G-2Z •^t,^ BOUGHT W(TH THE INCOME OF THE SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND THE GIFT OF HENRY W. SAGE 1891 Cornell University Library CJ335 .G22 History of ancient coinage, 700-300 B.C. olin 3 1924 029 779 133 Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://archive.org/details/cu31924029779133 A HISTORY OF ANCIENT COINAGE 700-300 B.C. OXFOED UNIVERSITY PRESS LONDON EDINBURGH GLASGOW NEW YORK TORONTO MELBOURNE CAPE TOWN BOMBAY HUMPHREY MILFORD PUBLISHER TO THE UNIVEKSITY A HISTORY OF ANCIENT COINAGE 700-300 B.C. ■ BY PERCY GARDNER, Litt.D., F.B.A. UXCOLN" AND MERTON PROFESSOR OF CLASSICAL ARCHAEOLOGY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD WITH ELEVEN PLATES OXFORD AT THE CLARENDON PRESS 1918 ^ ■/■ 3 3 6 A.37^!¥o PRINTED IN ENGLAND AT THE OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS r '^ \^ .^.^ INSCRIBED TO BARCLAY VINCENT HEAD AS A MEMORIAL OF SIXTEEN YEARS OF COMMON TOIL AND UNINTERRUPTED FRIENDSHIP PREFACE In the course of the last fifty years the science of Greek coins, ancient numismatics, has undergone great develop- ments. Up to about 1860 the study had been gradually taking shape, and many able scholars and numismatists, such as Sestini, Eckhel, and later Millingen and others, had opened up great fields of study, and showed much penetra- tion and erudition in the discussion of the various classes of coins and their relations to the cities which issued them. Yet these writers had scarcely founded a science of ancient numismatics. Methods had still to be sought out and estab- lished. The pioneers of numismatic method were Mommsen, in the opening chapters of his Geschichte des romischen Miinzwesens (1865), and Brandis, in his Milnz-^ Mass- und Gewichtswesen in Vorderasien (1866). These writers clearly saw that for the formation of numismatics as a branch of historical science two points were fundamental. First, it was necessary to determine not only the cities which struck each group of coins, but also the date and occasion of each issue. And secondly, as coins were measures of value and a medium of exchange, the one most important fact in regard to them was the quantity of precious metal which each contained; in fact their weight. Eckhel in his great Doctrina Numorum Veterum (1792-8), which is still valuable as a storehouse of learning and a model of good sense, had but a very vague notion of the dates of coins; and their weights had not been seriously considered. The works of Brandis and Mommsen were epoch-making; but they could not carry very far, because the essential point of the dates of issues had not been satisfactorily gone into. viii PREFACE In the period 1870-90 a fresh turn was given to the study- by a series of more thorough attempts to connect the suc- cessive issues of money with the history of the mint-cities to which they belonged. In this field B. V. Head's Coinage of Syracuse (187'4) may be said to have opened the door. It is only a monograph of eighty pages, but its value was at once recognized in the Universities of Europe ; and it proved the first of a number of similar treatises, which tended gradually to introduce into numismatics the true historic method. The work was in a remarkable degree international. In Holland J. P. Six, in Switzerland F. Imhoof-Blumer, in France "W. H. Waddington and Theodore Eeinach, in Germany A. von Sallet and R. "Weil, in England A. J. Evans, may be specially mentioned as having made very useful contributions. And when in 1887 Mr, Head published his Historia Numoriim he was able, as a result of combined labours, to present the coins of the Greeks as orderly series under each mint-city or kingdom. The new edition of the Historia (1911) shows a great number of alterations and additions in consequence of the discoveries and researches of tweiity-four years ; but it is astonishing how well the main lines of the book have endured. On similar principles to Mr. Head's, but on a much larger scale, M. Babelon is now publishing, volume by volume, a complete digest of the published coins of the Greek world, down to 300 e.g., ranged under mints and rulers {Traite des Monnaies g^^ecques et romaines), A still more elaborate work, a Corpus of Greek Coins, is in progress under the auspices of the Prussian Academy of Sciences. In proposing this work, as far back as 1887, Mommsen wrote : ' It is beyond doubt that students who plan some study in the field of Antiquity, whether con- cerned with History, Language, Religion or Art, or any other subject, find no more serious hindrance and con- stant impediment than the want of a rationally ordered PREFACE ix collocation of ancient coins.' The Corjms has the able assistance of Dr. Imhoof-Blumer, of Winterthur, with whom work very competent scholars. But the penalty resulting from their attempt to include every known coin, and to go carefully into every detail, is that the Corpus moves very slowly. A few parts only, dealing with the coins of a few cities and districts of Northern Greece, have appeared. If carried on thus, the work will not be completed, literally, for several centuries. A talented numismatist, M. Theodore Eeinach, has written : ^ ' Nous avons des catalogues dont quelques-uns sont des CBUvres scientifiques de premier ordre, des monographies, des manuels disposes suivant Tordre g^ographique ou syst^- matique.' ' UMstoire de la monnaie chez les Grrecs n a jamais ^te ^crite.' I am ambitious enough to try to put together at least the outlines of such a history. The plan followed by Mr. Head and M. Babelon, though perhaps the best for their purpose, has certain disadvan- tages. It gives the succession of monetary issues under each state and city, but it does not include the comparison together of the coins of different cities, even when the cities lie near together and the coins are contemporary. Each city is treated as if it were quite independent of its neigh- bours. For example, in the Historia Numorum, Ehegium appears on p. 107, and the closely kindred Chalcidic colony of Messana on p. 151 : Byzantium is considered on p. 266, and Oalchedon, only divided from it by the Bosporus, on p. 511. It is not easy, without much investigation, to trace political or commercial influence of one city on another. Especially it is hard to determine, on the evidence to be found in the book, why one city uses the Aeginetan standard for its coin, another the Corinthian, another the Attic, and so on. M. Babelon is clearly aware of this defect ; and in the recent volumes of his great work he has commonly * VHisioirepar les Monnaies, 1894, p. 4, X PREFACE prefixed to the account of the coinage of the cities of each district a general sketch of its character. This is excellent ; but even so, the means for following lines of numismatic connexion is incomplete. It seems that there is need for another history of coin- age constructed on a different plan, taking cities in groups rather than separately, tracing lines of trade influence from district to district, trying to discern the reasons why par- ticular coin standards found acceptance in one locality or another. Head's book is really a history of the coinages of cities and states ; it is desirable as a supplement to trace at least the outlines of the history of Greek and Asiatic and Italian coinages as a continuous activity. This is the plan of the present work. It could not have been attempted if such works as the Historia Numorum, M. Babelon's TraiU des Monnaies grecques, and the Catalogue of G^'eelc Coins in the British Museum (27 volumes) had not lain ready to hand. Such works famish abundant material; but the material can only be used by those thoroughly familiar with the coins themselves. I have been unable at present to continue this history into the Hellenistic age. The truth is that, in the case of coins, as in the case of politics, religion, and all else, the problems of the Hellenistic age are not the same as those of the autonomous age. "We have kingdoms in the place of city-states. The question of coin standards becomes far simpler in consequence of the wide adoption of the Attic weight. But the question of mints becomes infinitely more complex, and in fact is full of diflaculties at present insoluble, because the mint-cities seldom place their names on their money, more often a monogram difficult of interpretation. It is unfortunate that while continental scholars have all written the weights of coins