Athenian owls and the royal Macedonian monopoly on timber

The aim of this article is to show that the reason for large numbers of Athenian tetradrachms being part of hoards buried in southern and south-eastern Asia Minor, mainly Cilicia, is related to the supply of timber for the Athenian fleet. From the reign of Perdikkas II to the beginning of the Hellenistic period, Athens was only able to import timber from Macedonia for a very limited number of years and so Macedonia could not be Athens's regular timber supplier.