U07 









century the it ud v had so progressed that 200 cabinets were known in 

 Holland *l.>n. In the 15th century they were first intrudu. 

 literature by Angelo Polixiiuio. in 149U ; and a aeries of writers the 

 chief of whom wra Fulviii*, A.U. 1500; Mazuchi, A.D. 152C 

 A.D. 1560; OoUitu, A.D. 1526-83; Agostiuo, A.D. 1536; I 

 A. i'. 1000; and Patin, A.D. l''.:;:i ; wrote chiefly npuu and illus- 

 trated the imperial Roman aeries. In England the study commenced 

 with Speed, A.D. 1522, and Camden, in 1586. The work* of this 

 ' century are not remarkable fur their accuracy, and it is not till the 

 following that the study of numismatics began to acquire the rank of 

 a science. Fr>lirh, Conriui, and Cary availed themselves of medals to 

 write history of the Bactriau, Armenian, and Bosphoran princes ; but 

 the must rcinark.il >le writer* of the 17th and 18th ccntur, 

 Morel], A.D. lit'3; Vaillant, A.H. 17'Ki; Spanheim, A.I>. MCI; ! 

 A.D. IT.---: Haul. uiii, ill 17'J'-'; 1'atiu. iu IC'jj. In tho ]:-th c.-nlury 

 the critical Ecklit-1 completely reformed the study of nun, 

 A.D. 1. iule Mionnet, in 1770-1842, gave a complete lint of 



Greek coins, and Kaxche, a lexicon uf important use for the study. 



Important contribution* to the study of Oreek numismatic.- !ia\ . 

 been added by Millingen in 1S31, 1837, 1841 ; by Rirthelcmy. iu 1821; 

 Bockh, in 1821 ; and others. The study is still kept up by four 

 numismatic journals. The Numismatic Chronicle iu England, com- 

 menced in 1836, the ' Revue Numismatique' of France commence*! at 

 the same period, that of Belgium started in 1843, and the ' Nuuiimna- 

 tii-chc Zeitung' of Weissenace in 1834. 



The origin of the currency U traceable to the Greeks alone ; the 

 Egyptians used rings of metal, and perhaps scarabici ; the Assyrians 

 had no coins ; and the Jews and Phoenicians at an early period were 

 equally destitute of stamped money. The honour of this invention 

 was disputed by the Greeks themselves. The Lydions, Hennodice the 

 wife of Midas, Aryandes, Theseus, Itonus of Thessaly, the Xaxians, 

 a'ld Pheidon of Argos, B.C. 895 or 7 72, were said to have invented the 

 a-t. Opinions generally incline to Pheidon, from the rude antiquity 

 of the ./Kginetan coins; but the dispute refers to the metals. At 

 Athens and in Greece Proper gold was not struck till D.c. 440, the 

 gold coins in circulation being dories, Cyzicene staters, and ingots. 

 While, however, the oldest examples of the gold currency arc Asiatic, 

 the earliest silver was undoubtedly stiuckin the Isles ami tin ]'! .,. 

 ponnese, as U shown by the archaic coins of -Kgina, Rhodes, Thosos, 

 Thebes, and other cities of Greece. The earliest coins were chiefly 

 didrachms, tetrodrachms, and drachms, few pieces of smaller denomi- 

 nation having been struck. 



Little or nothing is known about the Greek mint : that at Athens 

 was called the A r<iyrokopcion ; dies were called kummn/n. The coins 

 were always struck, never cost, under the authority of eponymi. 

