?06 M EDA L. 
Doric or Sicilian talent of 24 fiummi, each worth an obo¬ 
lus and a half; whence the talent is ellimated at fix Attic 
drachms, or three darics. Thefe weights continued to be 
the dandard of money after it began to be didinguifhed 
by impreffion ; nay, to the fall of Greece and the preva¬ 
lence of the Roman empire.” 
The mod ancient Greek coins of Jilvtr have an indented 
mark upon one fide, and a tortoife upon the other; thofe 
of greated antiquity have no letters upon them ; (fee fig. 4.) 
Thofe of later date have Ain marked upon them, which 
inedallids interpret of ^Egium in Achaia; being led into 
that fuppofition by the tortoife, which they look upon as 
the fure mark of the Peloponnefus. But, though our 
author agrees that the tortoife was fo, he thinks that 
they are otherwife wrong in their conclufions. Aigium 
in Achaia was a place of no confequence till the times 
of Aratus and the Achaean league; but there are eleven 
of thefe coins in Dr. Hunter’s cabinet, which (how that 
they muff have been (truck in times of the mod remote 
antiquity, and that the place where they were (truck was 
rich and flourithing at the time. The coins we fpeak of 
are not common ; but thofe which have the name AITEIHN 
at full length, and which may perhaps belong to AEgium 
in Achaia, are extremely fcarce; iufomnch that in all Dr. 
Hunter’s vaft collection there are not above one or two. 
Theyare likewife conftrufted upon a fcale quite different 
from all other Grecian money ; being of 8, 13, 15-y, 90, and 
about 186, grains. The Grecian drachma at an average 
is 66 grains ; and Mr. Pinkerton thinks it would have 
been (trange if pieces had been (truck of eight-tenths of 
an obolus, of an obolus and a half, or of a drachma and 
a half. ^Egium, being originally an obfcure village, 
could not be the firft which coined money: fo that Mr. 
Pinkerton fuppofts the name Ain to have (food for 
JEgialus, the ancient name of Sicyon, a wealthy and pow¬ 
erful city; or rather Hsgina, the mint of which was 
much celebrated, and perhaps the mod ancient in Greece. 
Other arguments in favour of thefe coins being derived 
from JEgina, are drawn from their weight as well as their 
workraanfhip, which are quite different from thofe bear¬ 
ing the name /Egium at full length. The coinage of 
AEgina is known to have been different from that of the 
red of Greece; infomuch that its drachma was worth 10 
Attic oboli, while the Attic drachma was valued only at 
fix. Hence the drachmas of ^Tgina were named by the 
Greeks way.eiat, or “ thick a name very applicable to 
the coins in quedion. From thefe obfervations, our au¬ 
thor is of opinion, that vve may even didinguifh the pre- 
cife weight of the ancient coins of iEgina. According 
to the true proportion, the drachma c( this place (hould 
weigh exactly no grains; and one of them very much 
rubbed weighed above 90. The others of larger ffze, 
which feem to be didrachms of ASgina, weigh from 181 
to 194 grains; but, the latter being the only one he could 
meet with in good prefervation, it was impoflible to form 
any juft medium. Even in thofe bell preferved, he thinks 
that 10 grains may be allowed for a wade of the metal in 
fo long a time as 2400 years, which would bring the 
drachma of yEgina near its proper dandard. The obolus 
of aEgina was in proportion to its drachma of fix oboli. 
It is the piece of grains, and 13 when very much 
rubbed. The hemi-obolon is that of 8, but when rubbed 
it falls fhort of this weight. 
