IELTS Reading Academic 33

Coinage in Ancient Greece

A. There are more than 170 official national currencies currently in circulation around
the world and while they may differ greatly in value, most show a high degree of
commonality when it comes to their design. Typically, a coin or banknote will feature
the effigy of a notable politician, monarch or other personality from the country of
origin on one side and a recognisable state symbol (e.g. a building or an animal) on
the reverse. This pattern, which has been around for more than 21 centuries,
originated in ancient Greece.

B. Prior to the invention of legal tender, most transactions in the ancient world took the
form of trading a product or service for another. As sea trade grew in the
Mediterranean, however, the once-popular barter system became hard to maintain
for two reasons: firstly, because it was tricky to calculate the value of each item or
service in relation to another, and secondly, because carrying large goods (such as
animals) on boats to do trade with neighbouring cities was difficult and inconvenient.
Therefore, the need soon arose for a commonly recognised unit that would
represent a set value-what is known today as a currency. As Aristotle explains in
Politics, metal coins naturally became the most popular option due to the fact that
they were easy to carry, and didn’t run the risk of expiring. According to ancient
Greek historian Herodotus, the first coins were invented in 620 BC in the town of
Lydia, although some theorise that they actually originated in the city of Ionia.
(Coins had already existed for nearly 400 years in China, unbeknownst to
Europeans.)

C. Much like with every other form of ancient Greek art, the history of ancient Greek
coins can be divided into three distinct chronological periods: the Archaic (600-480
BC), the Classic (480-330 BC) and the Hellenistic Period (330-1st century BC). As
ancient Greece was not a united country like today, but rather comprised of many
independent city-states known as poleis, each state produced its own coins. The
island of Aegina was the first to mint silver coins, perhaps adopting the new system
upon witnessing how successfully it had facilitated trade for the lonians. Aegina
being the head of a confederation of seven states, it quickly influenced other city-
states in the Mediterranean and the new method of trade soon became widespread.
Up until approximately 510 BC, when Athens began producing its own coin, the
Aegina coin – which featured a turtle on its surface was the most predominant in the
region.

D. The tetradrachm, Athens’s new coin bearing the picture of an owl on its obverse as
a tribute to the city’s protector, the goddess Athena, brought with it a shift in the
world of coinage. Prior to the tetradrachm, Athenians had been using simple iron
 rods known as ‘obols’ for currency. As the average human hand could grasp about
six obols, that number soon came to represent a ‘drachma’ (from the Greek verb
‘dratto’, which means ‘to grasp’)-so the new tetradrachm had the same value as 24
obols. With Athens continually growing in power, the tetradrachm soon replaced-the
Aegina ‘turtle’ as the most preponderant coin in the region. It was around that time
that an agreement akin to the way the EU’s euro currency functions also appeared,
with different coins from all over the Mediterranean being made to the same
standards as the Athenian coin (albeit with each city’s own symbols on them) and
being used interchangeably among the trading city-states.

E. Coinage soon spread beyond those city-states. Romans abandoned the bronze
bars they’d been using in favour of coins around the year 300 BC, and Alexander
the Great and his father King Philip of Macedonia began to produce massive
quantities of coins to fund their military escapades around the same time. It was
with the death of the latter, in 336 BC, that the Hellenistic Period began. Two things
characterise the Hellenistic Period: the introduction of a “type” (the design that coins
were stamped with) on the reverse of the coins, and mass production, which mostly
took place in kingdoms beyond the Greek city-states, such as Egypt, Syria and the
far east. Another new feature, which was heavily criticised by the Greeks, was the
introduction of profiles of kings and other important living figures as stamps in lieu of
the traditional symbols of animals and buildings. Athens, still a powerful city at the
time, eschewed these designs and continued to produce its own tetradrachm coins,
even introducing-a new-style coin characterised by broad, thin flans-a design which
became popular across the Aegean and lasted until the spread of Roman rule over
Greece.