in grammes, English numis- matists have used the Troy measure of grains. As the British Museum Catalogues go by grains, I have felt bound, PEEFACE xi whenever I give a weight, to express it according both to the English and the continental methods. I have not, in giving these weights, attempted minute accuracy, as I think such accuracy misleading, since coins of the same group differ considerably in weight, and it is quite clear that ancient mints did not attain to great accuracy, even in the case of gold coins. Silver coins from the same dies often differ markedly in weight ; and bronze coins are usually only token-money, of which the weight is unim- portant. It appears that in antiquity, as in the Middle Ages, the number of coins struck out of a talent or mina of metal was more regarded than the weight of individual specimens. To weigh coins, as some numismatists have done, to the thousandth of a gramme seems to me absurd ; and the result is to give to their calculations an exactness which is quite illusory. The plates are arranged to give a general view of the coins of districts and periods. It was quite impossible to figure every coin mentioned in the text. In order to supplement the plates, I have added references to the plates of the British Museum Guide to Greek and Roman Coins (B. M.) and to those of M. Babelon's Traite des Monnaies grecques et romaines (B. T.) in the case of coins figured in those works. Parts of some of the following chapters have already appeared in print in less developed form : two papers on the origins of coinage in the Proceedings of the British Academy; papers on the coinages of the Ionian Revolt and the Athenian Empire in the Journal of Hellenic Studies, These have been largely rewritten. I should add that the dates I have accepted in the text for events in Greek history are only approximate, taken from ordinary books of reference, unless when any of my arguments depended on an exact date. It is clear that if I had tried to determine the exact date of events in xii PEEFACE Greek history, ifc would have involved endless research, and the result when reached would have been only con- jectural. Nor would the investigation have been in the line of my work. It is with great satisfaction that I have inscribed this work to the memory of Barclay Head, as he inscribed the Histoida Numorum to the memory of Joseph Eckhel. For six- teen years (1871-87) my desk at the British Museum was within a few feet of Head's, and almost daily in those years we discussed together problems of Greek numismatics. That he valued my collaboration is proved by the acknowledge- ment of it, expressed with characteristic generosity, in the Introduction to his Catalogue of th^ Coins of Attica,^ But my obligations to him are greater, because, while I had a variety of interests, his whole mind was concentrated on the subject of our study. My dedication must stand as a memorial of a friendship never clouded. I must add that to watch the science of ancient numismatics taking form year by year, and constantly improving in methods and results, was an experience of a rare and very instructive kind. I have to thank Dr. George Macdonald for kindly reading my proofs, and making many useful suggestions. The very full and useful General Index I owe to Miss Edith Legge. P. G. ' p. Ixix. CONTENTS PEEFACE INTEODUCTION I. Gkeek Trade-eoutes II. Classes oe Traders .... III. Bankers IV. Early Measures op Value V. The Origin of Coin-standards VI. Mutual Relations op Precious Metals VII. Eights of Coinage .... VIII. Monetary Alliances IX. Mother-city and Colony . X. Standard Currencies XI. Monometallism and Bimetallism . XII. The Dating op Greek Coins . XIII, Hoards XIV. Fabric PAGE vii 1 9 13 20 24 31 36 42 44 49 52 56 59 64 FIRST PERIOD: TO 480 b.c. CHAPTER I Early Electrum § 1. Origin of Coinage . . . • . 2. Ionia ....... 67 70 CHAPTER II Lydian and Persian Coinage § 1. Gold of Lydia 2. Gold of Persia 83 86 xiv CONTENTS PAGE CHAPTER III The Coinage of the Ionian Revolt 91 CHAPTER IV Supposed Electrum Coins op European Greece , . 104 CHAPTER V Pheidon and Peloponnesus § 1, Coinage at Aegina 109 2. Influence of Aegina . . . . . .122 CHAPTER VI Early Coins of Euboea . . . . . . .124 CHAPTER VII Early Coins of Corinth and Corcyra § 1. Corinth 134 2. Corcyra . i 138 CHAPTER VIII Early Coins of Athens § 1 . The Earliest Coinage 141 2. The Reforms of Solon 143 3. The Coinage of Peisistratus . . . . .153 4. The Olive-wreath of Athena ..... IGl CHAPTER IX Early Silver of Asia § 1. Earliest Issues . . . . . . .164 2. The Attic Standard 173 3. Phoenician Standard . . , . . .174 4. Persian Standard 179 CHAPTER X Early Coins of Thrace and Macedon § 1. Thasian Standard 187 2. Abderite Standard .190 3. Chalcidice 197 4. The Thracian Chersonese . . . . .199 CONTENTS CHAPTEE XI Coins op South Italy, 600-480 b.c. . CHAPTER XII Coins op Sicily, 550-480 b.c. . CHAPTER XIII Coins op Cyeene, 630-480 b.c. . • • XV PAGE 201 212 218 SECOND PERIOD: 480-300 b.c. CHAPTER XIV Coins of the Athenian Empire § 1. Athens, Silver 222 2. Electrum of Asia Minor . . . ... 232 3. The Islands 243 4. Ionia and Caria ....... 248 5. Pontus and Propontis ...... 263 6. Thrace and Macedon 269 7. Italy and Sicily 282 8. Historic Eesults 285 9. Gold at Athens 290 10. Bronze at Athens 295 CHAPTER XV Silver of Asia, 400-330 b.c. § 1. Spread of the Chian Standard 2. Attic Standard 3. The Persian Region 4. Pontus 5. Thrace and Macedon CHAPTER XVI Gold of Asia Minor, &c. § 1. 407-394 B.C. 2. 394-330 B.C. 298 311 312 317 322 327 330 xvi CONTENTS PAGE CHAPTER XVII Coins of Phoenicia and Africa, 480-330 b.c. § 1. Phoenicia ......-• ^^^ 2. Carthage 347 3. Cyrene 350 CHAPTER XVIII Coins of Hellas, 480-330 b.c. § 1. Northern Greece . . . . . . .353 2. Corinth and Colonies 369 3. Peloponnesus ....... 378 4. The Islands 389 CHAPTER XIX Coins of South Italy, 480-330 b.c. § 1. Greek Cities 393 2. Etruria 398 3. Spain and Gaul 402 CHAPTER XX Coins of Sicily, 480-330 b.c. § 1. 480-406 b.c 404 2. 406-330 B.C 411 CHAPTER XXI Coins of Philip and Alexander 422 GENERAL INDEX 441 INDEX TO PLATES 457 PLATES I-XL INTRODUCTION I. Greek Trade-routes. The history of Greek commerce has yet to be -written. There are, indeed, in existence a few books which pro- fessedly treat of it ; ^ but they are necessarily built on inadequate foundations, since the preliminary studies, which should furnish them with a basis, have scarcely been made. The data for a construction of a history of Greek commerce would include not merely an examination of the works of ancient writers, and a detailed survey of geography, but also a fuller investigation of published inscriptions, and, in addition, of all the results of excavation on classical soil. The results of such excavation, down to the middle of the last century, were not adequately recorded. Even since then they have only in some cases been recorded in sufficient detail: objects in themselves uninteresting, and of no money value, such as unpainted vases and common bronze utensils and tools, have been often thrown away. Yet such objects might be of great value for indicating the lines of ancient commerce. Coins, however, which are also of inestimable importance for commercial inquiries, have been carefully examined and published ; and the value of such works as Head's Historia Numorum has been generally recognized. It is the object of this book to make the facts of coinage useful for the knowledge of commercial intercourse. * E. Speck (1905) devotes a volume of his JIanddsgeschichte des AUeriums to Greece ; and his work is of value. Of course, there are many smaller works and monographs which throw light on particular fields of ancient commerce. An excellent book, though now somewhat out of date, is Buchsenschiitz, Besitz und Erwerh im griech. Altertum, 1869. It is to be regretted that Mr. A. E. Zimmern, in his recent work on the Greek Commonwealths y has, in the chapters devoted to commerce, frequently followed untrustworthy modern authorities who put theories in the place of facts. Ifl67 B 2 INTRODUCTION I will begin by sketching the main features of Greek commerce. Attempts have been made by some recent writers to trace the trade-routes, and to track the commerce of the Minoan and Mycenaean ages.