 The names of engravers occur on coins during the most nourishing 

 period of the art ; after the time of Alexander, in some rare instances, 

 with the form EFIO1EI assumed by artists of the later schools, as 

 NETANTO2 EFIOE1. ' Neuonthos was making it ' on a coin of Aptera, 

 and Theodotos on a coin of Clozomenic. This form is however often 

 omitted, and the name of the artist put by itself, generally in the 

 nominative. They ore distinguished from those of magistrates by 

 being in smaller letters, and occupying less prominent positions, being 

 often placed in obscure places, as on the attire, on the adjuncts, amidst 

 the type, so u not to intrude too prominently on the eye. The 

 name of Aristobulus is placed on a gold coin of I.ysiniachus; that 

 of Zoilos on a coin of Perseus. The dekadrachms and later coins of 

 Syracuse have miny artists' names, as Eumenes, Kucleides, and Cimon, 

 and others ; and in Magna Gnccia are those of Atigeos, Philistus, ami 

 others. Some worked for more states than one, OH I'.umeoides, who 

 engraved coins of Syracuse snd Neapolis; An-tippus, who did so for 

 HeracleU, Metapontiim, and Tareutum ; and this branch uf the art was 

 pursued by gun-engravers, the name of Phrygillus, known from a 

 cameo, also appearing on the coins of Syracuse.* 



The use of gold coins in Asia Minor is as old as that of silver in 

 Greece Proper, and coins have beau found which can be attributed 

 to the age of Croesus or Alyattea. Gyges, indeed, is stated to 

 have used olmlni or spikes of this metal in the place of coins ; and 



In the French collection, however, there is a complete sequence of 

 Attic gold coins, consisting of a stater, drachm or hemistat< 

 diubolou, obulus, and heniiobolou, supposed to have been issued 

 the time of Pericles; gold obols of Argos, of 16'6 grs. ; 

 Carystus, with head of Hercules and a bull, of 49'3 grs. ; others of 

 Aetolia, on the Attic standards, a triobolon of Bccotia, of 975 gi 

 a drachm of Acamania, are known. But the principal 

 coins are, the Uaric, uf 12!* grs., with an archer and incuse square. 

 15-20 Attic drachma the coin- with which the IVi>i.iiis luil 

 orators of Athens and Bojotia ; the stater 



:! mentioned as the monthly ]ay of a soldier by 

 Xt -nophon, with the adjunct of a fish as its normal type ; the sti 

 Phocica, of 138 grs., and disinter of 276 grs., and submultiplcs, tctarte 

 Itii, hekte ,', and hemih . th 8 obols; staters of Laiupsacus, 



with the head of Poseidon or Priapus, and the winged sea-h 

 120 grs.; and at Cyrene, gold octodrachnu or U-trastaters, ami the 

 large issues of staters and its multiples l>y Philip II. and hU successors, 

 on a standard of 133 grs. ; and the large gold dekadrachms, tetra- 

 drachms, jicntadrachms, and other pieces of tho Ptolvmies. Many of 

 these later pieces of Ionia, in the finest style uf the art, are of 

 electrum, and were issued as Bubrnultiple* of on clectrum stater. The 

 largest piece was the IC-staters of Lysimachus. 



The Greek autonomous silver coins hare been divided into three 

 periods, the first from B.C. 895 to 471, from Pheidon of Argos, or the 

 Lydians, to Alexander 1., .of Macedon, the type Kimj ! 

 often only animals, inscriptions short and monosyllabic, pi, .-. thick 

 and globular, engrailed rings like borders of Etruscan SIVUM!M i, the 

 reverses with hollow squares made by striking on a ja;..- 

 From Alexander I., B.C. 478, to Philip II. the art is much improved, 

 the shape flatter and thinner, the inscriptions more complete, types are 

 introduced on the reverse in the hollow square, which disappears under 

 Amyntas III., B.C. 371 ; the types arc surrounded by an en 

 ring. 3. From Amyntas III., to D.C. 100, about 300 years, the finest 

 period of the arts, types on obverse and reverse complete, the age of 

 Phidias, Zeuxis, Pulygnotus, and Praxiteles, names of magistrates 

 and engravers appear; portraits are introduced by the successors of 

 Alexander the Great. This is also a great epoch fur gem engraving. 

 Greek gold and copper coins fall into this periud. 4. With the rise of 

 the Uoman power the gold and silver disappear, a few imp 

 such as Cicsarca iu Cappadocia, Antioch, Auiiuus, and Tarsus alon 

 tinning to have the privilege of striking cither Jim:m .lemrii or larger 

 pieces till the time of Hadrian. The mint of Alexandria struck 

 or potin, till the time of Gallienus. The letters follow the rule of 

 inscriptions, the titles are pompous. In this last period only copper 

 was coined with the name of the cities. 



