The famous owl, so named because of the characteristic representation of the reverse, is a coin that, as Mariusz Mielczarek points out, became one of the most important means of payment of the entire Greek world of the classical era in the fifth century BC. A coin minted at the height of Athens' economic and political power, or at the beginning of this powerful polis' path to collapse as a result of the defeat of the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BC). We can safely say that the Athenian tetradrachma was the equivalent of today's dollar in terms of trust, which made the Athenians not change the appearance of the coin for almost a century.
Obverse: Head of Athena a in front with the eye framed "straight ahead."
Reverse: an owl standing straight ahead, behind it an olive branch and a crescent moon, the inscription AΘE.
Silver, diameter 24 mm, weight 16.48 g.
Test cut on the obverse and reverse of the coin.