^ The results reached by them are somewhat speculative. In the absence of literature, attempts to utilize pottery and schemes of ornament for proof of trade influences and ethnographic connexions are meritorious, but they are risky. Peoples, even if unrelated, at the same stage of civilization often produce implements and earthen- ware of closely similar character; nor does the imitation by one people of the rude art products of another prove identity of race. In any case, the subject of the present book being the coins of the Greeks, I cannot investigate the civilization which prevailed in Hellas before the Greeks came in. In the Homeric age commerce can scarcely be said to have existed among the Greeks.'^ The state of society was such as scarcely to require it. The Homeric nobles produce on their own lands nearly all that they require for their rude mode of living. The chief necessary which they had to go to the tpwn and fetch seems to have been iron.^ Luxuries they imported, or rather bought of the foreign merchants who visited their shores. The chief riches of the Homeric chiefs consisted in their flocks and herds and their slaves. These alone they could offer to merchants in exchange for wares. Hence prices are always in Homer reckoned in oxen ; and we are told that when a cargo of Lemnian wine reached the Greek camp before Troy, the chiefs purchased amphoras of it for cattle and hides.* The real resources of Greek lands, the purple-fisheries of Cythera, the copper-mines of Cyprus, the gold-mines of Thasos, seem to have been in the hands of Phoenicians ; and from the ^ See especially W. Leaf, Troy, a study in Homeric geography ; V. Berard Les PMniciens et VOdysRee. * A great part of this and the foUowiug two sections is repeated from Gardner and Jevons, Manual of Greek AntiquiiieSj pp. 886 and foil., with the permission of the publishers. ' II xxiii. 835. * Jl, vii, 474. GEEEK TEADE-EOUTES 3 Phoenicians came most of the articles of manufacture and luxury used by the Greeks of that age. Vases for unguents and vessels of bronze, and clothes dyed with purple, the skilful Sidonians manufactured themselves ; ivory they brought from Egypt, and tin from Britain or the East- Slaves, in those days the most important article of commerce, they bought and sold everywhere. Their factories were to be found on many shores where any gain was to be made by trading, and their voyages reached as far as Britain. They did not, however, possess a monopoly ot trade. Euder peoples organized expeditions, partly for piratical purposes, and partly for trade. The Taphians and Tele- boans,^ who are supposed to have lived in the neighbourhood of Corcyra, traded in metal and slaves with the opposite inhabitants of Italy and Sicily ; and the Phaeacians, sup- posing them to have been a real and not an imaginary people, seem to have possessed an extensive and lucrative trade. The Lemnians exported their wine in their own ships, and the Cretans were celebrated as bold sailors and organizers of piratical expeditions as far as the coasts of Africa.^ In the traditions of the Argonautic expedition we may see proof that even the Achaeans did not shrink from long and venturesome expeditions, though they had as yet small idea of trading ; rather they endeavoured to surprise and sack the cities of richer peoples and to bring home wealth and honour. The gold, which we know to have been used in some parts of Greece in Homeric times, may have either been thus acquired or brought over the sea by wealthy Phoenicians or Lydians. It was doubtless the pressure of population which caused the Greeks about the eighth century before our era to turn their attention to the spreading of colonies over the shores of the Mediterranean, and, as a consequence, to commerce. "We may call this a consequence, because in most cases communication was kept up between the mother-city and the colony ; the latter, finding itself in the midst of a new set of surroundings and productions, acquired new wants * Od, XV. 427. 2 od. xiv. 245. b3 4 INTEODUCTION and new tastes, and then communicated these wants and tastes to its parent, together with the materials for their satisfaction. Thus a lively trade between old and new Greek cities arose throughout the Levant ; and the Greek traders, by a process which we can but rarely trace in history, gradually ousted the Phoenicians from many of their factories and trading stations, inheriting their tradi- tions and their relations to the barbarous tribes of the interior. For the western trade Corinth became the most important city. The incomparable position of this city, the Acropolis of which is placed on a lofty rock commanding both the eastern and western seas of Greece, gave it mar- vellous advantages. No trireme could be dragged across the isthmus which divided the two seas without permission of the Corinthians ; and as the Greeks dreaded the open sea of Cape Malea, they eagerly sought such permission. By the colonies of Corcyra and Dyrrhachium, Corinth commanded the Adriatic Sea, and pushing on, founded mighty cities in Italy and Sicily, including Syracuse itself. Scarcely less active in the same region were the people of Chalcis in Euboea, who founded Naxus and Catana in Sicily. On the coast of Macedonia a whole district was settled by these same Chalcidians, and received its name from them, Miletus took as a special province the Euxine Sea and studded its shores with flourishing towns. Greek settlers occupied the coasts of Cyprus, and even the distant Libya received a colony in Cyrene. In the time of the Persian wars, the people of Phocaea sailed as far as Massilia and settled there. Before the Persians conquered Egypt the' Greeks had settled in large numbers at Naucratis on the Nile, and had in their hands much of the trade of that rich country. The history of Greek commerce may be most aptly divided into three periods. The first comprises the time when no Greek city was specially pre-eminent above the rest, although Corinth in the west and Miletus in the east took usually the lead. The second period begins with the fall of Miletus and with the sudden expansion of Athenian GEEEK TEADE-EOUTES 5 commercej the Athenians inheriting Milesian supremacy in the Euxine and forming a strict commercial confederacy in the Levant. This period begins with the Persian wars and ends with the taking of Athens by Lysander. The third period includes the rise and activity of the city of Ehodes, which was founded about 408 e.g., and almost immediately became a centre of Greek commerce, continuing to be wealthy and flourishing until the Eomans were supreme in all parts of the Mediterranean Sea. It is into these three periods that the history of coinage also divides itself; the Persian wars of 490-480 b.c, and the fall of Athens in 405 b. c, with the contemporary de- struction of the cities of Sicily, forming strong dividing lines. In the body of the present work these three periods are kept separate, except in some districts, such as Lower Italy, Cyrene, and Peloponnesus, where the line is harder to draw. In these districts the later two periods are treated together. Two cardinal points must be always borne in mind in any consideration of Greek commerce. Firstly, the interior of the country being rough and mountainous, and scantily provided with roads, while the sea on the other hand is gentle and alluring, the greater part of Greek trade was always sea-borne. The inland trade was largely carried on, not with wagons, but with sumpter beasts, ponies and mules, which climbed up the narrow paths leading from town to town. Secondly, Greek ships at sea always hugged the land. The storms in the Mediterranean are sudden and j violent, but they soon pass. When they came on, the ships 1 ran for the shelter of an island, as steamers often do to this day. Creeping along the coast from headland to headland, or passing from island to island in the Aegean, ships made their journeys slow but sure. Such stretches as that between Corfu and Italy, or that between Crete and Egypt, seemed to the Greek sailors long and perilous. Taking Athens, Aegina, and Corinth as the centre, we find radiating from it four principal courses of trade. The first led in a north-easterly direction past the coasts of 6 INTRODUCTION Macedon and Thrace, through the Bosporus into the Euxine Sea. This line of trade was perhaps to the Greeks the most important of all. The shores of Macedon, Thrace, Pontus, and Bithynia were to the Greeks what the wide plains of North and South America are to ourselves. Thence came their supply