1009 



NUMISMATICS. 



NUMISMATICS. 



arcbonship of Callias, B.C. 406, and the orator who recommended 

 it went by the nickname of the Coppersmith. The oldest dated 

 copper coins are those of JEropus II., king of Macedon, B.C. 399 ; and 

 the necessity of change diffused its use, and it ultimately superseded 

 or was current with all denominations as high as the obolos. 'The 

 principal bronze coins are the obolos, worth l^d. -5, the chalkou* 

 or ; of an obolos, and the lepton, 1 of a chalchous : there were sub- 

 divisions of the 4, i of an obolos, and pieces of 2 oboli, worth Z\d 

 Besides the oboli, there was an assarion worth ^oia denarius, and two 

 other copper coins jailed the symbolon and kollybos, the value o: 

 which is unknown. Some of the monetary systems named the copper 

 currency after the silver, and struck drachms, and didrachms anc 

 tetradrachms in this metal. Under the Roman empire, the copper 

 currency was left to the care of the Greek municipalities, but after the 

 national bankruptcy this was suppressed, and the copper issued only 

 by the imperial mints. In the days of the republic, some of the states 

 of Magna Grsecia and Sicily used the Roman standard of the as and its 

 subdivisions. 



The types of the Greek coins had a religioxis aim, and eithei 

 alluded to the eponymous deity, or some local tradition : their meaning 

 was strictly religious. On the earliest coins the types consist of a single 

 emblem, generally an animal or vegetable ,placed upon one side only : 

 as the tortoise on the coins of -lEgina, the dolphin on those of Thasus, 

 the vine-leaf on Camirus. Some pieces were familiarly known by the 

 names of their types ; thus the drachms of Delos were called boes 

 ( cattle) ; the tetradrachms of Athens, korai (virgins), alluding to Athene, 

 or ylaiikes (owls) ; the didrachms of Corinth, poloi (colts), from the 

 Pegasus ; those of /Egina, chtlfsnai (tortoises) ; the staters of Macedon, 

 liil'jiotai (cavaliers); and the darics, toxeutae (archers). Other pieces 

 were named after the princes who issued them, as, Crcosi, Alexandra, 

 Philippi, Demerateioi, Ptolemaioi, and Berenicai. The types of the 

 two sides often have a connection with one another, as the head of 

 Apollo with the reverse of a lyre, that of Neptune with a trident, or 

 the head of Hercules with his bow and quiver on the reverse. In 

 many cases, however, no connection can be traced, as on the coins of 

 Tarentum, and the artist selected his subjects from different statues or 

 monuments. 



Besides the principal types, various smaller representations, called 

 adjuncts, are introduced upon the field on coins of the third epoch, 

 especially on those of such states as struck a long series. On the coins 

 of Alexander the Great and his successors, these adjuncts or mint- 

 marks refer to the cities at which the pieces were struck, as a bee on 

 those of the mint of Ephesus or Aradus, the club of Hercules for Tyre, 

 an anchor for Abydos, a trident for Byzantium. On the contempora- 

 neous coins of cities these episema have relation to the eponymous 

 magistrates by whom the coins were issued ; and a remarkable instance 

 is the stag on a coin of Athens, the emblem of the great Mithridates 

 with his name, and the elephant of Pyrrhus on coins of Tareutum. 

 Such marks will be found on the currency of Athens, Corinth, the 

 Achx-an and Lycian leagues, and on the consular denarii ; but they dis- 

 appear at the time of the Roman empire. 



The coins of the earliest period have no inscriptions, the type showing 

 the state from which the coins issued ; at first a single letter was intro- 

 duced, the initial ot the name of the city, as A for Argos, for Thebes, 

 ?> for Corinth. By degrees these letters became monosyllabic abbrevia- 

 tions of the names of the cities, as pPO for Croton, I1OM for Poseidonia, 

 FA for Elis ; dissyllables then appear, as A0E for Athens, AIFI for 

 vCgiua, PEC I for Rhegium, and these continued to the latest times. 

