HISTORY AND ETHNOLOGY. 21 



to public than private affairs, leaving the care of agriculture and trade to 

 the slaves. Many, however, would inspect their workmen, nay, participate 

 in manual labor, especially in husbandry. Mining was left to the slaves. 

 Besides marble quarries, silver was found in great abundance in the mines 

 of Mount Laurion. The poorer citizens would follow some trade, whilst the 

 opulent had factories where their slaves were set to work. The rights of 

 labor were unrestricted. Several circumstances conspired to favor 

 commerce, and thereby trade ; among these we may mention the happy 

 position of the country, and the admirable harbor of Athens. Commerce 

 might have risen to still greater importance had not the Athenian love of 

 conquest given another aim to their pre-eminence at sea. Besides, there 

 was a law prohibiting the importation and exportation of certain 

 products in time of war. 



The currency used in trade was of gold, silver, coj^per, and iron. 

 Originally these metals were not coined, and the value was estimated by the 

 weight. But at the time of Solon coins had come into general use, and in 

 Athens they were stamped with an image of Minerva with the owl. The 

 Athenian currency served as a model for that of surrounding states, and 

 throughout all Hellas the talent and minawxre used as conventional standards 

 of value : 1 talent = 60 min?e (about $1000) ; 1 mina = 100 drachmas ; 

 1 drachma — 6 oboli ; 1 obolus = 8 chalci ; 1 chalcus = T lepta. Gold 

 coin bore a proportion to silver of 1 : 10 ; at other times 1 : 12, 12=, and 

 even 15. Down to the half obolus silver w^as used ; the quarter obolus 

 sometimes silver, and sometimes copper ; while the smaller coins were 

 made of copper only. 



Prior to the time of Solon coins of the same denomination were heavier 

 than under him and his successors, for he coined 100 drachmas from the 

 same amount of metal that used to give 72 or 73 drachmas. The drachma 

 of ^gina did not suffer reduction, and in Euboea the coin underwent less 

 alteration than in Attica. 



For fac-similes of several Grecian, Macedonian, and other coins, see 

 jpl. 11, fig. 24, a double drachma, didrachma, obverse of a silver coin of 

 ^gina ; fig. 25 *"*, Syracusan coins ; jig. 26, obverse of a Theban silver coin ; 

 fig. 27 "^ Alexandrian silver coin of four drachmas ; fig. 28 "^ silver coin of 

 Crotona ; fig. 29 ''*, golden octodrachma of Ptolemseus I. ; fig. 30 ''^, Athenian 

 silver tetradrachma ; fi^. 31 ''*, silver tetradrachma of Alexander the Great*; 

 fig. 32 '''', gold double drachma of Philip II. of Macedon ; fig. 33 '^, gold 

 drachma of Hiero II. ; and^^. 34 ''*, Parthian silver drachma of Arsaces YI. 



Manners and Character of the Greeks. The Greeks of the heroic age 

 lived midway between barbarism and civilization ; but owing to favorable 

 circumstances, they had, unlike other nations, the advantage of a free 

 development. It cannot be denied that quarrels were adjusted by the law 

 of retaliation, and violent and bloody scenes frequently occurred ; but so 

 sensitive was the susceptibility to praise or censure, that even the superiors 

 did not venture to risk their characters by deeds of oppression. Hospitality 

 was always a religious virtue ; and wandering minstrels, who were held in 

 liigh esteem by people and princes, contributed essentially towards the moral 



ICONOGRAPHIC ENCYCLOPEDIA. VOL. III. 13 193 