of food and the raw materials of manu- facture, and, above all, slaves, the largest and most profitable object of ancient commerce. In ancient as in modem days, the plains of Southern Russia produced a plenteous harvest of corn, and fed innumerable herds of oxen, which supplied the Greek tanners with hides. At the mouth of the Bory- sthenes and in the Propontis were some of the most pro- ductive fisheries known to the Greeks, supplying them with immense quantities of salt fish, which, with bread, was the staple of their food. The vast forests of Bithynia and the Danube valley furnished an inexhaustible supply of timber for house and ship building, while even at that period Greece was poor in forest ; as well as tar and charcoal. Flax and hemp also came largely from the Euxine. The great bulk of these products the Greek colonists did not i produce on their own lands, but procured by barter from [the barbarous tribes of the interior. The tribes of Scythians, who dwelt on the northern shores of the sea, learned to cultivate corn for export, and to breed cattle ; and bringing these to the Greeks, obtained in return oil and bronzes, and more especially wine, which was very necessary to their enjoyment, and yet could not be grown so far north. Their kings were generally on good terms with the Hellenic colonists ; and in our own day the tombs of these chiefs in the Crimea have been in many cases opened, and found to contain elegant pottery, jewelry, and ornaments, which exhibit Greek art almost at its best. The influence of Athens in particular is very clear in these elegant luxuries ; a fact which reminds us that at Athens the public police force consisted of slaves imported from Scythia, the To^orat. In all periods the city which controlled the gates of the Euxine, of which the most important was guarded by Byzantium, was commercially the most important in Hellas. GEEEK TRADE-ROUTES 7 We can trace a succession of dominant cities : Miletus down to 500 ; then Aegina ; Athens at the time of the Athenian Empire ; Sparta, Athens, and Persia alternately in the early fourth century ; then Rhodes. It is worth while, in passing, to correct an absurd mistake, into which some recent writers have fallen, of supposing that whereas Athens exported oil and pottery, she exported the oil in the fragile and delicate painted vases abounding in our museums, which are hopelessly unfit for such a purpose. The second great line of trade was that of which at successive periods Rhodes and Delos were the emporia, and which led from Hellas past Rhodes and Cyprus along the coast of Phoenicia to Egypt. This route was the more important because along it came the products of the Far East, of India and Arabia, and Babylon. Before the foundation of Alexandria, the great cities of Phoenicia retained the commerce of Farther Asia in a great degree in their own hands, but at a later period it was more widely spread, and shared by Antioch on the north and Alexandria on the south. Babylon furnished the Greeks with carpets and other stuffs, India with precious stones, silk, and ivory, Arabia with frankincense and various spices. The valley of the Nile exported both in later Greek and in Roman times immense quantities of corn, as well as writing-paper and linen made of the papyrus plant, ivory, and porcelain. Phoenicia supplied the Greeks with fewer and fewer articles as their own resources developed ; but cloth of purple, alabaster flasks of ointment, and fragrant woods seem to have been exported through Tyre and Sidon until Roman times, Cyprus furnished not only an abundant supply of copper, but in addition manufactured cloth of both finer and coarser texture. Gyrene, which could be reached either through Egypt or direct by way of Crete, supplied wool and silphium, an article very much used in ancient medicine, and found nowhere but in the Cyrenaic district. The people of Peloponnesus sailed to both Cyrene and ■^SyP^ ^y ^^y ^f Crete. The third line of trade, which was always largely in the 8 INTEODUOTION hands of Corintli and her colonies, passed through that great commercial metropolis, and led through the Corinthian gulf, past the coasts of Acarnania and Epirus to the various ports on both sides of the Adriatic Sea. Although the Adriatic was reckoned a very dangerous sea, both on account of its frequent storms and because of the hardihood of the Illyrian pirates, yet it produced great gain to the merchants who ventured on it. They exchanged G-reek wine and manufactured goods for the produce of agricul- ture and grazing offered them by the farmers of the Epirote and Italian coasts. On the Italian side the harbours of Adria and Ancona lay open, and offered access to the peoples of Eastern Italy. More celebrated and frequented was the fourth line of trade, which led either from the Corinthian Gulf or round the promontory of Malea across to Sicily, and through the Straits of Messina to the western coasts of Italy, to Gaul and Spain. As far to the north as Cumae this route passed a continuous succession of Greek colonies, and even in G-aul and Spain Massilia and Emporiae stood ready to harbour the Greek merchants, and to give them facilities for obtaining the produce of the interior. Corn and cheese were obtained from Sicily, wood from the forests of Southern Italy. The merchants who were so venturesome as to penetrate to Spain reaped a rich reward in the shape of gold, with which Spain at that time abounded. But the jealousy of Carthaginians and Etruscans prevented the commerce of the Greeks from ever spreading in force to the west and north of Cumae. To Italy and Sicily the Greeks of Hellas brought in return for the products of the soil wine, pottery, and articles of manufacture. These four routes were the chief lines by which the riches of the barbarians flowed into Greece. Of course, among the great Greek cities themselves, scattered over the coasts of Asia Minor, Sicily, and Italy, and the mainland of Hellas, there was constant intercourse and a continual exchange of goods, for particular classes of which special cities and districts were famous. Thus Chios exported the finest GREEK TRADE-ROUTES 9 wine, as did Cnidus and Thasos ; the wool of the Milesians, probably derived from Phrygia, was universally appreciated ; Corinth and Chalcis supplied the Greek world with articles of bronze ; Athens with painted pottery and with silver from the Laurian mines, with oil, honey, and figs ; Thessaly with horses ; Arcadia with asses ; Sparta and Epirus with dogs ; Boeotia with eels from the Copaic lake ; the district about Mons Pangaeus with silver. The internal trade of the Peloponnese was mainly in the hands of astute natives of Aegina, who travelled as pedlars over the country, carrying wares adapted to the needs of the hardy peasantry. Besides the sea-routes there were a few long land-routes leading to far countries, the beginnings, if not the ends of which were known to the Greeks. From the Greek colonies of the Crimea ways led north to the Baltic, whence amber was derived. Greek coins have been found at Bromberg in Prussia, and a notable hoard of gold ornaments of Ionian work at Vettersfelde. Again, starting from the Sea of Azov, a line of trade ran up to the Ural mountains, whence gold was to be had. Most eastern caravan routes, until the time of Alexander, reached the Mediterranean at Tyre and Sidon, and this trade was in Phoenician hands ; but the Royal Road from Ephesus to Sardes and thence to the cities of Persia was trodden by Greeks, both politicians and traders, at all periods. Such in its general features was the frame on which was woven the fabric of Greek commerce. II. Classes of Teadebs. Plato in the Politicus ^ distinguishes two classes of dealers. The first consists of those who sell only the goods they themselves produce (avroTTcoXai), The second consists of those who buy in order to sell again at a profit. In the latter class are included both shopkeepers or hucksters (xaTTT/Xoi), whose business is retail, and merchants ^ {efxnopot) 1 Polit. 260 c. 2 RQpuh. 371. 