Corinth Mint

Corinth was one of the great minting centres of the ancient Greek world, producing a distinctive and widely circulated silver coinage from the sixth century BC through the Hellenistic period. The city's signature coin type (a silver stater bearing Pegasus on the obverse and the helmeted head of Athena on the reverse) became one of the most widely recognised currencies of the western Greek world. These coins, commonly called "colts" or "Pegasi" by modern collectors, were struck on a weight standard of approximately 8.5 grams and circulated extensively across the western Mediterranean, southern Italy, Sicily, and the Adriatic coast. Corinthian staters were frequently imitated by allied and colonial cities, creating a broad "Pegasus coinage" group that is a major collecting area in its own right. The variety of helmet types and control symbols on the Athena head allows detailed classification and relative dating. Corinth also produced fractional silver (drachms, hemidrachms, and smaller units) and occasional bronze coinage. The city was destroyed by Rome in 146 BC and refounded as a Roman colony by Julius Caesar in 44 BC, after which it struck Roman provincial bronze coinage. For collectors, Corinthian staters combine strong visual appeal with historical significance and a well-documented typology. Ravel's corpus remains the standard reference.