MEDAL 
the government, weighed two drachms, and 
was eq\ial to no more tlian fifteen shillings 
of onv money • during tlie time of the five 
first Ctesars they continued didrachmi; hut 
the avarice of succeeding emperors induced 
them to reduce their weight considerably, 
which was restored by Domitian and Aure- 
lian. It was under Philip that aui ei ot se- 
veral sizes first appeared, those bear the 
bust of the genius of Rome on one side, and 
different objects on their reverses ; the in- 
elesrance of the workmanship induces a sup- 
position that they were made far from the 
seat of the arts. Mr. Pinkerton is inclined 
to think, the only alteration made in the 
Roman money by Aurelian was confined to 
the gold. At the eommencement of the 
coinage of gold, the aureus was divided into 
the semissis of sixty sestertii ; the tremissis, 
or third, of forty ; another division of thir- 
ty ; and a sixth or serupuium of twenty ; all 
of which were discontinued except the se- 
missis or half of the aureus. 
There is no part of the study of medals 
and coins more interesting than that of the 
class bearing portraits or busts of eminent 
persons ; of those, the Macedonian are the 
first so distinguished ; and it has been usual 
to begin the series with Alexander I., who 
reigned 500 years before the Christian era, 
or 2,308 years past ; as his coin is the most 
ancient yet discovered. Next to the mo- 
iiarchs of Macedon, follow tlie kings and 
queens of Sicily, Caria, Cyprus, Heraclia 
and Pontus; to which succeed the kings 
©f Egypt, Syria, the Cimmerian Bosporus, 
Thrace, Bythinia, Parthia, Armenia, Da- 
mascus, Cappadocia, Paphlagonia, Perga- 
inus, Galatia, Cilicia, Sparta, Paeonia, Epi- 
rus, Illyricnm, Gaul, and the Alps, includ- 
ing a period of neatly 330 years, or from 
the time of Alexander the Great to the 
birth of Christ. According to Pinkerton, 
“ the last series of ancient kings goes down 
to tlie fourth century, and includes some of 
Thrace, the Bosp orns, and Parthia ; those 
of Commagene, Edossa, or Osrhsene, 
Mauritania, and Judaea.” The above are 
the series of portraits of kings impressed 
en medals w'hicli have Greek characters ; 
many are extant of eminent men, on coins 
of Greek origin. 
The iseries of Roman emperors is com- 
plete, from Julius to the destruction of 
Rome by tlie Goths^ after the latter pe- 
riod the execution of the heads became 
very barbarous. The Greek coins, bearing 
their kings, generally exhibit them with dia- 
dems, and (10 other ornament ; and th«y inva- 
riably present the profile ; those of Grecian 
cities of high antiquity, and Roman consular 
coins, on the contrary, have specimens of full 
faces ; and there are instances of others, on 
which several busts have been introduced, 
particularly a beautiful gold one of Ptolemy 
Philadelplius, who introduced the heads of 
himself and Arsinoe on one side, and those 
of Ptolemy I. and Berenice, his parents, 
on the other. I'wo or more heads have 
been impressed, in some cases grouped and 
looking the same way, and in others they 
are placed face to face ; the reverses on 
those having nothing remarkable to distin- 
guish them ; but the most rare and valuable 
coins contain three heads. 
The vitta, or diadem, which resembles a 
modern riband tied round the head by a 
graceful knot, with the extremities floating 
in the air, is the distinctive emblem of a 
prince tbroiiglioiit the Greek medals ; and 
■ it was imitated by some of the Roman ma- 
gistrates ; hut the popular prejudice w'as so 
great against this badge of supreme autho- 
rity, that their emperors thought proper to 
wear the radiated crown full 200 years be- 
fore they ventured to resume it. “ In the 
family of Gonstaiitine,” says Pinkerton, 
“ the diadem becomes common, though not 
with the ancient simplicity; being orna- 
mented on either edge with a row of pearls 
and various other decorations.” Tlie crown, 
composed of branches of laurel, was an em- 
blem of conquest when first adopted, as 
was the radiated crown a mark of dei- 
fication originally ; but each were after- 
wards assumed on their medals by ambi- 
tions and presumptuous emperors; in 
those of the low’er empire, a hand is shewn 
holding the laurel above the head, which 
disposition of it was considered a mark of 
piety. 
The rostral crown, made of gold, and re- 
sembling the prows of gallies connected, 
was exhibited by Agrippa on his coins, who 
also appears in the mural, assigned to those 
that distinguished themselves in first scaling 
the walls of a besieged city ; the crown of 
oak branches, considered as a civic one, 
was adjudged to him wlio saved the life or 
lives of citizens ; this frequently appeared 
on reverses, and particularly on the coins 
of Galba. Grecian princes adopted the 
crown of laurel, and added it to the tlia- 
dem ; and the kings of Parthia wore dra- 
pery folded round the head, and over their 
hair curled in several ranges' The kings 
of' Armenia had the tiara, the ancient 
eastern badge of iinperial power; and Juba, 
