434 MONEY OF ATTICA. 



it in the Peloponnesus, it is not likely that the Athenians should have 

 been so long unacquainted with the art. It is impossible to reconcile 

 the opinion of Sperling with the words of Pollux ; the former says 

 that the Bovi; of Theseus must be placed inter ntimmos non cusos ; it 

 is to be considered, he says, not as money with the device of an ox 

 upon it, though Pollux expressly says, (3ouv el'x^v IvTtTvrrwiA.ivov. The 

 (2ou<; was, in the opinion of Sperling, a piece of money which was 

 equal in value to an ox ; and Siit<x(ioiov was as much as would purchase 

 ten oxen. If this interpretation be true, it is singular, as Hemsterhusius 

 observes, that we should find no mention of an uV, "on;, jxoa-xpi;, pieces 

 of money that would purchase swine, sheep, and heifers. Theseus is 

 said by the Greeks v-ottthv vlfA.KTf^'^, words which have only one 

 meaning, " striking or coining money ;" certe vel sexcentis adferri 

 2wssit locis y.oTTTetv v. non aliter quam de signaturd nitmmorum intelligi 

 posse. Hemst. But Sperling affixes entirely a new sense to it ; de 

 argenti sectione smnit. * Theseus, he says, dociiit Athenienses aurum 

 et argentum, et ces eo pondere yJ-rrTeiv quo bovem emere possint, talemque 

 numnmm Bovg dictum, licet hovem signatwn minime hahuerit. He gives 

 a similar wrong interpretation to the word yicnmrj in Herodotus, 1. i. 

 94. Without attempting to explain the reason that could induce the 

 ancients to attribute the introduction of coinage into Athens to The- 

 seus, when we find that in the time of Homer, subsequently to the 

 age of that hero, all commerce consisted merely in exchanging dif- 

 ferent articles, we may fix upon the tenth century B. C. as the pe- 

 riod when the Greeks of Asia Minor first became acquainted with the 

 use of coined money. -]• 



before his time, his ancestor in the seventh generation purcliased a field for silver. There 

 is no contradiction in these statements; that of Herodotus alludes to metals formed into 

 coins or minted ; but the Hebrew money, at the period alluded to, consisted of silver 

 pieces marked. — See Michaelis on the Laws of Moses, i. 437. 



* We may observe that although Pollux assigns so early a date to the coinage of 

 Athens, he condemns those who interpret Homer II. q. 236, as if the poet alluded 

 to money in that verse. Homerus permutationem certe antiquiliis factam non nummo 

 autumat, sed in retributionc qiiarundum rerum quas vicissim dabant. Note 58. p. 104'4. 

 PoUuc. 



f Knight's Proleg. 