10 INTRODUCTION who deal wholesale between market and market, or city and city. "We are told that among the Locrians ^ the second and third of these classes were wanting ; that the husbandmen sold their products one by one to the consumer and not in the mass to dealers. Such a state of things could exist only in a very simple society ; and among the Greeks generally the two classes of hucksters and merchants were numerous and clearly distinguished one from the other. In poor and mountainous or barren districts, such as Arcadia, the hucksters usually moved from place to place carrying with them a pack of goods for sale. But wherever the Greek population gravitated, as it normally did, into cities, these petty dealers did not acquire wandering habits, but remained attached to a certain spot in the market-place. Here their booths stood side by side with the factories of those who made articles for sale, sandal-makers, for in- stance, or wreath -makers. Among the most numerous classes of them were dealers in wine, oil, and fish. Sometimes covered halls were erected in order to contain a certain class of them, halls which thenceforth became the markets for a particular class of goods, the wine-market, for instance, or the fish-market. In large cities there might be found in the market-place several detached halls of this character, near together but disconnected. Even where everything was sold in the open Agora, dealers in the same commodities would naturally gravitate to the same quarter of it, forming what were termed kvkXol for the sale of such and such goods. The Agoras were not always in the cities ; some- times they were situated on a convenient spot on the boundaries of two or more states, to be used in common by them ; sometimes they were in the neighbourhood of celebrated temples, which attracted crowds of votaries. Not all times were equally devoted to marketing. Special days were set apart in many cities for fairs, the first of the month being a favourite time. On the occasion of all great festivals, and more especially of the Olympic, ^ Heracleides, Polit 30, CLASSES OF TEADERS 11 Nemean, and Pythian games, the assembly offered an irre- sistible opportunity to petty dealers of all sorts, who turned the place of meeting into a great fair, and provided the visitors with goods to carry away in memory of the feast. The meeting of the Amphictionic council, the annual assemblies of the Achaeans and Aetolians, and all other such gatherings were used in the same way. It is generally | regarded by numismatists as established that it was on the occasion of these festivals that many issues of coins appeared.) The coins which bear the name of the Eleians, for example, were almost certainly struck on the occasions of the Olym- pian festivals, and their types bear a close relation to the worship of the Olympian Zeus, and his messenger Victor^". Finally, armies on the march were accompanied by crowds of hucksters ready to provide the soldiers with the necessaries of a campaign in return for the booty they might acquire, and especially to buy up the numerous enemies who should be captured and reduced to a condition of slavery. In i passing through a friendly country, the army would halt in the neighbourhood of a city, and the inhabitants would come out and form a temporary Agora without the walls, where the soldiers could buy what they required. Hence generals in the field were obliged to constantly issue a supply of money, and in a large number of the coins which have come down to us we find traces of a military origin. With regard to the transactions of merchants we get much information from the Attic orators, which is well summed up by Biichsenschutz, from whose work^ the following is an extract : ' The merchant embarks certain goods for a place where he is sure of disposing of them, or at least has reasonable expectations of doing so ; and either makes the journey on board the ship, or commits the goods to a trustworthy person whom he sends with them. As he thus runs the risk of finding under certain circumstances at the destination no market for his goods, he is in that case compelled to repair to another port which offers better prospects, unless on the * Besitz und Erwerb, p. 459. 12 INTRODUCTION journey he has already received news of the altered circum- stances and changed his plan in accordance with them. It is obvious that the merchants must have sought means of gaining news as to favourable or unfavourable conditions m the markets to which they intended to send their wares, as well as to the prices of the goods they intended to purchase in exchange. In the speech against Dionysodorus, Demo- sthenes gives a clear outline of the way in which a company of corn merchants keep themselves informed by corre- . spondence of the current prices of corn, in order thence to determine whither to send their cargoes from Egypt. Eor the forwarding of such news, as well as for the buying and selling of goods, merchants kept agents at important places. For instance, we find it stated that a merchant resident at Athens sends word to a partner at Rhodes, giving him directions as to a corn-ship on her way from Egypt which is to call at Rhodes ; a merchant of Heraclea has an associate at Scyros, who makes thence business trips ; in another case the son and the partner of a merchant resident at Athens pass the winter at the Bosporus, probably with a stock of goods or to make purchases ; at least it is stated that they were commissioned to receive payments.' The Greek merchant would not be able, as a rule, to dis- pose of his whole cargo to one purchaser, but would sell it by portions to the various retail dealers. Sometimes indeed a speculator would try to buy up all of a particular com- modity, such as corn or olives, which was in the market, in order to gain the control of the supply of that commodity and raise the price against the consumers. No behaviour was so unpopular in antiquity as this, and those who attempted it were very often victims of the general indig- nation. But there does not seem to have been, as among us, a class of general dealers or speculators intervening between merchant and shopkeeper. On receiving payment for his goods in money, the mer- chant might sometimes sail home with it. This, however, took place seldom, partly because the money current at one seaport was usually not taken at another, except at a con- siderable reduction, every city having its own types and monetary standard. There were certain kinds of coin which had a more general circulation, as the silver coin of Athens CLASSES OF TRADERS 13 and afterwards that of Alexander the Great in the Levant, the money of Corinth in Sicily and on the Adriatic, and the gold coins of Philip in Central Europe. But usually the money received by merchants had to be either expended by them in the same or a neighbouring port, or else taken away and melted down in order to pass as bullion. There- fore, after disposing of his cargo, the merchant would search about for a new stock of goods such as he might judge to be in demand at his native city or elsewhere ; and thus the process already described would be repeated. It will be' evident from this description that merchants among the Greeks could not usually confine themselves to dealing in one or two classes of goods, but must be ready to purchase whatever was cheap. There were, perhaps, exceptions in case of dealers who attended specially to classes of goods in demand everywhere, such as corn and slaves. Transactions among Greeks took place for money, but, in dealing with the barbarians, the Greeks retained barter at all periods of their trade. That which produces the greatest differences between ancient and modern trade is the fact that in ancient times buying and selling took place not on credit but for cash. This makes the mechanism of ancient trade extremely simple. But it does not follow that a merchant must have then possessed a large trading capital. A large part of his working capital could be borrowed on the security of his goods. III. Bankers. As a large proportion of the wealth of many Greeks con- sisted in gold and silver money, they sought from the earliest times to turn it to account by lending it to those persons who could profitably employ it, and receiving interest in return. This lending was accompanied in various cities by various ceremonies, the chief object of which was to secure witnesses of the transaction and to prevent the borrower from denying the loan. Sometimes the contract was made in the presence of a sort of notary 14 INTEODUOTION appointed by the State; more frequently it was arranged before witnesses summoned by the parties. At Athens the terms of the loan, the amount, rate of interest, and period were carefully stated