F. It’s not difficult to see why ancient Greek coins continue to fascinate coin collectors
and historians today. They marked the beginning of a new era in business and
introduced a model of trade in Europe that is still present nowadays; they greatly
influenced the design of modern coinage, with symbols such as the owl (which can
be seen on the Greek version of the euro today) and portraits of important
personalities; and, since they were hand-made to high technical standards
representative of ancient Greek perfectionism, many are even remarkable in their
own right, as tiny metal works of art.

Questions 1-6
The Reading Passage has six sections A-F.

Choose the correct heading for each section from the list of headings below.
Write your answers in boxes 1-6 on your answer sheet.

List of Headings
I The beginning of the Archaic period
ii The Athenian obol replaces the turtle
iii How product exchange became insufficient
iv Roman and Macedonian coins
v The relevance of ancient Greek coins today
vi New cities introduce new design rules
vii A precursor of the modern euro
viii The difference between Ionian and Lydian coins
ix Modern coin designs and their origin

1 Section A ..........

2 Section B ..........

3 Section C ..........

4 Section D ..........

5 Section E ..........

6 Section F ..........

Questions 7-10
Answer the questions below with words taken from Reading Passage.

Use NO MORE THAN TO WORDS for each answer.

7 What were the ancient Greek city-states commonly known as? 

8 Which type did the Aegina coin use? 

9 What was the value of a drachma in ancient Athens? 

10 What did the Romans use prior to the introduction of coins? 

Questions 11-12
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.

11 The Athenian Hellenistic-period tetradrachm coin

A replaced the owl type with the profile of a king.

 B was a thin, wide metal disk.
C remained popular under Roman rule.
D was massively produced in Syria and Egypt.

12 Ancient Greek coins

A Are still a method of trade in Europe nowadays.

B Are remarkably different from modern coins.
C Are a fine example of ancient Greek art.
D were a tribute to the goddess Athena, protector of Athens.
IELTS Reading Academic 32

Cities of the future

A. Researchers recently gave 1,000 people a questionnaire about ‘Cities of The
Future’. To answer the questions, the people had to imagine and describe what they
thought our cities might look like in the year 2050. Interestingly, a large number of
people were anxious that they would become ‘dark, dangerous places’, which had
endless traffic jams and very few green spaces. This group also predicted an
increase in the level of pollution and thought people would always need to wear
facemasks in order to breathe. They also believed that it would be less safe to walk
on the street as there would be ‘more stealing’ and other criminal behaviour. A
smaller number thought cities might become a lot cleaner, and might be built from
more interesting materials. They were also looking forward to new technology such
as flying cars and moving pavements. In general, they believed that the cities of the
future would offer a much more convenient way of living. A few people were
uncertain; for example, they thought the size of apartments might reduce as the
population of the city grew, but they also thought that public transport would
become better.

B. What do the results from this questionnaire tell us? In a way, we shouldn’t be
amazed by the descriptions of the largest group. So many Hollywood films show
cities of the future as frightening places. Online newspapers are also responsible for
spreading this same belief. Headlines such as ‘Global population rises – cities
become crowded’ are becoming more frequent. Journalists rarely discuss how
future cities might be a good place to live.

C. The facts are these: 50% of people now live in cities, even though cities only occupy
2% of the world’s land. By 2050, it is predicted that the number of people living
there will rise to 70%. Some people are worried that villages in the countryside will
become empty as everyone leaves for the city, and so traditional ways of life will be
lost. This may be true, but we have to accept changes like this as part of human
development. Rather than being negative, we should be hopeful that we can
improve people’s lives as they move to cities. The way to do this is through
intelligent planning.

