Analyses of Ancient Alloys. 89 



in his " Various History," corroborates this statement, and the 

 most competent numismatic authorities agree in considering the 

 coins of -^gina as the most ancient specimens of stamped money 

 which have come down to us. These are of silver, and bear on the 

 upper side the figure of a turtle, and on the reverse an indented 

 mark, as if the metal at the time of striking had been held on a 

 puncheon, which, from the force of the blow, appears to have left a 

 deep impression. 



The coins of Lydia would seem to come next in point of anti- 

 quity, and after them, the early Darics of the Persian kings, which 

 occur in both silver and gold. Pinkerton observes — " The first 

 Grecian copper coins with which we are acquainted, were those of 

 Gelo, King of Syracuse, about 490 years before the birth of Christ. 

 These were called Chalci, or pieces of brass ; others of a smaller 

 size were denominated Lepta, or Kerma, from being change for the 

 poor." He is also of opinion, that the Greeks had no gold coinage 

 before the time of Philip of Macedon, and that Athens had no gold 

 money before the Peloponnesian war.* 



The first Roman coinage was of brass, and is said to have taken 

 place under Servius Tullius, about five centuries before the Christian 

 era, and seems to have been confined to the as or (BS, which on one 

 side bore the two-faced head of Janus, and on the other the prow of 

 a ship, a symbol always attending Janus, because he arrived in 

 Italy by sea. 



VarrOjf however, informs us, that the first Roman coins bore the 

 stamp of a bull, ram, or some other cattle, and it is therefore pro- 

 bable that the As with the head of Janus, was not the very first de- 

 sign issued from the Roman mint. 



However this may be, soon after the first coinage of brass, the 

 parts of the As of a value proportionate to their weight were also 

 produced.! The Semis, or half As, marked S., had commonly the 

 head of Jupiter laureated ; the Triens, or third, marked 0000, as 

 being originally four ounces, had the head of Minerva ; the Qua- 

 drans, or quarter, 000, the head of Hercules, wrapt in a lion''s skin ; 

 the Sextans, or sixth, 00, that of Mercury with a cap and wings ; 

 and finally the Unica, marked 0, had the head of Rome. 



All the above coins were cast, as were also those of the Etruscans 

 from whom the Romans learnt the art of moulding their money ; and 

 that several were usually obtained at each melting is evident from 

 the fact that three or four have occasionally been found joined by 

 runners of the metal of which they are made. Most of the specimens 

 also retain the marks produced, by cutting off these threads, as like- 

 wise the lines indicating the division of the two parts of which the 

 mould was composed. 



by internal evidence that this chi'onicle was engrnved 264 years before the 

 birth of Christ, most likely for Athens. 



* rinkertoii on Medals, 1, 77. 



t Varro dc Re. Rust. T, 2. { Pinkerton on Medals, 1, 101. 



