Stater Öffentlichkeit Deposited
The unit of the gold coinage of ancient Greece. Its usual division was the sixth, or Hect? (q.v.), but there are also halves, thirds, and even smaller parts; for Ionia there exists a one ninety -sixth Stater struck in electrum. Multiples of the Stater are unusual, but they are found occasionally. Thus Alexander the Great issued double Staters, and Eucratides, King of Baetria (B.C. 190-160) struck a twenty Stater piece, the largest gold coin of antiquity.
The silver Stater varied in weight, according to locality. In general the term Stater was given to the principal silver coin of each city. Thus the Corinthian Tridrachm, equal in weight to two Attic Drachms, was known by the name Stater, while at Athens the Tetradrachm, being the principal coin issued, was there called a Stater.
- Frey's Dictionary (American Journal of Numismatics, Vol. 50, 1916)