Quantifying monetary production in Greco-Roman times: a general frame（François de Callataÿ, in F. de Callataÿ (ed.), Quantifying Monetary Supplies in Greco-Roman Times, Pragmateiai 19, Bari: Edipuglia, 2011, pp. 7–29）

Claims Supported by This Source

1. p. 8: In the 1970s and 80s, more than 15 statistical formulas were introduced, but statistics are only a tool, and the estimation of the quantity of coins struck relies on historical evidence. The estimation always involves great uncertainty.
2. p. 9: For silver coins, proposes 20,000 coins per obverse die. A factor of 2 (10,000-40,000) is possible, but a factor of 3 (6,666-60,000) is most unlikely, and a factor of 4 (5,000-80,000) is almost excluded. Specimens with only one or very few dies are exceptions.
3. p. 11: Regarding the apousia records in the Amphictyonic accounts of Delphi, the only epigraphic evidence, Marchetti reinterpreted it as around 16,000 coins per obverse die (against Kinns' 27,000).
4. p. 12: In records from medieval England (Allen 2004), for large samples of 100 or more obverse dies, an average of 30,000-35,000 coins per die is stable, and the author considers this the upper limit for antiquity.
5. p. 13: In the die studies of 609 Greek coinages collected in the two volumes of Recueil quantitatif, an average of 4.2 coins survive per obverse die (92,550 coins / 21,973 obverse dies). For Athenian New Style tetradrachms, there are 473 obverse dies for 3,866 coins.
6. p. 13: Assuming a low average of 6,000 coins per die, the survival rate becomes 1 in 734, which is impossible compared to around 1 in 5,000 for medieval and early modern times. Therefore, the average for Greek silver coins can be placed between 10,000 and 40,000.
7. p. 20, Table 3: Annual production of silver coinage in the Hellenistic period (in Attic drachma obverse die equivalents). Alexander's name c. 350.0, Ptolemy II c. 132.0, Demetrius Poliorcetes (c. 306–c. 287 BC) c. 48.2, Athens c. 39.5, Rhodes c. 9.5, Miletus c. 2.2
8. p. 21: The first step is to collect data from over 700 Greek die studies and compare them at the die level in a common unit (Attic drachma obverse die equivalents). Multiplying by 20,000 coins per die to express it in talents and tons of silver allows comparison with other data.
9. p. 22, Table 5: 1 tetradrachm obverse die = 20,000 × 17.2 g = 0.34 tons of silver. The total volume of silver coinage in the Hellenistic world was c. 2,000 tons, and the available silver was c. 20,000 tons (a factor of 2 is possible, but the order of magnitude is thousands of tons).
10. p. 23: The author himself once estimated the coinage in Alexander's name at about 200,000 talents, but revising it to an average of 20,000 for silver and 10,000 for gold, it decreases to c. 90,000 talents, and the correspondence with the Persian booty disappeared (an example showing the range of uncertainty).
11. pp. 17–19: The significance of counting quantities is being able to judge "not enough" or "too much." The issues of the cities of Pontus are not enough for 1,000 soldiers for a year. The late Lysimachi of Byzantion are too many, with over 200 obverse dies in 15 years.

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