Ancient Greece - 440-404 BCE Attica, Athens AR Hemiobol NGC VF

From the Faces in Time Collection of Ancient coinage (34).

ATTICA, Athens. Circa 440-404 BC. AR Hemiobol (8mm, 0.34 g, 8h). Strike: 4/5, Surface: 3/5. Obverse: Helmeted head of Athena right, with frontal eye. Reverse: Little owl standing right, head facing; olive spray to left; AΘ[E] to right--all within incuse square. References: Kroll 14; HGC 4, 1681; SNG München [Munich] 83. Toned with some roughness. Rare piece.

The Temple of Poseidon (circa 440 BC) at Cape Sounion, Attica's southernmost point.

In ancient times, Athenians bragged about being 'autochthonic,' that they were the original inhabitants of Attica and had not moved there from elsewhere. Traditions from the classical period tell us that during the Greek Dark Ages, Attica had become the sanctuary of Ionians, who hailed from a tribe of northern Peloponnese. It has been alleged that the Ionians had been pushed out of their native land by the Achaeans, who had themselves been forced from their homeland by the Dorian invasion. Supposedly, those Ionians intermingled with the ancient Atticans, who later considered themselves a part of the Ionian tribe and spoke the Ionian dialect of Ancient Greek. Later, many Ionians left Attica in order to colonize the Aegean coast of Asia Minor (modern day Turkey) and develop the twelve cities of Ionia.