Ancient Coins: The Surprising Truth About Spartan Currency

Ancient Coins: What About Spartan Coins?

I explore the myth that Sparta never issued coins, revealing how they eventually struck rare silver and bronze currency under kings like Areus I and Cleomenes III. While early Spartans supposedly used iron money to discourage wealth, later rulers adopted coinage to pay mercenaries and manage their economy, even as the city declined under Roman rule.

"He commanded that all gold and silver coin should be called in, and that only a sort of money made of iron should be current, a great weight and quantity of which was but very little worth."