818 MEDAL. 
rude as fcarcely to be worth notice. Voltaire mentions a 
collection of ancient Chinefe and Indian coins.made by 
the emperor of China in 1700; but Mr. Pinkerton fup- 
pofes it to have confided only of the Greek and Roman 
money which had been introduced into thefe countries. 
Upon the whole, the Lydian coins feem to be the moft 
ancient in Alia 5 but thefe unfortunately have no legends; 
fo that mere conjecture only determines the ancient coins 
of eleCtrum and filver found in Afia, and different from 
the Perfian, to belong to Lydia. Croefus coined gold into 
a form which he called Jlaters ; and Mr. Pinkerton men¬ 
tions a very ancient gold coin in Dr. Hunter’s cabinet, 
which he fuppofes to have been one of thefe. It has a 
globous figure, with indented marks on one fide, and on 
the other a man kneeling, with a fifh held out in the left 
hand, and a fword depending in the right. It weighs 
four drachms; which Jofephus tells us was the weight of 
the Lydian gold coins. In the fame collection are other 
gold coins little inferior in antiquity; the moft ancient 
of which, our author fuppofes, may have been coined by 
the cities of Afia Minor, as coinage paffed through them 
to Greece. They are of admirable workmanfhip, and as 
much fuperior to the beft Sicilian coins as the latter are 
to all the reft in the world. Thefe gold coins are all 
extremely pale; owing to the want of knowledge in re¬ 
fining gold. 
Perfian coins were firft ftruck by Darius Hyftafpes, 
■whence they had the name of darics. They are of gold, 
and generally have the figure of an archer; (fig. 3.) they 
weigh about four drachms; and fome occur with the in¬ 
dented mark on one fide, while others have figures upon 
both. The filver coins have generally a king in a chariot 
of two horfes, with a charioteer, and fometirnes another 
figure on foot behind, on the obverfe : while the reverie 
prefents a fhip, fometirnes a ram, bull, or other animal. 
The gold coins, which only had the title of darics, are ex¬ 
tremely fcarce, having been melted down, as is fuppofed, 
and recoined by Alexander the Great on his conqueft of 
Afia. There is a fecond feries of Perfian coins begin¬ 
ning with Artaxares, or Artaxerxes, who overthrew the 
Parthian monarchy about the year 210. Thefe are large 
and thin, with the king’s buft on one fide and the altar 
of Mithras on the other; generally with a human figure 
on each fide. Thefe coins continue till the year 636, 
when Perfia was conquered by the Saracens. Thefe have 
only Perfian letters upon them, which have never been 
explained by any antiquaries. Mr. Pinkerton fays, that 
they feem to partake of the ancient Greek, Gothic, and 
Alanic. 
The Hebrew fliekels, originally didrachms, but after 
the time of the Maccabees tetradrachms, are almoft all 
forgeries of modern Jews, as well as the brafs coins with 
Samaritan characters upon them. They have all a fprig 
upon one fide and a vale on the other. Mr. Pinkerton 
fays, that the adinillion of one of them into a cabinet 
would almoft be a difgrace to it. 
Phcenician and Punic coins are very interefting on ac¬ 
count of the great power and wealth of thefe nations. 
The alphabets have been cleared by their relation to the 
Hebrew and Syriac languages. The coins of Palmvra 
come under the fame denomination with the former, Pal¬ 
myra being a Syrian city. 
The Etrufcan coins have the characters of that nation, 
■which have been explained by their affinity to the Pelaf- 
gic, or oldeft Greek and Latin. 
The Spanifh coins are infcribed with two or three al¬ 
phabets allied to the old Greek or Punic ; but the infcrip- 
tions have not been fufficiently explained. 
Gaulifh coins are numerous; but the moft ancient un¬ 
fortunately have no legends; and, even after the Greek 
letters were introduced into Gaul by a colony at Mar- 
feilles, the legends'are very difficult to be explained. 