D. Architects have a big role to play in our future cities. In the past, the architects who
were responsible for planning our cities often designed buildings that they were
interested in; but now it is time for them to listen carefully to what people living in
cities are asking for. In many countries around the world, people are choosing to
have smaller families or to wait longer before they start a family. For this reason, not
everyone needs a large house. Smaller and cheaper houses are what they need.
But ‘small’ doesn’t have to be the same as ‘ugly’ or ‘boring’. Western architects
 could perhaps look at some of the architecture in Japanese cities, where very
stylish houses are built on small pieces of unused land.

E. And what might cities of the future be made from? Engineering companies have
produced some interesting new products, for example, wood-like material made
from recycled newspapers or old drink cartons. One engineering team are even
working on a project that uses mushrooms to create a hard building material. These
new materials may seem strange, but we should remember that plastic was only
invented in 1907 – at the time people thought that this was an unusual product, but
now it is something we cannot manage without. Building a city of the future requires
imagination and an open mind.

Questions 1-4
The passage has five paragraphs labelled A-E

Which paragraph contains the following information?

Write the correct letter A-E in boxes 1-4 on your answer sheet.

1 The duties and responsibilities of the people who design our cities ..........

2 The influence of cinema and the media on people’s view of the future ..........

3 The types of material that future buildings might be made from ..........

4 Some information and opinions about people living in cities and living in the
countryside ..........

Questions 5-8
Choose the correct letter, A, B, or C.

5 What is the writer doing in Paragraph B?

Explaining why many people will probably prefer to live in cities in the future.
Giving a reason why many people feel negative about cities of the future.
Suggesting that newspapers show a more realistic view of future cities than films.
28 What point does the writer make in Paragraph C?

It is important to encourage some people to stay in their villages.

It is possible to maintain traditional village customs after moving to cities.
It is necessary to think in a creative way about city design.

29 Paragraph D: In the writer’s opinion, architects who are responsible for planning cities

often make houses that are unattractive.

must make buildings based on people’s needs.
should get experience by working in foreign cities.

30 Paragraph E: The writer refers to the invention of plastic to make the point that

we can expect building materials to be very different in the future.

we must accept that good-quality materials take a long time to create.
we should use a variety of building materials to make our cities interesting.
IELTS Reading Academic 31

‘Eyes on the World’: Travel photography in the 21st century

One of the world’s first travel shoots took place in 1849 when two young Frenchmen,
Gustave Flaubert and Maxime Du Camp, decided they would set out on a great adventure
and travel to Egypt. Du Camp took hundreds of photographs of the Pyramids and the
Sphinx, and when he returned home and published his travel album, the images amazed
the European public and turned Du Camp into a celebrity overnight.

While Du Camp’s photographs may appear simple in comparison to modern photographs

with their special effects, it seems to me that nowadays the majority of photographers fail to
realise what the challenges were in taking photographs in the 19th century. To begin with,
foreign travel was expensive and difficult to organise. Fortunately, Du Camp had money of
his own and he was also able to get additional funding for the journey from the French
government. Another issue was the size and weight of 19th-century cameras – they were
very large and heavy. Finally, not only was there a great deal of equipment and chemicals
to transport, but travelling itself could be highly dangerous. Of course, travel photographers
do still take risks as part of their job, but the level of danger is hardly the same as when Du
Camp was travelling across continents.

Nevertheless, as any professional photographer knows, to be good at the job still requires
hard work and dedication. The popular idea that great photographs are often the result of a
photographer being in exactly the right place at exactly the right time, just by chance, does
not reflect reality. Last year, for example, on a visit to Reykjavik, Iceland, I met several
photographers I knew. We were all there for the annual Winter Lights festival, involving
works by many artists and musicians. One shot we all wanted was the perfect image of
the aurora borealis – the strange green lights that sometimes appear briefly in the sky as
the sun is going down. It took hours for everyone to decide how best to catch this moment
and to work out where to place themselves to get the best result. In the end, I was delighted
with the way my photographs turned out. In general, professional photographers share the
feeling that the most rewarding photographs are the ones you’ve worked hard for.

