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lie) to take notice of a curious and extraordinary parti¬ 
cular which occurs in'lhofe coins that are fuppofed to be 
the moft ancient, and are placed amonglt the incognita, as 
they are without mark or infcription of any kind which 
might denote time or place, and are no lefs remarkable 
for the tranfcendent excellence of their ttyle of highly- 
cultivated defign and execution than for their extraor¬ 
dinary and perfect preferv 3 tion, which is owing to their 
great relievo, and to the riling of the metal round the 
tides of the fquare coffers in which they are bedded, like 
the rofes in the architeftonic feffitas, and the hierogly¬ 
phics on the Egyptian obelifks. A few of thofe moft 
extraordinary and unaccountable of all numifmatic re¬ 
mains may be found in Dr. Hunter’s truly-noble collec¬ 
tion 5 and, as far as they go, for a female head and its 
kerchief or accompaniment, they are but rarely (if at all) 
equalled even by the Greeks themfelves, either Afiatic or 
European, or their Sicilian or Italian colonies. Thefe 
coins have all the fimplicity of the Egyptian bas-relief, 
but without its bald uniformity, or the petite, wirey, 
luitky, dry, cutting, manner of either the Perfian, He- 
trufcan, or Punic,coins. They exhibit a venuftas and un- 
reftraioed eafy, urbane, graceful, deportment, which ap¬ 
pears equally ro have refulted from the high cultivation 
and amenity of the ftate of fociety where the artift found 
his models, as of the -delicacy and ability with which thofe 
models were imitated. Thefe coins are fuppofed to be 
Lydian, as they are evidently prior to the Greeks, and 
appear to have been imitated in the Grecian fettlements 
of Ionia ; and yet the Greeks feem to have had no coins 
in Homer’s time, as he does not any-where allude to them; 
and it is difficult to bring one’s felf to believe that the 
remarkable perfection of thefe coins could have been ef¬ 
fected by the Heraclidae, who were fettled in Sardis, ad¬ 
mitting thofe Heraclidae to have been the defendants of 
that Grecian Hercules, the friend of PhiloCtetes, fo me¬ 
morable in the Trojan war; and that the Greeks before 
and in Homer’s time could have been fuch Grangers to 
coinage. It is difficult alfo to reconcile with the fum of 
things, the names of Belus, and his grandfon Ninus, 
which occur in the lift of thefe Heraclidae. So many dif¬ 
ficulties ftart up on every fide, as would induce one to 
look for a higher origin of thefe Heraclidae, the fuppofed 
inventors of coinage ; and, inllead of Hercules the friend 
of PhiloCtetes, to fubftitute the Titannic Hercules, the 
friend and relation of Atias, who flouriflied many ages 
before. This would comport better with the highly-cul¬ 
tivated gufto of thofe coins, fo completely eft ranged as 
they are from all the different modes and degrees of bar- 
harifm of the furrounding nations. They Hand infulated 
like that mundane fyftem of Pythagoras’s importation, 
and cannot be afcribed to any known people, except per¬ 
haps to thefe Titans or Atlantides, whence fo many other 
knowledges feem to have been derived as from a common 
fource. But coinage is not traceable farther back than 
in this fuppofed Lydian money, which we find in a ftate 
of complete perfection, without any of thofe previous 
ftages of progrellive growth which mult incontrovertibly 
have preceded that perfection.” 
Medals and Coins of Greece. Plate I. 
In his account of the ancient Greek money, Mr. Pin¬ 
kerton obferves, that the light of fcience, like that of the 
fun, has proceeded from eaft to weft. “ It is moft pro¬ 
bable (fays be), that the firft invention of money arofe like 
the other arts and fciences ; and fpread from thence into 
the weftern parts of the world. In its firft fliape it ap¬ 
peared as mere pieces of metal, without any ftated form or 
impreffion ; in lieu of which, it was regulated by weight. 
Even down to the Saxon government in England, large 
iums were regulated by weight; and in our own times 
every angle piece is weighed in gold ; though with re¬ 
gard to (ilver this nicety is not minded, nor indeed does 
it feem practicable. Among the ancients, whofe com¬ 
mercial tranfactions were let's important and extenfive 
VOL. XIV. No. 1015. 
