106 SELENE E. PSOMA
Perinthus in Propontic Thrace, the Thracian Chersonnese, a significant num-
ber of cities in Mysia, Parion and the less significant cities of Atarneus and
Pergamon, Antandros and Gargara in the Troad, and also Ephesus in the late 330s
adopted the Persian standard.^213 Byzantium might have followed Calchedon, as
the two Megarian colonies struck their earlier silver coinages with very sim-
ilar types on the Chian standard.^214 A lighter version of the Persian standard
occurs in the Tauric Chersonnese (Nymphaion, Chersonnesus, Panticapaeum,
Theodosia and Phanagoria) during the late fourth century BCE.^215 The Persian
standard became popular again during the very last years of the fourth century
BCE with the coinages of Alexandria Troas, Abydus, Mytilene and Scepsis.^216
Le Rider explained this change as the result of increased military activity
under Artaxerxes III.^217 This may be the best explanation for the coinages of
the cities of Asia Minor that were under the control of the Great King from
387 BCE. When Alexander III crossed the Hellespont and needed to meet
military expenses, some of these cities may have issued coinages on the Persian
standard. It might have also been the case under Lysimachus.^218 During the
third century BCE a number of civic coinages were issued on this standard.^219Conclusion
The adoption of a standard or the change to another standard may be caused
by one of four factors:- Two or more cities may adopt a common standard to facilitate trade and to
expend markets. The Aeginetan, the Milesian and the Phocaic standards provide
examples of this phenomenon. In the areas where coinage(s) of a certain standard
largely circulated and some significant cities also issued their coinages on this
standard, all other cities tended to adopt this weight standard. This was the case
of the Chian standard in Asia Minor and Thrace during the fourth century BCE.
In some cases, cities adopted a reduced version of the standard in use with
the aim of creating a clearly defined monetary zone where no other coinages
circulated.^220 This was the case of the Achaean colonies of Southern Italy. - Military involvement. In this case, coinages of different issuing authorities are
minted in the same standard and they also share types. When cities had to
collaborate to provide military help, they either followed their leader in terms
of monetary standard and types (Corinth and colonies) or introduced new types
(the ΣΥΝ coinage on the Chian standard). It might be that they issued their
coinage with the weight standard of their ally but with their own types, as the
allies of Perdiccas II in the Chalcidic peninsula, and Samos as an ally of Athens,
in the late fifth century BCE. - Weight and monetary standards were part of the city’s life and one of its nomima.
This is the reason, together with trade, that in many cases colonies adopted the