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Ostraka’s role in establishing democracy, Linear B’s importance as the first written language of Greece, and coinage’s ability to make trade easier, were the most historically significant developments in the creation of the ancient civilization of Greece.

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Democracy, communication through written forms, and trade were important factors in establishing Ancient Greece. These three artifacts show how Ancient Greece organized political power, stored short-term records, and created trade.

Democracy

An ostracon is a piece of pottery that was used in a part of Ancient Greek democracy, called ostracism, which allowed free male Athenian citizens to vote to exile politicians.¹ Citizens would scratch the name of the person they wanted to exile onto the pottery. The shards would then be counted, and the politician with the most votes would be exiled.

This artifact was significant because it demonstrated that citizens had the ability to remove someone seen as too popular or dangerous to the state and protect their democracy.²

Archeologists found more than 8,500 ostraka in a single hoard, showing how widely used it was in Ancient Greece.³ It’s significant even today because this is an early form of democracy which many democratic governments, such as Canada’s Westminster style parliament, are built upon.

Museum of the Ancient Agora, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Written Communication

PY Ta 641 is one of the earliest ancient clay tablets inscribed with Linear B found by archeologists. This artifact is significant because it shows that Linear B was an early abbreviated form of Greek and was the first written language of Ancient Greece that was used in Mycenaean palace administration centuries before Classical Greece.⁴

The clay tablet was successfully deciphered in 1952 by Michael Ventris, with help from Alice Kober and Emmett L. Bennett Jr.⁵ The decipherment shows the clay tablet was used as a short-term memory aid in palace administration.

This artifact proves that written communication was essential to governing a large civilization. It enabled Mycenaean palace administrators to track their resources, coordinate workers, and manage trade. This is historically significant because it demonstrated that Ancient Greek societies were complex, highly organized, and bureaucratic and shows continuity between Mycenaean civilization and later Classical Greek culture.

Tiu Fraili, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Coinage

Before Athenian Tetradrachms were introduced, trade relied on bartering goods or using iron rods as currency.⁶ Athenian Tetradrachms were large silver coins that carried a high value and were used in Ancient Greece for international trade, funding wars and public infrastructure, and paying public officials in the democratic government.

Athenian Tetradrachms were even discovered in the Hauran region, showing it was trusted and used in other regions other than Ancient Greece, similar to how currency works today, such as with the euro and Canadian dollar.⁷

Each coin depicted a god, goddess, or a legendary hero, for example, Athena on one side and the owl on the other side. These coins are one of the first examples of currency in Ancient Greece and each coin reflects a part of the city state’s identity.⁸

Overall, this shows that the Athenian Tetradrachms were an important part of funding Ancient Greek democracy, strengthened its economy, and helped expand its influence.

By Classical Numismatic Group, Inc. http://www.cngcoins.com, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link

Together, these three artifacts demonstrate Ancient Greece’s innovation in governance, society, and trade, highlighting how interconnected these factors were in establishing Ancient Greece and influencing civilizations today.

Footnotes

1. Megan Gannon, “Ancient Greeks Voted to Kick Politicians Out of Athens if Enough People Didn’t Like Them,” Smithsonian Magazine , October 27, 2020, https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/ancient-athenians-voted-kick-politicians-out-if-enough-people-didnt-them-180976138/ . ↩
2. Andrew Brodhead, “Learning About Democracy in Ancient Greece,” Stanford Report , March 2024, https://news.stanford.edu/stories/2024/03/learning-about-democracy-in-ancient-greece . ↩
3. Gannon, “Ancient Greeks Voted to Kick Politicians Out of Athens.” ↩
4. National Archaeological Museum, “Collection of Mycenaean Antiquities,” accessed February 23, 2026, https://www.namuseum.gr/en/collection/syllogi-mykinaikon-archaiotiton/ . ↩
5. ”The Decipherment Process,” University of Cambridge Faculty of Classics, accessed February 23, 2026, https://www.classics.cam.ac.uk/system/files/documents/process.pdf . ↩
6. Art Institute of Chicago, “Tetradrachm (Coin) Depicting the Goddess Athena,” accessed February 23, 2026, https://www.artic.edu/artworks/199526/tetradrachm-coin-depicting-the-goddess-athena . ↩
7. Gillan Davis et al., “Tyrants, Democrats and the First Silver ‘Owl’ Coins of Athens,” Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences 17, no. 6 (2025): 122, https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-025-02229-z . ↩
8. The J. Paul Getty Museum Collection, “Coin (Tetradrachm) of Athens,” accessed February 23, 2026, https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/object/109KKJ . ↩