in a document which was sealed by both parties and deposited in the custody of some trust- worthy person. It is said that in the city of Cnossus ^ the I borrower made a pretence of stealing the money lent him, in order that, if he did not repay it in time, the lender ' would have him in his power. A more usual precaution would be to require a person of respectability as surety for the repayment. As regards the goods which are the material security of a loan, Biichsenschiitz,^ whose chapters on these subjects are admirable, remarks that they may be either handed bodily over to the lender of money, in which case they would by us be called pledged, or retained by the borrower, whose creditor acquired certain rights over them, a condition to which we give the name of mortgage. Furniture, slaves, or horses might be given in pledge ; lands, houses, or ships would usually be mortgaged. The nature of pledges is simple, and they need not occupy us further^ if we only observe that he who lent money on a living pledge, such as a horse or slave, ran great risk of its dying, and of his security becoming thus worthless. Mortgages were more usual and of more importance. Money-lenders in Greece were of two classes^ either private individuals who had to live on the interest of their property, and possessed that property in the form of money, or else Tpaire^irai or dpyvpafioiPoi, money-changers. Indeed, private persons usually intrusted these latter with spare capital, their professional habits and business abilities rendering them able to make better use of it than the owners could, while the money-changers gave good security to their creditors and allowed them a fair rate of interest.^ As in Greece every considerable city had its own coinage, 1 Plutarch, Quaest. Or, 53. ^ Besitz und Erwerb, p. 486. " Compare Matt. xxv. 27, *Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury \ BANKEES 15 money-changers must have had a very large stock of gold and silver ; and they would naturally constitute par excel- lence the class with money to lend. Further, their profession compelled them to live in the market-place at a spot known to all. Hence all in need of funds resorted to them, and they become bankers almost in our sense of the word. Some of them attained great wealth and world-wide credit. Thus Pasion ^ employed a capital of fifty talents, of which eleven belonged to his depositors. Merchants would without witnesses, such was his reputation for probity, deposit sums of money with him, which he at once entered in his books. On the credit of his name money could be procured in any Greek town, and deeds of all classes were deposited with him for safe custody. It was customary for merchants to make payments one to another, when they could not meet, by leaving the sum with a trapezites, with orders to him to deliver it to the proper person, who was also obliged, before receiving it, to prove his identity. It was the trapezitae, then, who usually lent on mortgage {vTToOrJKTj). The security was sometimes a manufactory with slaves in it. A still better class of security was the lands and farming capital of the citizens. It was usual to set up on mortgaged lands an inscription on stone stating the name of the creditor and the amount due to him^ In some states there seems to have been a less primitive wrangement in the shape of a register of mortgages kept by authority. In case of default of payment on the part of the owner of the land, the holder of the mortgage apparently had the right to occupy it, even although the value of the land exceeded the amount of the debt. It would hence appear that foreigners and metoeci, being incapable of holding land, could not lend on this sort of security, or, if they did so, must do without the customary remedy. To commerce the trapezitae were of the utmost impor- tance, since without such aid as they afforded merchants could only have traded to the amount of their actual * Demosth. pro Phorm, 5. 16 INTRODUCTION capital in coin. The ordinary course of proceeding was as follows : A merchant, say at Athens, wishes to carry a cargo to the Euxine. He finds a trapezites willing to lend 8,000 drachmas on the outward cargo on condition that he undertakes by written contract to make that cargo of the value of 12,000 drachmas. The rate of interest is fixed for the whole voyage at so much per cent. Either an agent of the trapezites sails with the shipj or else he appoints some person at a port on the Euxine to receive the money. "When the cargo is sold on arriving at its destination, principal and interest are paid. If, on the other hand, the cargo is lost at sea, the trapezites loses his venture. Thus the system of borrowing on cargoes served, so far as the merchant was concerned, the purpose of insurance, besides increasing his available capital and so extending trade. The rate of interest was, of course, high and proportioned to the risks of the voyage, the course of which was carefuUy specified beforehand ; in the contract it was sometimes also stated that if the voyage were prolonged into the winter season the rate of interest should be higher./'^In the case we have supposed, our merchant, after disposing of his cargo on the Euxine, and paying his debt with the proceeds, would find himself deprived of means for the return voyage unless he could again find a lender. It was therefore far more usual for those who sailed from Greek ports to borrow for the double journey, out and home, and repay the loan to the original lender on their return. Unfortunately, Greek commercial honour never being very high, this course of proceeding gave opportunity for a great deal of dis- honesty and fraud. Various means of self-defence were adopted by the lenders, such as sending an agent on board or requiring a surety who remained at home, but their chief reliance was on the strictness of the laws, which were very severe against those who attempted fraud, more especially at Athens. Sometimes capitalists, instead of lending on a cargo, would lend money on the ship herself. This was in most respects less risky, the value of a ship being easier to dis- BANKEES 17 cover. Accordingly, while lenders would advance not more than twoithkds of the stated value of a cargo, which might easily suffer depreciation, we find that they would lend on a ship up to its full worth. But there was, of course, much risk of its being lost, a danger no doubt taken into view in fixing the rate of interest. The functions of temples in regard to finance must not be overlooked. As the interests of the state and of the deities who protected it were identical, it was not unnatural that the temples should be the place where the revenues of the state were stored. The tribute from the allies at Athens was laid up in the precinct of Athena. Athena received her share of it, but the rest was used for revenue or for war. It is commonly stated that besides being capitalists and lending money, temples received sums on deposit for safe keeping and restored them to the lenders on demand. The temple of Artemis at Ephesus seems to have been especially used for this purpose, and some writers go so far as to compare its position in the commercial world to that now held by the Bank of England. This, however, is gross exaggeration. As a rule, money placed in a temple became sacred and could not be withdrawn, or at least could only be taken for purposes of state. Most of the passages quoted in defence of the view just mentioned refer to peculiar cases. Xenophon, for example, deposited a sum of money in the Ephesian temple and afterwards withdrew it, but it was in order to found a new temple of Artemis in Pelopon- nese. In other instances we hear of money left by states and individuals in the hands of the people of Ephesus and by them honourably returned. They may have kept the treasures in the temple or its vicinity ; but lending to the Ephesian state was another thing than lending to the estate of the goddess. It is obvious that if it had been lawful to place money in temples for security and withdraw it at pleasure, such a privilege would have been very frequently used, and the priests would have become regular bankers, which they never were. It was, however, maintained by 18 INTEODUCTIOX E. Curtius tkat the earliest coins were issued by temples which felt the need of a ready currency, and this theory, though not proved, is not impossible. In a