74 



Coin and Currency in [No. 9, new series. 



and other States, as well as Athens imitated the example of the 

 dominant power and issued gold coins. Previously to this period 

 when gold money is mentioned, it is in such a manner as to im- 

 ply that it was foreign ; and the genuine Athenian gold coins 

 which remain to us are evident imitations of the work of the Ma- 

 cedonian mint. 



I have alluded to one exception. Near the close of the Pelo- 

 ponnesian war — in fact in the year 407 B. C, the year before the 

 disastrous action of iEgospotamos — the Athenians were reduced 

 to the necessity of transmuting into coin some " golden" statues 

 of victory. This issue was most debased ; contrasting strongly 

 with the extreme purity of the regular currency. It was in every 

 sense an exception. 



Pliny gives the year 207 B. C. as the date of the first issue of 

 gold coin by the Romans. This was 62 years after their first 

 coinage of silver, and more than a century after the issue of gold 

 by the States of Greece. The principal gold coin of the Roman 

 Republic and Empire was the aureus nummus, or denarius aureus. 

 Of course the weight of this coin underwent gradual diminution 

 — to be specified hereafter. It still, however, maintained its re- 

 lation in weight to the silver denarius (2 : 1). The latter under 

 the early Emperors weighed 60 grains, and consequently the 

 aureus 120. 



The material was very pure, containing no intentional alloy, 

 and only one three-hundredth part of silver. The coin consisted 

 therefore of 119-6 grains of gold and 0*4 grains of silver. The 

 English sovereign contains 113 001 grs. pure gold. Hence the 

 aureus of the early Roman Emperors— £1-1-2.* 



The most productive gold mines belonging to the Roman Re- 

 public were at Aquileia, and Ictimuli, and Vercelli. 



In England, there was little gold coin in use before the reign 

 of Edward III : nor was it made a legal tender until long after. 



* I shall state here once for all, that the value of ancient coins in 

 modern English money, as given in this paper, are irrespective of the 

 fall in the value of the precious metals which has taken place since the 



currencies were in use. 



