Oldest coins of civilization history on display

ANTALYA

The Suna & İnan Kıraç Research Center for Mediterranean Civilizations (AKMED) opened an exhibition featuring the oldest coins of civilization history, as well as ancient weighing tools and equipment, on Dec. 2 in the southern province of Antalya’s Kaleiçi Museum.

Among the artifacts displayed are coins minted by the Lydian, an ancient kingdom of Anatolia known to be the first to have coins in the region.

Instruments for payment and weighing tools from ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia — the ancient region extending from Iraq into present-day southeastern Turkey — and the Ottoman Empire are also on display. 

Oğuz Tekin, director of AKMED and curator of the exhibition, said some of the artifacts were on display for the first time. 

“Although we don’t know much about shopping places such as markets, bazaars in Mesopotamia and Egyptian civilizations in the Near East, it could be that markets were established in the most suitable open areas of cities,” Tekin said in a statement. 

“With this exhibition, we bring history enthusiasts to a short journey to the most attractive, liveliest centers of cities of various civilizations,” he added. 

The exhibition will be open through Aug. 31, 2019.