Thrace (525-463BC)

Sitakes I, the first king of a combined Thracian empire. Sitalkes had an annual income of 800 talents and ruled from the Danube to the Aegean. He invaded Macedonia with a supposedly 150,000 strong army. He died in battle in 424 BC. The site, 100 miles east of Sofia, has been dated as from the fourth or fifth century BC. The grave and its surroundings are thought by archaeologists to have been an important religious site for Thracians dating from the stone age. The temple-tomb of Starosel is the biggest one in the Balkans dated according to the excavator from the later 5th century BC. It is a magnificent monument of powerful ruler of Thrace, possibly Sitalk, c. 445/440-424 BC (?), comparable with his politics towards establishment of Thracian hegemony in the Balkans.

Aegina (485-480BC)

Ephesus (426-395BC)

Located on the west coast of Asia minor in Anatolia Turkey, Ephesus was a fortified town surrounded by a thirty foot wall. Around 500BC the Temple of Artemis was built entirely of marble. It was the largest building in the Greek world and was known as one of the seven wonders of the world until the Goths destroyed it in 263. Ephesus was conquered in the 6th century BC by King Croessus who established mining operations for gold and the minting of Lydian coins. This helped gave rise to trade and made Ephesus the major seacoast city with a busy commercial harbor of the times, controlling over 500 nearby towns and populating 250,000 people until the Persians and then later Alexander the Great conquered her.

Thrace (400-350BC)

In the seventh century BC Greek colonies were founded in the coastal zone of Thrace by colonists from the east Aegean islands and the Ionian cities of Asia Minor. The colonies rapidly developed into large city-states. Farming, trade, shipbuilding and fishing flourished and commercial relations between Greeks and Thracians were close. Darius, the king of Persia, in his expedition against the Scyths, in 512 BC, heralded the beginning of a continuous Persian presence in Thrace. Later, in 480 BC, the city was host to Xerxes' army, expending a vast amount of money by the standards of the time. The Persian king was a guest in Abdera on a second occasion, in 479 BC, on his retreat from Greece. Around 350 BC the King of Macedon, Philip II, conquered all the cities of Thrace, including Abdera. A royal mint of the Macedonians was set up there, which issued coins of Philip II, Alexander the Great and Philip III. Philip gradually captured all the cities of Thrace - Abdera, Maroneia, Ainos, Perinthos, Byzantion - and with his expeditions against the Scyths established Macedonian rule throughout the territory: Many Thracians took part in Alexander the Great's campaign, such as the Odrysian Sitalkes who followed Alexander with cavalry, peltasts and lightly armed foot-soldiers.

Thebes (379-371BC)

Located in central Greece and bordering Attica, Boeotia consists of the plains of Thebes and Orchomenus and various cities that comprised a confederation which wasn't interested in overseas expansion. For hundreds of years, Thebes was locked into wars aligned with (and also against) Sparta, Athens and Corinth. Thebes' immediate neighbors supported agriculture and horse-breeding in ancient times, however, under the rule of Epominandas who soundly defeated the Spartans in 371BC, Thebes leadership increased beyond all other Grecian states for a short while. Nine years later with the death of Epominandas Thebes fortunes began to wane. The Boeotian buckler (or shield) was distinctive from all other Greek coinage.

Philip II (359-336)

Corinth (350-300BC)

Corinth was one of the earliest cities in Greece to issue coins, beginning in the 7th century BC. With the rise of neighboring Athens, Corinth joined Sparta against Athens in the Peloponnesian War (431 BC) and defeated her. War would be continuous between the two rivals as well as Syracuse and Thebes for hundreds of years. Within a generation after the Peloponnesian War, Corinth joined Athens and defeated Sparta in the Corinthian War (395 BC) which made Corinth the chief commercial center of Greece until their defeat and occupation by the Macedonians (Philip, the father of Alexander the Great). This coin shows the face of the city's emblem, the winged horse of Greek mythology Pegasus on the obverse, and the goddess of wisdom Athena wearing a Corinthian helmut on the reverse.

Alexander the Great (326 - 323BC)

Alexander the Great (323-310BC)

Alexander 'the Great' was one of the greatest military leaders in the history of the world. As a child, he was taught science, politics and literature by the great Grecian philosopher Aristotle. Before his premature death in 332BC (from malaria) at age 32, his empire stretched from Iran, Iraq and Egypt to India and Pakistan, and from Bulgaria and Greece to Russia. He planned to conquer all of Europe and Asia and make them one country. His father, Philip II, another great general who began the conquests that Alexander almost finished, was assassinated when Alexander was 20 years old, and Alexander killed everyone posing a threat to consolidate his new empire. His first great victories were over the Persia and Babylon, two powers of the time. During this time, he reached Gordium where he sliced the Gordian knot.

Rhodes (304-167BC)

Rhodes was founded in the 16th century BC by the Minoans and began to flourish in 11BC with the arrival of the Dorians. The people of Rhodes believed they were descendants of the god Helios whose portrait is on several of their coins. During the fourth century BC, Rhodes changed sides several times aligning itself with and against Sparta, Athens and Thebes. At the time of the Peloponnesian War it changed sides with Sparta and Athens, and afterwards welcomed Alexander the Great. The people of Rhodes built a thirty-two meter statue, the Colossus of Rhodes', which is considered one of the seven wonders of the world.

Ptolemy II (285-246BC)

Ptolemy II was the second ruler of the Ptolmaic dynasty who married his sister (which was common in Egypt but a scandal in Greece) and printed the legend on his coins portraying them as 'divine siblings' (when she died in 269BC he established a state cult for her). He was convinced that he was of the blood line of Alexander the Great and actually moved the corpse of Alexander from Memphis to Alexandria where he ruled from. Ptolemy began celebrations every four years with the intention to rival the Olympics. He built the canal that linked the Nile to the Gulf of Suez, and also had seventy Jewish scolars translate the Pentateuch (the first five books of the bible) into a Greek version.

Illyria (229-106BC)

The Illyrians occupied lands extending from the Danube, Sava, and Morava rivers to the Adriatic Sea and the Sar Mountains. At various times, groups of Illyrians migrated over land and sea into Italy. The ancient Macedonians probably had some Illyrian roots, but their ruling class adopted Greek cultural characteristics. The Illyrian kingdom became a formidable local power in the 4th century B.C. In 358, however, Macedonia's Philip II, father of Alexander the Great, defeated the Illyrians and assumed control of their territory. Alexander himself routed the forces of the Illyrian chieftain Clitus in 335, and Illyrian tribal leaders and soldiers accompanied Alexander on his conquest of Persia. After Alexander's death in 323, independent Illyrian kingdoms again arose. In the Illyrian Wars of 229 and 219 B.C., Rome overran the Illyrian settlements in the Neretva River valley. The Romans made new gains in 168 B.C., and Roman forces captured Illyria's King Gentius at Shkodër, which they called Scodra, and brought him to Rome in 165 B.C. A century later, Julius Caesar and his rival Pompey fought their decisive battle near Durrës (Dyrrachium).

Terentina (206-200BC)

Mesembria (200-150BC)

In 510 BC the Greeks founded Nesebâr, ancient Mesembria, on the site of a Thracian settlement. It was once of great importance to Byzantium as a trading town, although many of the 40 churches built in Nesebâr during the 5th and 6th centuries are now in ruin.

Histiaia Euboea (196-146BC)

Quinctilius (189-180BC)

Scribonius (154 BC)

T Cloulius (128 BC)

Curtius Silanus (116-115 BC)

Parthia (110 BC)

Saturnius (104 BC)