somewhat different category must be plaoed the wealth belonging to the temples of many of the great deities of Greece, notably in that of Athena at Athens. In the opinion of the Greeks the deities of a state were quite as much concerned in its preservation as were the citizens themselves ; the state therefore did not hesitate in times of straits to borrow money from the sacred treasuries, to be repaid at some more convenient season. We have an Athenian inscription ^ which records such a transaction. It appears that in the time of the Peloponnesian war, during the eleven years 433-422 b.c, considerable sums of money were advanced to the Athenian state by the treasurers of Athena and of the other gods ; and that, after the conclusion of the peace of Nicias in 421 b. c, this money was repaid with interest. This was probably no isolated case ; but the same thing, at least as far as the borrowing was concerned, would have taken place in other cities. But, on the whole, the Greeks respected these deposits ; and when temple treasures were violated, as by the Pisatae when they obtained possession of Olympia. and by the Phocians when they seized Delphi, all that was best in the race was scandalized, and a speedy vengeance of the offended gods fell on the violators. Interest (tokos) was reckoned among the Greeks in one of two ways, either by stating the number of drachms to be paid per month for the use of each mina,^ or by stating the proportion of the whole sum lent to be paid yearly or for the period of the loan. The rate of interest was. of course, higher than among us, 12 per cent, per ann nm being considered a very low rate, and instances occur- ring in which 24 per cent, was charged. At Athens interest was generally paid monthly, at the new moon- 1 C. I. No. 273. 2 As the mina contained 100 drachms, a drachm in the mina per month would be twelve per centum per annum. BANKEES 19 We find 10 or 12 per cent, paid for a loan on a single voyage from Athens to the Bosphorus ; but we must re- ; member that a part only of this amount represents interest on money ; the remainder was paid for risk. For, as already shown, if the ship were wrecked at sea, or captured by pirates, or otherwise lost, the capitalist who had lent money on her cargo was the chief sufferer, recovering no part of his venture. The rate of interest being thus high, we can understand how private persons in the great cities, possessing no lands but only capital in the shape of money, managed to live in comfort on the interest of it. Throughout the period of Greek autonomy the value of money, that is, of gold and silver, fell steadily. A scale is given by the rate of payment of those who at Athens attended the ecclesia. Towards the end of the fifth century it was only an obolus ; it rose to three obols by 390 b. c, and stood at a drachm in the time of Alexander, Boeckh calcu- lated that in the period from Solon to Demosthenes prices increased fivefold. In the time of the Athenian Empire skilled workers or mercenary soldiers would be paid from half a drachm to a drachm a day. Assuming a drachm a day to be sufficient to keep a family in ordinary comfort, this indicates an expendi- ture of 360 drachms a year. At 12 per cent, interest such an annual revenue would be provided by a capital of 3,000 drachms or half a talent, corresponding in weight of silver to about £120 to £130 of our money. The denominations of coins in Greece were simple. At Athens eight oboli went to the drachm, a hundred drachms to the mina, sixty minas to the talent. The term stater was ] vaguely applied to any standard coin in general use ; such as the daric in Persia, the tetradrachm at Athens, the didrachm at Aegina. A simple and rough, but sufficiently accurate scale of values to keep in mind would equate the daric, or the Attic gold stater, with the English sovereign; the twentieth part of the daric, the silver shekel, with the English shilling ; the Attic drachm with the French franc. The purchasing power of money was, of course, much greater o2 20 TNTEODUCTION in Greece than in modem times ; but to determine the exact purchasing value of Greek coins as compared with our own is, of course, an insoluble problem, ilany luxuries which the modem artisan buys for a few pence would have been beyond the reach of Croesus ; while, on the other hand, a Greek could have bought for a drachm a terra-cotta figurine for which a modem collector would give hundreds of pounds. The equation above given that a family could live comfort- ably on a drachm (a franc) a day gives the best practical test of purchasing power. IV. Eaely Measubes of Valite. Aristotle, in language on which the best instructed political economist could scarcely improve, has explained the true origin of a metallic currency.^ ' As the benefits of commerce were more widely extended, by importing commodities of which there was a deficiency, and exporting those of which there was an excess, the use of a currency was an indispensable device. As the necessaries of nature were not all easily portable, people agreed, for purposes of barber, mutually to give and receive some article which, while it was itself a commodity, was practically easy to handle in the business of Ufe, some such article as gold or silver, which was at first defined merely by size and weight, although finally they went further, and set a stamp upon every coin to reheve them from the trouble of weighing it, as the stamp impressed upon the coin was an indication of quantity.' Aristotle is, of course, right in the main ; but he is wrong when he supposes the need for a coinage to press most on merchants and shippers. Those who dispose of great quanti- ties of goods (efiTTopoi) need a coinage less than the stall- keepers and pedlars, KaTrTjXoL, to whom small change is almost a necessity. Thus it was the Aeginetans, the pedlars of Greece, who first struck money in Europe. The great mercantile cities of Tyre, Sidon, and Carthage adopted the invention much later. ' PoliiicSj L 6, 14. WeUdon's translation. EAELY MEASURES OF VALUE 21 "We can trace, though not in detail, three stages through which trade passed in early Greece, in the development of a coinage : (1) The pre-metallic stage. Among the more backward races of the world even now, or until very recently, the medium of exchange or measure of value has been some article which was portable, and the value of which was recognized by all. Every reader of travels in Africa knows that, in the interior of that continent, the yard of cloth is or was the unit of value : the traveller bargains with a chief as regards the number of yards he must pay for permission to pass through the chiefs territory. In China, shells passed as currency, as in parts of Africa and South Asia : we are even told that compressed cubes of tea passed as currency in Turkestan. Much curious lore of this kind is to be found in Ridgeway's Origin of Currency. The only pre-metallic unit of value which we can clearly trace in Greece is cattle, the ox in particular, which served as the measure of wealth to the Homeric Achaeans. The well- known Homeric line, * Arms worth a hundred kine for arms worth nine,' proves this. In the early laws of Rome, as well as in the laws of Draco, fines were assessed in oxen. And the very word pecunia, which is closely related to pecus, a flock, bears record of a time when in Latium wealth was calculated in flocks and herds, as was wealth in Palestine in the days of Job. (2) The next stage in currency is the use of the precious metals by weight. When once gold, silver, and bronze circulated freely, their superior fitness as currency enabled them to drive out all competitors. An ox is well enough to reckon by, but when it comes to halves and quarters of the unit a difficulty arises ; the half of an ox would be a most inconvenient thing to take in payment. But metals can easily be divided and lose nothing in the process. In fact, in the ancient world most nations which had passed beyond the stage of barter used the precious metals by weight in their trade. This fact is made familiar to us by several passages in Genesis. 