperation between
institutions in Greece and Belgium and was brought into effect on the
occasion of the Belgian Presidency of the EU Council, in the second
half of 2010. Co-organizers of this exhibition were the Belgian
embassy, the Royal Library of Belgium, the Belgian School at Athens
and the Athens Numismatic Museum.
Ancient Greek coins from the collection of the Royal Library of
Belgium were displayed in Greece for the first time. The tetradrachm
of Aetna, a coin issued by the Sicilian city during its short history,
constitutes a work of an exceptional style by an anonymous engraver.
It bears on the obverse, an image of a Selinus and on the reverse, the
god Zeus holding a winged thunderbolt. Both depictions on the coin
reflect through symbols the myths of Sicily indicating the nature of
the region. It was bequeathed to the Belgian state by the mother of
the collector Lucien de Hirsch and is one-of-its-kind.
The Belgian archaeological activity was shown through the presentation
of the excavations in Thorikos conducted by the Belgian School at
Athens. The coin hoard, discovered there in 1969 and kept at the
Athens Numismatic Museum, was exhibited. Its archaeological value is
double-folded. The place of its origin, Thorikos, functioned as the
link between the neighbouring silver mines of Laureion and the mints
of ancient Athens. It was there that all the preliminary work to
ensure the amounts of metal needed for the production of the Athenian
coinage took place. The content of the hoard, consisting primarily of
Athenian silver tetradrachms, proved a valuable tool for numismatists
in their study of the style development of these coins.
The Thorikos hoard was presented opposite another one kept at the
Royal Library of Belgium. It is the Tell el- Maskhuta hoard from Egypt
which consists of copies of Athenian tetradrachms. The provenance of
the Tell el- Maskhuta hoard as well as the amount of its specimens
testifies to the wide distribution of the Athenian coins in the
eastern Mediterranean.
Jan
24,
2011
The
Thorikos coin hoard consists of primarily Athenian silver tetradrachms
and gold staters.
(Athens Numismatic Museum, no. 190/1969)
The Athens Numismatic Museum wishes to thank its exclusive sponsor.
The Belgian Embassy and the Belgian School at Athens wish to thank the
following sponsors:
Pyramis, AB Vassilopoulos, Á×Á Insurance, UCB and AEGEAN.
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