Stater

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Gold stater of the Greco-Bactrian king Eucratides, the largest gold coin ever minted in Antiquity. The coin weighs 169.2 grams, and has a diameter of 58 millimeters.

The stater was an ancient coin of Greek or Lydian origin which circulated from about 700 BCE to 50 CE. It was also heavily used by Celtic tribes.

Original mintings of this coin such as practiced in Athens valued the stater at a tetradrachm (4 drachms), though issues at other places or times applied the word "stater" to a didrachm (2 drachm) coin.

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Corinthian stater. Obverse: Pegasus with Qoppa (Image:Greek alphabet qoppa2.png) beneath. Reverse: Athena wearing Corinthian helmet. Qoppa symbolised the archaic writing of the city (Image:Greek alphabet qoppa2.pngόρινθος).

There also existed a "gold stater", but it was only minted in some places, and was mainly an accounting unit worth 20-28 drachms depending on place and time, the Athenian unit being worth 20 drachms. (The reason being that one gold stater generally weighed roughly 8.5 grams, twice as much as a drachm, while the parity gold:silver, after some variance, was established as 1:10) The best known types of gold staters are the 28 drachm Kyzikenos from Cyzicus, and the gold staters minted in Gaul that Gallic chiefs modelled after those of Philip II of Macedonia, which mercenaries brought back West after serving in his armies, or those of Alexander and his successors.