 But as the arts developed, the inscriptions become more complete, as 

 HIMEPA (Himera), ME22ANION (of the Messenians). These inscrip- 

 tions generally give the name of the city in the genitive, as 0A2IflN (of 

 the Thasians) ; but the nominative sometimes replaces it, as ME2SANIO2 

 (Messeni?.nt,2TPAKO2IOI(Syracusans); and unusual forms are found, 

 aa 2ErE2TAZIBIiMI (I am from Segesta). EPT0EMI2H (I am the stamp 

 of Erythnc), 2ET0A KOMMA (the type of Seuthes). The neuter form 

 i.i alsn found, as APKAAIKON (Arcadian money). These inscriptions 

 follow the style of the epoch, and are written from right to left, or 

 rice i-erid, and boustrophedon. Generally the name or initial of the 

 city is on one side of the coin, occasionally it is repeated on the other; 

 it is inserted to suit the type, at one side, across the area, or all round 

 the hollow square : in some instances it is divided, the first half, as ABA, 

 on one side, and KAINON (Abacomum) on the reverse. In some rare 

 caiea it is placed on the type, as A1NI (Aenos) on the petasus of 

 Hermes ; APPEI (Argos) and FAAEinN (EU's) on the diadem of Hera. 

 Till the fall of Greece into the power of Alexander, the civic legends 

 generally continue very simple ; but after that period epithets are used, 

 as TTP (ov) IE (pas) AST (Aou) (Tyre a sacred Asylum) ; and under the 

 Romans the states are called by their epithets, as ATTONOMO2 (self- 

 governed), ATEAEIA (untaxed), EAET0EPA (free), MHTPOHOAI2 (metro- 

 politan), NATAPXI2 (a port), A2TAO2 (an asylum), IIPnTH (first). 

 Explanations are rarely given, as AAPI22A 0E22AAON (Thessalian 

 Larissa), NIKAIEHN TON KAI 2KT0OnOAITnN (of the Nicfcans, alias 

 Scythopoliten in Samaria). The municipalities out of flattery often adopted 

 Imperial epithets aa KAATAIO-2EAETKEnN (of the Claudian Seleu- 

 cians), TAP2OT 2ETHPIANH2 (of the Severian Tarsus), after Claudius I. 

 and Severus. Occasionally the names of rivers are recorded, as HWA.2 

 (the Hypsas) on coins of Selinus, APE0O2A (the Arethusa) on those 

 of Syracuse ; and the names of local deities often accompany the types. 



ARTS AND SCI. DIV. VOL. V. 



The Demos (or people), Syncletus (or senate), and Boule (or c 

 appear on late coins. Alliances between the cities are indicated 

 pn-ly period by the initials of two cities, at a later age by the \ 

 OMONOIA. The participation in games is shown by KOINON (cc, 

 munity). 



The names of persons appear first on the archaic coins of the second 

 period, and generally in the genitive, indicating the eponymous 

 magistrates. The earliest names are those of the kings of Macedon, 

 the arehons of Abdera, as AAEHANAPOT, Alexander of Macedon, B.C. 

 474, and others. The title of king indeed appears with Getas, King of 

 Hedonis, about 474 B.C., but it forms an exception to the rule, the 

 title of king being first assumed by Alexander the Great. His 

 successors adopted titles in addition to their names, and Antiochus XII. 

 is called the King Antiochus, Dionysos, illustrious, father loving, 

 Victorious. Besides the title of king, others appear, as the Ethnarch 

 applied to Herod, and dynastes to Polemo of Olba. A rarer ad- 

 dress is that of Em, " under," prefixed to the name of the magistrate, 

 which occurs on the corns of Hicetas of Syracuse, but is commonly 

 used on the imperial Greek coins. The inscriptions of these coins 

 have prefixed to the names of the magistrates the offices which they held 

 in the different cities, as the scribe (ypa^arfvs), archon (apxuv), 

 mayor (eipopos), prsetor (a-rparr)yos), proprietor (ai'Tia-Tparnyos), magis- 

 trate (irpura^eus), treasurer (ra/tios), high priest (apxtfpfvs), priest 

 (ifptus), or priestess (iep6m), president of the games in Asia (Airmpxos), 

 director of the gymnasium (yv^vatriapxtl^t f the festivals (Trwi/Tryu- 

 piapxys), master of the games (ayuvoieriis), theologian (6fo\oyos). Some 

 coins from the imperial times have inscriptions recording their 

 dedication by individuals or magistrates to a district or city, as Hosti- 

 lius Marcellus, priest of Antinous, has dedicated it to the Achtcaus. 

