2017-06-24 Sat

Ancient Greek coins were generally round in shape. But coins were found in unique shapes and sizes in the Greek city-state Olbia (around 500 BC)

Olbia used money which was in the shape of a leaping dolphin, like the one shown in the picture alongside! They were in the sizes of 3 cm.

Let us find out the reasons why they issued such unique shaped dolphin money.

There is a large population of dolphins near the Black Sea and the Olbians saw them daily in the sea and trained them for their amusement. Another is the religious significance, Greeks considered Dolphins as a sacred fish ‘Delphinus’. Once a dolphin helped Poseidon to locate his mermaid wife Amphitrite and get back to his golden palace. As a reward, Poseidon placed the dolphin in the constellation Delphinus.

Hmm....Now that makes sense why they adopted designs of their beloved Dolphins on their coinage.

This series was minted from the fifth to third centuries BC and includes many varieties of some rarer issues with legends. Most of the dolphins are rather crudely cast but the better specimens show dorsal fins and eyes as well as a mid fin that runs along the body.

Explore more Olbian dolphin money here.