596 CLASSICAL ART 



of ancient history. The monuments of art are completely to be 

 understood only on the basis of general history, and on the other 

 hand the development of fine art makes an important part of the 

 total historical development of the ancients. Moreover, a still closer 

 bond between the two subjects is given in the fact that many ex- 

 amples of representative art also offer important direct material for 

 the reconstruction of ancient political and commercial history. For 

 the early period of Greek as of Roman history, the archaeological 

 monuments, together w r ith the legendary remains, are in fact the 

 only material that we possess. The ancient historian is therefore 

 frequently referred to the archaeologists. But also many relics of 

 earlier times, like the distantly exported Greek vases, are of direct use 

 for the history of the Greek states, their foreign relations and their 

 trade. The most important objects of this kind are, however, the 

 coins. As to deal with these requires a vast amount of special infor- 

 mation, a special branch of science, numismatics, was early developed. 

 This division had indeed the advantage that the immediate primary 

 need, of sifting and classifying the immense material, was provided 

 for relatively early and well by the work of assiduous specialists; 

 but the separation was none the less, just as that of epigraphy from 

 philology, disadvantageous to numismatics even as to archaeology. 

 The former was too one-sided and narrow, and set its aim too low; 

 the numismatist was wont to take his function as fulfilled when a 

 coin was classified and identified, and to overlook that only then was 

 the most important matter in order, the elucidation and appre- 

 ciation of the coin as work of art. On the other side, archaeology, 

 through this separation, suffered the drawback that the coins, which 

 were only too willingly left to the numismatist, were far too little 

 made use of, and material extraordinarily valuable for the history 

 of art, much neglected. Germany in particular was long backward 

 in this matter, at a time when numismatics in England had already 

 begun to deal with coins from a wider point of view. 



Here should be mentioned a wider field of study, which is closely 

 affiliated with archaeology, ancient geography and topography, 

 which treat, as Ernst Curtius expressed it, "the subsoil of the 

 historical life." The exploration of the classic lands as to their 

 geography and topography made an extraordinary advance in the 

 past century, and that, too. always in close touch with archaeology. 

 All civilized nations have had a part in it; in Germany in particular 

 Otfried Miiller, and, following his footsteps. Ernst Curtius, have the 

 credit of having recognized the importance of the ground on which 

 ancient civilization grew up. To the suggestion and stimulus of the 

 latter scholar is due the ideally exact survey of the Attic country 

 which the German Archaeological Institute secured. It would 

 certainly have been more important and beneficial for archaeology, 



