Ancient Greek Aegina turtle silver starter
coins Land and Sea Turtles:
Aegina (Greek:
Αίγινα Egina), one of the Saronic Islands of
Greece in the Saronic Gulf, 31 miles (50 km)
from Athens. The first actual recorded information about
Aegina is the conquest of the island by the
Doreans of Epidavros in 950 BC. They chose
Aegina as their base in order to concentrate on
the sea and trading, and soon became very rich
and powerful.
These traders imported huge amounts of silver
from North Africa and introduced this as a means
of exchange. From this silver, the first coins
were created which were imprinted with the image
of a smooth shelled Sea Turtle. Gradually,
Aegina slipped into decline.
The traders turned
their hand to money lending and Aegina became a
centre for borrowing and the seeds of
destruction grew. After the battle of Salamis,
Athens emerged as the foremost Greek City-State,
competing at all levels with the powerful
Spartans and the Corinthians and the nearby Aegina, so close and hostile represented a
potential threat, which had to be
eliminated.
After news reached Athens of an
alliance between Aegina and the Corinthians,
Athens attacked and captured both Aegina's and
the Corinthians fleet. After this, Athens
decided it wise to empty Aegina of its
inhabitants and once again, Aegina fell silent.
The segmented shell Land Turtle (457 - 431 B.C.)
became standard issue when Aegina was conquered
in war and stripped of its maritime power in 457
B.C. showing that the strong new sea turtle did
not represent the strong growing Nation.