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*5 
20 
60 
70 
So 
than thofe of the moderns, fdver was weighed as well as 
gold ; nay, even brafs in fome cafes, 
In Greece, large fums were determined by mnue or mints ; 
and the moft capital fums by talents. In every country 
the mina is fuppofed to have contained 100 drachms, or 
fmall filver coins, of that country, and the talent Co minae. 
The mina is fuppofed to be a pou id weight of the country 
to which it belonged. The Attic pound, according to 
Dr. Arbuthnot, contained 16 ounces, equal to our avoir¬ 
dupois pound : but Mr. Pinkerton looks upon this as a 
very abfurd opinion, and nccufes the doCtor of having 
adopted it merely that he might explain a pafi'age in Livy. 
He is of opinion, that the Attic pound is very nearly the 
fame with the pound troy. The mina of Athens had at 
firft 73 drachms; but by Solon it was fixed at 100. The 
ancient drachm weighed the fame which it does at pre- 
fent in medical weight, viz. the eighth part of an ounce. 
The mina, or pound of 12 ounces, had confequently 96 
of thefe drachms; but four of them were given to the 
round furn to fupply defects in the alloy ; “ and indeed 
(fays our author) in confequence of a common practice 
in all ages and in ail countries, of giving fome addition to 
a large weight. Thus the pound in weight had but 96 
drachmae in faft, while the pound in tale had 100; as 
the Roman libra in.weight had but 84. denarii, in tale 
108 ; and as our pound in tale, by an inverfe progrefs, is 
not a third of our pound in common weight. 
Notwithfianding the criticifm on Dr. Arbuthnot juft 
mentioned, we find our author adopting his account of 
the talents ufed in coinage in feveral countries. Thus, 
according to the doctor, the 
Syrian talent contained - - 15 Attic mintr. 
Ptolemaic - 
Antiochian and Eubcean 
Babylonian ... 
Larger Attic, the Tyrian, and the 
Egyptian, each 
iEgean and Rhodian 
But, notwithfianding the conceffion made here by Mr. 
Pinkerton to the doctor, he tells us, that he very much 
queftions this lift of talents, and that many ancient wri¬ 
ters are little to be relied upon. “ Writers on this fub- 
je< 5 l ccnfefs, that the numbers in all ancient manuferipts 
are the parts moft fubjeft to error, as being almoft always 
contracted. They ought to allow that the authors them- 
felves muft often be liable to wrong information. Hero¬ 
dotus mentions, that king Darius ordered gold to be paid 
into hi6 treafury by the Euboic talent, and filver by the 
Babylonian. The Euboic is efteemed the fame with that 
called afterwards the Attic; and, as we eftimate gold by 
carats, fo it is natural to fuppofe, that the moft precious 
metal would be regulated by the moft minute weight. 
But I confefs, I take the Babylonic talent to be the fame 
with that of/Egina. Mr. Raper has proved the firfi coins 
of Macedon to be upon the ftandard of .Aigina. Now, 
the early Perfian coins are upon that very fcale, the largeft 
tetradrachms weighing from 430 to 440 grains. Hence it 
follows, that the Perlian filver coins were of the.<Eginean 
ftandard; and the payment was certainly to be made ac¬ 
cording to the ftandard of the money. The larger Attic 
talent was of 80 lefi'er minae; becaufe the larger Attic mina 
was of 16 ounces. The Alexandrian talent, according 
toFelfus, confuted of 12,000 denarii, being the fame with 
that ufed by the Egyptian kings in their coins; and is 
fitown by Mr. Raper to have been the famer.with the talent 
of wiEgina. Perhaps the whole of the ancient coins of 
Afia, Africa, Greece, Magna Grsecia, and Sicily, are re¬ 
ducible to three talents or ftandards. 1. That ofvEgina, 
ufed in moft of the more ancient filver coinages; as would 
feem in even the later of Egypt, Carthage, Cyrene, &c. 
2. The Attic (being the Afiatic gold ftandard, afterwards 
ufed by Phidon king of Argos in eftiuiating gold, and 
called Euboic, from Euboea, one ot the quarters of the 
city of Argos), ufed in Athens and the greater part of 
the world as the ftandard both of gold and filver. 3. The 
9 T Doric 