Events like this attract photographers because the atmosphere can help create some
wonderful photo opportunities. The Day of the Dead in Mexico is a perfect example.
Although other countries have a similar event, for example, All Souls Day in the Philippines,
the Mexican event is a photographer’s dream. It’s a time of celebration, when people
remember relatives who have already passed away. Good photographs will capture that
sense of joy in the bright and colourful decorations on the gravestones and in the faces of
the families who are using humour and art to remember their dead. What’s more, the local
people are usually happy to share this experience with outsiders so visitors can participate if
they wish. The festival is held in November, and should be included in any photographer’s
diary.

Travelling as a photographer has encouraged me to question some ideas I previously

believed to be true. An example of this is the popular belief that some groups of native
Americans strongly dislike photographs and will turn away from cameras. This, however, is
not the case. From talking to native Americans I’ve met on my journeys, it seems that it is
now acceptable to regard photographs as valuable connections to ancestors and even
include them in important ceremonies, some of which I have been lucky to observe and
record.

One question that people often ask is whether it’s possible to make a reasonable living in
the travel photography industry today. Gone are the easy days when photographers simply
shot photos for magazines and newspapers, sent them to an editor and got paid at the end
of every month: these forms of media now usually buy photos for their stories directly from
companies that store millions of them. As a result, photographers now need to be more
flexible about the kind of projects they work on. One way to do this is by working for big
businesses. In the past, photographers often decided where they would like to go, and
could perhaps experiment more with the kinds of photographs they took. However, working
for a big business often means that you are sent where the company wants you to go;
perhaps to a beach or a mountain if they want to promote these as tourist destinations. The
desert is another popular place: many car companies like to shoot this kind of background
to advertise their new vehicles. Of course, nowadays this kind of well-paid work opportunity
is very popular, so a huge number of photographers will all apply for the same job; a
situation which you didn’t see so much in the past. Nevertheless, in my experience, whether
photographers are amateurs or professionals, there is a generally positive feeling between
them: they are supportive of each other and willing to share advice about work opportunities
and the risks that travelling to foreign destinations sometimes involves.

Questions 1-7
Do the following statements agree with the information given in the Reading Passage?

In boxes 1-7 on your answer sheet, write

YES if the statement agrees with the writer's claims

NO if the statement contradicts the writer's claims
NOT GIVEN if there is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this

1 Most photographers understand how hard it was to take photographs in the 19th
century.  ..........

2 Some of the chemicals that Du Camp used for his photography were unsafe.  ..........

3 There is a lot of luck involved in taking really good photographs.  ..........

4 It’s usually photographs that require a lot of effort that professional photographers are
most pleased with.  ..........

5 All Souls Day in the Philippines is an older festival than the Day of the Dead in
Mexico.  ..........

6 Mexican locals are happy for foreigners to attend Day of the Dead celebrations.  ..........

7 It has become common for some native American groups to photograph important
ceremonies.  ..........

Questions 8-11
Read the final paragraph of the text.

Choose FOUR ideas which are found in the text.

A Some photographers like to take photographs of serious subjects while others like to
take amusing ones.
B The typical career of a photographer is not the same today as it was in the past.
C Newspapers no longer buy so many photographs from individual photographers.
D Big businesses sometimes use photographers to take pictures of their products or
services.
E The internet has made it much easier to see the work of many photographers.
F There are a huge number of training courses if people want to study photography.
G Photographers talk to each other about their experiences and provide useful
information.

Questions 12-15
Complete the summary below.

Choose the correct words or phrases to complete the summary

Write your answers in boxes 12-15 on your answer sheet.

Nowadays photographers no longer receive .......... from the work they do, and they need to
look for different kinds of project. One option is to get a job with a large company and take
photographs for ........... A job like this is attractive to many photographers, and there
is .......... between them. However, it is also true that in general, photographers
form .......... with each other, no matter whether they take photos for fun or as a career.