Dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

STATER. STATER. 1057
shape; impressed with the figure of a man kneel- gives several of these, the largest of which, stamped
ing, holding a fish in his left hand, and in his with a 4,, weighs 255-42 English grains. This is a
right a knife hanging'down, which Pinkerton double stater, giving a single one of 127'71 grains,
takes for a coin of Croesus, but respecting which or 5 grains less than the Attic, and it seems to
nothing more can be said with safety than that follow the standard of the daricus. Most of the
it is a very ancient specimen of Asiatic money. others are thirds of the stater, and of a lighter
Its weight is 2481 English grains, or allowiiig comparative weight. There was also at Athens a
for the loss of weight by wear, about that of the Phocaean coin called c71q, and its half 7j/zfeItcoV,
Attic tetradrachm, which was twice the weight of and Hesychius (s. v. Et'c'77) mentions the K-r/T,
the stater -This, therefore would be a double' TPit, and TerdCpr?7, as coins of gold or silver or
stater. (Bickh, 1. c.) At all events, in the ab- copper. Respecting these coins, see HECTE.
sence of certain specimens of the Lydian stater 5. The stater of Macedonia was coined by
and of an express statement of its value, we may Philip II. and Alexander the Great after the
suppose from the very silence of the Greek wri- standard. of the Attic didrachm, and of very fine
ters, that it did not differ materially from the gold. Under those princes it came into general
stater' which was afterwards current in Greece circulation in Greece and throughout the Macedoand which was equal in weight to two drachmae, nian empire. The extant specimens of this coinage
and in value to twenty. (Hesych. s. v. Xpvaovs: are very numerous.
Pollux, iv. 173; Harpocration, s. a. Aapealcds.) Mr. Hlussey gives the following report of an assay
which was made for himl of a stater of Alexander.
Gold I1 oz. 9 dwts. 6 grs.
~I/2'' $1 ~~Silver,,, 18,,:b N Alloy 0
The silver is an accidental admixture, or, if known
\X~u / to be present, was not allowed for, so that this
coin may be reckoned at 133 grains of fine gold,
Our sovereign, after deducting the alloy, contains
lIACEDONIAN STATER. BRITISH MUSEtIM. 113-12 grains of fine gold. Therefore the Macedo-,
The following were the principal Greek staters: stater 133
1. The Attic stater, which has been spoken of un- a 113.12 f the English sovereign, or
der Auuvat. The weights of the coins there men- 11. 3s. 6d. 0'672 farthing. The average is however
tioned are 132-3, 132-7, 132'6, and 132'75 grains, a little below this stater, but not more so than is
the average of which is 132-5875 grains, which due to wear. The stater of Philip was very reonly falls short of the weight of the Attic didrachin cently current in Greece at the value of about 25
by a little more than half a grain. [DRACHMA.] shillings. This standard was preserved, or very
The gold of the Attic coins is remarkably pure. nearly so, under the later Macedonian kings, and
2. The stater of Cyzicus was common in Greece, was adopted by other states, as Epirus, Aetolia,
especially at Athens. We learn from Demosthenes Acarnania, and Syracuse.
(in P/teor7. p. 914) that at a particular period (a Besides the staters noticed above, most of the
little after B. C. 335) this stater passed on the Bos- cities of Ionia had gold coins, but their value is
porus for 28 Attic drachmae, which, by a compari- very doubtful. There are specimens in existence
son with the then value of the daricus [DARIcus], from Chios, Teos, Colophon, Smyrna, Ephesus, and
would give for its weight about 180 grains. Se- many other places. Samos, Siphnus, Thasos, the
veral Cyzicene staters exist, but none of them Greek cities of Sicily, and Cyrene had gold money
come up to this weight. Hence we may conclude at an early period.
that the price of gold on the Bosporus was at that Pollux mentions a Corinthian stater as used in
time unusually high. Some of the existing coins Sicily which he calls aeKdAIhLpoS rao —p, and makes
give 160 grains, and others not more than 120, for equal to 10 Aeginetan obols. (Pollux, iv. 174, ix.
the weight of the Cyzicene stater; but, allowing 80.) The explanation of this statement is very
for debasement in the minting, and for subse- difficult, and depends in a great measure on the
quent wear, we may perhaps take 180 grains for disputed question whether the Corinthian money
about its true value, and if so, it belongs to the followed the Attic or the Aeginetan standard.
EuboYc standard. Its value, calculated from the [See Nusmsrus, p. 812, a.]
number of drachmae it passed for, would be 11. In calculating the value of the stater in our
2s. 9d. money, the ratio of gold to silver pnust not be over-.3. The Stater of Lampsacus is mentioned in an looked. Thus the stater of Alexander, which we
Attic inscription of B. c. 434. Several gold coins have valued, according to the present worth of
of Lampsacus are extant; they may be known by gold, at 11. 3s. 6d., passed for twenty drachmae,
the impression' of a sea-horse upon them. There which, according to the present value of silver, were
are two in the British Museum of the weight of worth only 16s. 3d. But the former gives the
about 129 grains, which is just that of the daricus. better idea of the worth of the stater, the differThe weights of the Lampsacene staters are very ence arising from the greater value of silver in anunequal; and both Lampsacus and Cyzicus appear cient times than now. [ARGENTUM.]
to have had gold coins which were multiples of Besides the stater itself, there were, as appears
different standards. It is not improbable, that from the above remarks, double staters, and the
the Euboic and Attic standards existed together halves ('utuXpvsovs, I7piLora'ripes), quarters, thirds,
at these places. sixths, and twelfths of the stater. The coins of
4.'The stater of Phocaea is mentioned by Thu- the last four denominations are, however, much less
cydides (iv. 52) and Demosthenes (in Boeot. p. common than the single, double, and half staters.
1019) as in circulation in their times. Sestini The term rrar'5p, in later times, was applied to
3