From a paffage in Caefar’s Commentaries, it has been 
inferred that the Bntons ufed fome kind of coins even in 
his time., Mr. Pinkerton informs us, that fome rude 
coins of copper very much mingled with tin are frequently 
found in England; which, he fuppofes, may be fome of 
the ancient Britifh money. They are of the fize of a di¬ 
drachm, the common form of the nummus aureus among 
the ancients. After the time of Csefar, coinage increafed 
among the Britons; and there are many found of Cuno- 
belinus, who was king of the Trinobantes, and educated, 
as it has been faid, in the court of Auguftus. He is men¬ 
tioned by Suetonius and Dio. Thefe coins of Cunobe- 
linus are the only ones apparently Britifh. Moft of them 
yet found have cvno on one fide 5 with an ear of wheat, 
a kind of a head of Janus, or fome fuch fymbol; and 
often camv, thought to be the initials of Camulodanum, 
on the other fide, with a boar and tree, a Centaur, and a 
variety of other badges. They have likewife frequently 
the word tascia upon them, which has not yet been fa- 
tisfaCtorily explained. See fig. 28. 
The Gothic coins of France, Italy, and Spain, to ths 
time of Charlemagne, have the Roman characters upon 
them. The Italian coins are moftly of the fize of final! 
brafs; and in this way we meet with coins of Athalaric, 
Theodali3t, Wittigez, and other Gothic princes. Many 
others occur, the infcriptions of which, though meant for 
Roman, are fo perverted as to be illegible. 
Of Modern Coins. 
Mr. Pinkerton obferves, that down to the revival of 
literature in the beginning of the fixteenth century, mo¬ 
dern coins are fo very rude, that curiofity is the iole in¬ 
ducement to examine them. Without dates or epochs, 
they cannot ferve one purpofe of utility. The very por¬ 
traits found on them are fo uncouth, that the human face 
divine is hardly difcernible. The reveries always bear a 
moft beautiful crofs garnifhed with pellets, or a difh of 
fome fuch excellent flavour. Yet 1 'uch is the luft of' 
curiofity, of completing a feries, or of felf-lovarindulged 
in the extreme, by pollefting a bauble which nobody elfe 
does, that ten or twenty guineas are often given for one 
of thefe pretty little things. To us, however, as Britons, 
the ftudy of thefe coins may be regarded as peculiarly in¬ 
terefting, as they furnith monuments illuftrating, or re¬ 
lating to, perfons or aCtions, in the glory of which the 
common palfion of national vanity W'annly interefts our 
affeCtions. Thus, the noble of Edward III. on which 
lie appears in a ftiip, as afteiting the Britilh dominion of 
the ocean, would, though uncouth in the execution, which 
it by no means is, jultly command our higheft regard and 
attention ; and doubtlefs any patriot, or any Briton, would, 
even in thefe days, place moft jultly a higher value upon 
this coin than upon the molt perfect medal which Grecian 
fkill has produced. See fig. 38. Upon the fame prin¬ 
ciple, the coins of Edward the Black Prince are inte¬ 
refting; and'indeed the whole Englifh feries muft be in¬ 
terefting to every one who feels himfelf particularly con¬ 
cerned in Englifh hiltory. 
Beginning with the moft eaftern part of Afia, the coins 
of Japan firft attract notice. Thefe are thin plates of gold 
and filver, large and oval, ftamped with little ornaments 
and characters. 
The only coins of China are in copper, about the fize 
of a farthing, with a fquare hole through the middle, in 
order to their being ftrung for the convenience of enume¬ 
ration or of carriage. They bear an infcription in Chi¬ 
nefe characters, expreffitig the year of the prince’s reign, 
^without his name, diltinguifhed as the “ Happy year,” the 
“Illultrious year,” and the like. 
The coins of Tartary, which are all pofterior to Genghis- 
Khan, are rude, and generally prelent only infcriptions. 
In Thibet, Pegu, and Siam, the coins are evidently of 
late origin, and generally bearing infcriptions on both 
lides. Such alio are thole of many lmaller ftates in Eaftern 
Afia. 
In the country fo celebrated anciently by the name of 
India, the precept of Mahomet, which forbids the repre- 
ientation of any living, creature, has had a pernicious effect 
upon 
