High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The history of Ancient Greek coinage can be divided (along with most other Greek art forms) into three periods, the Archaic, the Classical, and the Hellenistic. The Archaic period extends from the introduction of coinage to the Greek world in about 600 BCE until the Persian Wars in about 480 BCE. The Classical period then began, and lasted until the conquests of Alexander the Great in about 330 BCE, which began the Hellenistic period, extending until the Roman absorption of the Greek world in the 1st century BCE. The Greek cities continued to produce their own coins for several more centuries under Roman rule. The coins produced during this period are called Roman provincial coins or Greek Imperial Coins.