MEDAL. 



tural combination, in others artificial. Pin- 

 kerton says, the earliest Lydian coins, 

 and those of particular states of Asia Mi- 

 nor, are of this description, as are those 

 of the Kings of the Bosphorus Cimmerius, 

 during the imperial ages of Rome. The 

 Egyptian coins, made when ihat country 

 was under the dominion of Rome, were at 

 first of good silver, but degenerated af- 

 terwards ; indeed lead, and even tin, have 

 been used for the purposes of money. 



The shapeless coins of very great anti- 

 quity were mere fragments of metal, the 

 value of which was regulated entirely by 

 weight, and this method extended to the 

 comparatively worthless substance, brass. 

 The silver coins of Greece, first known as 

 bearing marks, are those with a tortoise 

 on one side, and indented on the other ; 

 it is extremely doubtful when these coins 

 were made, but they are supposed to have 

 been from the celebrated mint of JEgina, 

 where, according to some writers, the 

 first coinage of money took place by com- 

 mand of Phidon, King of the Argives. 

 Herodotus asserts, that the Lydians in- 

 vented the art of impressing figures on 

 their coins, whether correctly or not, can- 

 not now be decided. Phidon is said to 

 have lived about eight hundred and fifty 

 years before the Christian <era, and the 

 tortoise is known to be the badge of the 

 Peloponnesus. 



The drachma, or eighth part of an ounce, 

 was the leading denomination of the Gre- 

 cian money, and their coins were gene- 

 rally named from their weights, though 

 sometimes the case was reversed ; the sil- 

 ver drachma was equivalent on a medi- 

 um to nine-pence sterling, and the Ro- 

 mans considered their denarius as of the 

 same value with the drachma. The di- 

 drachm of silver was double the amount 

 of the drachma ; the tridrachm was three 

 drachmas ; and the tetradrachm, the 

 largest of Greek silvev coins, except the 

 tetradrachm of the Eginean standard, 

 is equivalent to five shillings of our mo- 

 ney. 



The silver drachma was divided into 

 several denominations, as the tetrobolion, 

 worth a modern sixpence; the hemi- 

 drachm, or triobolion, the diobolion, the 

 ubulus, the herniobolion, the tetartoboikm, 

 and the dichalcos ; the latter was worth 

 about a farthing and a half. Very few of 

 those minute silver coins have reached us, 

 and others are mentioned by Greek wri- 

 ters, which were still less, and are con- 

 sequently entirely decayed, or have been 

 overlooked or neglected for the larger 

 species. 



VOL. IV 



It may be proper in noticing these coins, 

 to mention the figures impressed on some 

 of them, for instance, Pallas and Proser- 

 pine on the tetradrachm, and thetroizene; 

 the cistophori had the mystic chest of 

 Bacchus, with a serpent rising out of it ; 

 but the Athenian coins were the most nu- 

 merous, though the execution of them 

 was indifferent. The first copper coins 

 extant are Syracusan ; those of Greece 

 are the chalcos, originally of very incon- 

 siderable value. It does not appear that 

 gold was used for this purpose in Greece 

 before the reign of Philip of Macedon, 

 and Athens was destitute of this descrip- 

 tion of money at the commencement of 

 the Peloponnesian war; Sicily had set the 

 example in this respect, the government 

 of which island had issued gold coins four 

 hundred and ninety-one years belbre Christ. 

 The Xpvtros, or Philippus, was a didrachm , 

 the common form of gold coins of very 

 remote times, and was equal in value to 

 one pound sterling. The Philippus was 

 divided into four parts, and there were still 

 smaller coins of this precious metal. The 

 Ai%f>vs-o$, of Alexander and Lysimachus, 

 was of greater value than the Philippus, 

 and is said to have been worth forty shil- 

 lings of our money. Some of the Egyp- 

 tian monarchs quadrupled the X^y<ro, 

 consequently their coins equalled four 

 pounds. 



The Romans estimated their money by 

 weight, as the Greeks had done before, 

 but they differed from that people in a- 

 dopting silver for their coins, as they used 

 copper, not in preference, but from neces- 

 sity. The Roman pound was twelve 

 ounces, consisting of four hundred and fif- 

 ty-eight grains, though the money-ounce 

 appears to have been four hundred and 

 twenty troy grains, or five thousand and 

 forty to the pound ; this was the standard 

 of copper. After silver was introduced, 

 the ounce consisted of seven denarii, and 

 gold was estimated by the scruple, the 

 third part of a denarius, and the preced- 

 ing weights. The sestertius, or half the 

 third, a division of the number ten equal- 

 ly improper, and subsequently unusual, 

 was chosen by the Romans as the princi- 

 pal estimate of their money. Servius Tul- 

 lus introduced the practice of impressing 

 figures on their copper or aes, which were 

 those of pecus, or small cattle, from which 

 circumstance the word pecunia vyas de- 

 rived. This manner of distinguishing the 

 coin was afterwards changed, and Janus 

 on one side, and the prow of a galley cm 

 the other, became the marks or the 

 T * 