The general denomination of the Greek money is the 
drachma , or eighth part of an ounce; which to this day is 
retained in the medical weights, the Grecian coins receiv¬ 
ing their names from the weights they bore; though in 
fome indances the weights received their appellations from 
the coins. The filver drachma, according to Mr. Pinker¬ 
ton, was about ninepence derling; and he finds fault with 
thofe who make the drachma and denarius equal to one 
another, the latter being no more than eightpence. Tire 
didrachm of filver, according to the fame calculation, was 
worth i8d. but the tridrachm occurs very rarely: and 
Mr. Pinkerton is even of opinion? that ruedalliftg give this 
name to the didrachm of JEgina. The larged of all th'$ 
Grecian coins is the tetradrachm, which on the ABginean 
dandard is worth five (hillings; but in thofe of the other 
dates only four. There are, however, many fubdivifions 
in the filver drachma; the highed being the tetra-obolon, 
or coin of four oboli; being in proportion to the drachma 
as our groat to a fixpence, weighing about 44 grains, and 
being in value about fixpence. The kemidrackm , or trU 
obolon, comes next in value, weighing about 33 grains, 
and worth about fourpence halfpenny. See fig. 5. The 
filver diobolon, or third of the drachma, weighs about 23 
grains, and is worth about threepence. The obolus of 
filver weighs about 11 grains, and is worth only three 
halfpence. There is likewife a hemi-obolon in filver, or 
half the obolus, of five grains and a half, value three 
farthings: and another called tetra-obolon dicha/cos, or qnar- 
ter-obolus, which is the mod minute coin yet met with; 
and, by reafon of its extreme fmallnefs, weighing only two 
grains and a quarter, is now very fcarce: but there is one 
in the cabinet of Dr. Hunter, and fome more have been 
lately brought from Athens by Mr. Stuart. Some of them 
are likewife met with at Tarentum. It would appear, 
however, that there were fome dill (mailer, and of value 
only three-fourths of a farthing. None of thefe have been 
met with ; and the fmallnefs of the fize renders it probable 
never may ; as the peafants, who commonly difcover coinsj 
would probably either not obferve them at all, or, if they 
did, would negledt them as things cf no value. 
Fig. 6. reprefents a filver coin of the Heraclei. It is of 
exquifite workmanffnip. Round a head reprefenting Mi¬ 
nerva, we read HPAKAH 1 HN. On an elegant helmet of 
the goddefs is the letter K. On the reverie, the name is 
repeated, with the additional figla A 0 A. The figure is 
a naked young Hercules danding, and holding a knotty 
club in his right hand; in his left a bow and arrow; and 
on his arm hangs the (kin of the Nemaean lion. In the 
area over the club, there is a cup or vafe. The additional 
letters may refer to the name of the mader of the mint, 
or to the praetor; or perhaps, by the (ingle letter K, is to 
be underftood the country of Karia, where there js a town 
of the Heraclei; and by the letters A 0 A, fomething rela¬ 
tive to an Athenian city and people ; fo that a©a is put, 
dcrically, for a©h. As to the cup, Macrobius informs 
us, Herculis poculam ita eft, ut libera Patris cantharus ; Bacchus 
and Hercules were both tippling heroes. 
Many different names have been impofed on the coins 
belonging to the different dates of Greece: thus xcgrt, 
“ the maiden,” was a name often applied to the tetra¬ 
drachm, and which would feem to apply to thofe of 
Athens ; though there are coins of other cities with the 
head of Proferpine, and the word y.o^, to which it would 
appear more applicable in our author’s opinion. XeAwve, 
“the (hell,” was the name of another coin, from its type. 
A Sicilian coin was named AE//.ag£Tisv, from Gelon’s wife. 
A tetradrachm was named ygmwa.Ta.yavi, and had eight 
tvQeiei; or hemidrachms. The Tgojfijnor, Co called from its 
country Troizene, had Pallas on one fide and a trident on 
the reverfe. The heir.i-obolon was the wtXxvos of Lace- 
demon ; and the y.oXKvQoi is fuppofed to have been equal to 
the Roman federtius, or quarter-drachma. The cyjlophoyi 
were coins with the mydic chefl or hamper of Bacchus 
upon them, out of which a ferpent rifes; and are much 
celebrated in antiquity. We are told by Livy, that Marcu.s 
Acilius, in his triumph over Antiochus and the JEtolians, 
carried off 248,000 of them; Cneius Manlius Vulfo, in 
that over Gallo-Grsecia, had 250,000 ; and Lucius Emilius 
Regillus, in his naval triumph over the fleets of Antio¬ 
chus, had 131,300. Cicero likewife mentions his being 
poflefled of a vaft fum in them. The molt probable opi¬ 
nion concerning them feems to be, that they are all filver 
tetradrachms; fuch as belong to the cities of Apamea and 
Laodicea in Phrygia; Pergamus in Myffa; Sardis and 
Tralles in Lydia; and Ephefus: but it is a miftake to 
afcribe any to Crete. Mr. Pinkerton thinks it abfurd to 
imaging that Crete? a jQnall ifUnd? fliould itrike fuch vaft 
iiumjjers 