The principal coins which have been found are, the dekadrachms, 

 or large silver coins of Athens ; the dekadrachms, or Syracusau medal- 

 lions; octodrachms of Macedonia, the Athenian tetradrachms, cal 1 

 stater or Atticus a long series extensively imitated by other cii 

 by princes; the didrachms of jEgina and Corinth ; the drachms used all 

 over Greece and Asia Minor; the tetrobolon or drachm ; t: 

 or hemidrachm ; the diobolon, or J drachm ; the trihemiobolon j 

 drachm ; the obolos, or J drachm, struck by cities prior to the introduc- 

 tion of copper ; the hcmiobolon, or ,'., drachm ; and the 1 obolo- 

 drochm ; and J obolos, or J, drachm, the smallest of all silver coins 

 .,t Athens. In the Attic standard, the drachm weighed 67'377 grs., and 

 the tetradrachiu 269'508, and of this coin, the dollar of antiquity. 

 the 7Aau{ AuupiwriK j, or ' Laurian owl,' from the minis of silver, :< 

 type, 1 went to the gold stater, or chrysos; 25 to the mna, and 150 to 

 the talent. Of these tetradrachms, which are the ii 

 of measure of antiquity, there are two types, the archaic coin, with 

 the head of the archaic Athene, and the reverse an owl and olive- 

 branch, which continued till almost the age <>f Ale: \andcr : ami those of 

 later than his reign with the helmed head of Athene of I'lieidias, 

 and the owl on an amphora, with the names of the three magis- 

 trates. These continued till the age of Mithridates, and even of tho 

 Roman* 



In all the transactions of co -he drachtn was the unit of 



Croesus himself presented plinthoi or ingoU of gold to the shrine at value; the Attic standard was used at Corinth, Acainauia, Amphilo- 



IMphi. Talent* of gold are mentioned by Homer. In Greece Proper chia,Lcucadia,Epirus,Aeanthus. Sieih and Cyrene; but under dill 



the ismie of gold is of later date, | robably not older than that of forms, the Athenian coin was the tetradrachm, the Corinthian the 



Philip II. of Macedon. At the time of Herodotus its value to silver didr.ichm higher values are abnormal exceptions. The > 

 was as 1 to 13 ; but in the days of Plato and Alexander it had Mink I -netan, consisting of 98 grs., introduced by Ph. 



1 to 12; but tho gold of the Dorics, on account of its extreme purity, from some Phoenician source, and the didraehms stamped with a 



tortoic which were called c/itlunai, tortoises, or parh'iai, thick, by the 



was as 1 to 15; while that of Cyzicus, owing to alloy with xih 

 only as 1 to 14. The gold unit was the stater, or sovereign, equal in 

 weight to two Attic drachms, or 132'H grains, called also the rhr : i>iuo.<, 

 gold piece, or the Pliilipp. n. Philip. At A ' old was not 



Athenians: they prevailed in Bccotia, Arcadia, Klis. Si. you, Argos, 



.d some of the isles. The other principal dr.ic!. 

 the Macedonian of SSgrn., which was used till the time of Alex.uiderthu 



struck till the archonship of Antigcncs, B.C. 407 (Ol. xciii. 2), when the J Great, who substituted the Attic standard. Of Chios, there w. i. ; 

 golden Victories were melted down for the purpose; and prior t.> that drachms, of 236 grs., supposing the drachm to have been about 

 period Phoacan or Cyzicene staters were current in the city. (' 1! ,. kh 47 grs. But the fact is, that it is still requisite to study t ' 

 in Cavcdoni;' 'Ant monet. d'At 



f-vo, Mod., 1836.) The A >y of each Greek state per te, as the currency was always slightly 



staters hare the head of Athene and the owl, besides which i hanging according to political circumstances and the rat ' . ! value, 



an archaic krklr l 'jl-0 (.Tains, having an owl and incline square. It has 

 been attributed to the city, but it was probably struck in Asia Minor. 



411. 



Ill unn, GcKliicbte d. r OricthctcLcn Kunitlcr, STO, Draunmli., IKOC, II. p. 



and the ancinnts had not probably tho trial per pyx, or even a very 

 accurate manner of determining the heir pieces, tho irregular 



shapes of which offered tempting facilities for tiling or piring. 



Tho copper currency was the last im 

 | appearance was not well received, it wag first issued at Athens iu the 