 On the coins of Macedon, after its subjection to Rome, the name 

 of the people is in Greek, MAKEAONfiN, that of the magistrates, 

 AESILLAS, in Latin. 



Subordinate to the names of princes and magistrates are dates 

 first introduced by the successors of Alexander. The Egyptian coins 

 are dated in the Egyptian regnal year till the time of Diocletian, and 

 are preceded by /_ (\vitaflos), or year; the imperial coins often have 

 dates preceded by ET or ETOTS, " year " especially those of the east - 

 the chief seras found are the Seleucian commencing B.C. 312, in Syria, 

 Phoenicia, and Judsea ; the Pompeian/ B.Q. 63, in Syria and Phoenicia ; 

 the Ciesarian, B.C. 47 or 48, in Syria; the Actian, B.C. 31, in Syria; 

 the Egyptian, B.C. 300, commencing with Ptolemy I. ; and that of 

 Pontus, B.C. 296. 



The names of games, as KAICAPEIA, the Csesarian, ATTAAEIA, 

 the Attalian ; and many others are inscribed on imperial coins. 



Inscriptions recording the value are seen on a few rare imperial 

 coins, as AIAPAXMON, a didrachm, on a silver coin of Nero, struck at 

 Crcsarea, in Cappadocia; and on a copper coin of Rhodes, APAXMH, 

 or APAFMH on those of Ephesus; and APAXMA ou a bronze coin ; 

 A22APION, AVO, TPIA, HMI2V on the copper of Chios ; TPIOBOAOfN] 

 on those of Samothracia ; HMIOBEA1N on those of jEgium ; XAAXOT2 

 on coins of Antioch ; AIXAAKON on those of Chios. 



Single letters besides the names of magistrates and cities, and ligatures 

 of letters called monograms, are of frequent occurrence on the coins. 



Sometimes the names of cities are thus compressed, as ^ , Parium ; 

 , Achsea; ^ Tyre; or the name of the eponymous magistrates; 



ates are rarely thus expressed. On the coins of some cities and 

 rinces, solitary letters are used to indicate the order of the issue of 

 the coins from the mint, the letters being used in alphabetical order, 

 and when the series was exhausted the letters were doubled for a new 

 series. The silver coins of Arsinoe have single, and the gold double 

 letters to mark the order of issue. 



It has been usual to consider the currency according to the system 

 of Eckhel, or a geographical order from west to east, while the actual 

 chronological sequence is from east to west, the earliest coins being of 

 Asia Minor and the Isles of the ^Jgean. A still more philosophical 

 arrangement would be that of the coins of each stage of the currency. 

 The coins of Britain and Spain are imitated or derived from the coins 

 of Philip II. of Macedon, or Hiero II. of Sicily; the types of the 

 copper are rude portraits of Greek gods, and symbols, as grapes on the 

 coins of Acinippo, alluding to the name of the cities. The gold and 

 silver are copied from the Roman aurei and denarii of the Consular 

 period, and of a similar standard and type as the Dioscuri ; even the 

 iopper have the uncial globules which mark the subdivision of the as. 

 Their legends are in the Celtlberian characters, derived from the 

 Greek and Phoenician, and they are supposed by some to have been 

 ssued as early as B.C. 200, by others as late as B.C. 84-74, the date of 

 the insurrection of Sertorius, and named the Oscense argeutum, from 

 Osca, his capital. ( Livy, xxxiv. 10, 41, xli. 43. De Saulcy, 

 Monnaies Autonomes de 1'Espagne,' 8vo, Metz, 1840; Gailliard, 

 Description des Monnaies Espagnols,' 4to, Madr., 1852.) 



The coins of Gaul are divisible into three periods. 1. Earliest 

 mitating the staters of Philip II. & III. after the conquest of Macedon, 

 s.c. 278. 2. Those with Latin legends apparently from B.c 100-21. 

 3. Those with the names of cities and chiefs on eauh side, the iuscrip- 

 ions either in Greek or Latin, or both mixed. These last two classes 

 nutate the Consular silver, but with great provincial variety. Besides 



3 I 