'Abraham weighed to Ephron the 22 INTRODUCTION silver, which he had named in the audience of the children of Heth, four hundred shekels,' ^ on a recognized standard. This custom of weighing the precious metals recurred both in ancient and mediaeval times, when the currency of coin had been debased beyond a certain point, and had become unworthy of trust. It is even carried on at the present day at the counter of banks, where gold is weighed before it is accepted. (3) The third stage concerns us more closely. It consists in the circulation of the precious metals, no longer in bars or ingots to be cut up as occasion demanded, but in units of fixed amount. In Egyptian wall-paintings there is fre- quently represented the weighing of rings of gold or silver. These rings the records show to have been of fixed weight. The form is very suitable, because if a ring be everywhere rounded, it is almost impossible to 'sweat' it without detection. Kings of fixed weight could be used alike for ornament and for currency. The servant of Abraham at the well gave Rebekah a gold ring half a shekel in weight, and two bracelets of ten shekels weight.^ In Syria to this day women carry much of their wealth thus on their persons, and it can be readily spent. The Greek fashion, however, in early times, seems to have been to use. not rings, but bars or pellets of fixed weight. j In gold, they would be pellets ; in bronze or iron, bars of recognized size. From the gold pellet, when once the notion had been started of stamping it to guarantee weight and fineness, there sprang the electrum coinage of Ionia. From the bars or spits {o^eXoC) of bronze or iron sprang, as we shall see in a fature chapter, the silver coinage of Greece Proper. In the Hiad we read of talents of gold. AchiUes proposes as the first prize for a race a vessel of silver, for the second an ox, for the third a half talent of gold.^ And as the third prize might well be of half the value of the second, this at once suggests that the talent of gold and the ox would be of equal value. Certainly, since at the time both oxen and ^ Genesis xxiii. IG. ^ Genesis xxiv. 22. ^ lUad, xxiii. 750. EARLY MEASURES OF VALUE 23 fixed weights of gold were in use as measures of value, some kind of relation between the two would have to be recog- nized, and equality is the simplest of all relations. A writer on Talents at Alexandria of about a. d. 100^ roundly says that the Homeric talent was of the same weight as the later daric, that is to say, contained 130 grains (grm. 8-42) of gold. But it is hard to see whence a writer of the Roman Age can have learned such a fact: it must almost certainly be a theory of some earlier writer on metrology. In itself it is very probable ^ ; but the majority of modern scholars decline to allow that the Homeric talent had any fixed weight or value. It ought to mean the equivalent in gold of the amount of bronze which a man could conveniently carry : whether it had become conventionalized as a fixed weight it is not easy to determine. But however the word talent i may be used in Homer, it may be regarded as very probable that pellets of gold of the weight of the later darics were ; in use as early as the eighth century, and probably much I earlier. Julius Pollux tells us ^ that at the Delian festival the prizes to be given were announced as to be in oxen, according to ancient precedent ; but that, in fact, for each ox was substi- tuted a didrachm of Attic weight. But there can be little doubt that by this phrase is meant an Attic didrachm of silver (135 grains, grm. 8-74) ; so that if the passage proves anything, it indicates that an ox was only of the value of two silver drachms, which is certainly too low. An Attic didrachm of gold was of nearly the same value as a daric ; but such coins were not issued until the fourth century, and so they can scarcely have directly succeeded oxen. It has been suggested that bars of bronze, if of well-known diameter, might be estimated by length only, a foot or an inch having a recognized value. Butter is thus sold at Cambridge in the market. But it seems a fatal objection to this view that the bronze oboli were spits, coming to ^ Hultach, Metrotogici ScriptoreSj i, p. 301. 2 See Ridgeway in Journ. HelL Stud,, 1887, p. 133. 3 Onomasticon, ix. 61. 24 INTEODUCTIOX a point, and tlins cannot have been of an nniform diameter throughout. V. The Obigin of Corx-sTAynASDS. The question of the ultimate origin of the weight standards used for coins in Hellas is a very complicated and diflB.cult one. Several recent German writers, such as Brandis, Hultsch, Lehmann-Haupt, and Haeberlin, have worked out most elaborate theories, deriving these standards from those in use in the great Empires of the East. A brief account of these theories will be found in the Intro- duction to the Historia Xumorum, and in Mr. Hill's Handbook of Greek and Roman Coins. Xot only do such writers believe in an accurate trans- mission of measure and weight from Babylon to the West, but they also think that the Greeks made in their turn, in the times before the Persian Wars, elaborate and complicated systems of weights and measures, the talent being of the weight of a cubic foot of water, and the measures of length, surface, and weight fitting together in a coherent scheme. Attempts have been made, for example, to show that the weight of the Attic talent, used for silver coin, corre- sponds to that of water filling a cube of the Attic foot- Whether this view be sound or not I cannot here inquire ; but if it be a fact, it may very probably result from an adjustment of the foot in the fifth century, long after the introduction of the Attic coin- weight. It has even been maintained that a study of the French system of metres and litres, introduced in the time of the devolution, and based on scientific investigation, is a necessary preliminary to understanding ancient weights and measures. The contrary is the truth. The modem scientific methods of determining weights and measures are completely foreign to peoples in the mental condition in which the Greeks were when coinage began. We English, who retain in a modified form the mediaeval THE OEIGIN OF COIN-STANDAEDS 25 weights and measures, the mile of 1,760 yards, the perch, the fathom, the quarter of corn, troy, avoirdupois, and apothecaries' weights and the like, are far more nearly in touch with ancient ways of measuring. The attempt to squeeze Greek coin-weights into metric systems is mis- leading. "We must take them as they stand, in all their irregularity and inaccuracy, and try to discover how they worked, not according to preconceived theory, but in com- mercial practice. Only so can we approach the historic facts of Greek money-changing and commerce. As I have above given to Mommsen and Brandis the credit of first introducing method into the metrology of coins, I must express regret that their followers in Germany have often made in this matter schemes which are merely fantastic. Mr. Hill's sober judgement is that * the least satisfactory department of ancient numismatics is that which is occupied with questions of metrology '.^ Beloch is still more severe. 'Ancient metrology *, he writes,^ 'seems on the point of losing all solid ground under its feet, and becoming a meeting-place of wild fancies.' Brandis began by inventing for Babylon, besides the mina of 60 shekels., a mina of 50 shekels, which never really existed. Subse- quent writers have improved upon this, and tried by raising or diminishing a standard of weight by some pro- portion, a fifth or a sixth, or it may be a twenty-fourth, to derive other standards. As Beloch observes, by such a process it is easy to derive any weight from any other, and he proceeds by way of reductio ad absurdum to derive the French kilogram from the Egyptian kite. But unfortunately Beloch, while rightly rejecting these extravagances, falls into a pit of his own digging. He produces the fact, on which we shall comment later, that at Delphi the Attic mina was officially equated with 35 Aeginetan didrachms (just about its true value), and draws from it the unjustified inference that the Aeginetan mina, instead of consisting of 100 drachms, contained only 70. Now we have several extant weights which follow a mina (9,700 grains, grm. 628*5) ^ Handbook, p. 26. 2 Oriech. Oeschichte, i. 2, 333. 26 INTRODUCTION which can scarcely be any but the Aeginetan ; but for an Aeginetan mina of the same weight as the Attic there is no authority whatever. He goes on to make a mina at Thasos of 45 Thasian staters of 150 grains, grm. 9-70, also equal to the Attic mina ; a ^Milesian mina of 30 staters, and so on. He writes ^ : ' All the Greek systems -^hich were widely accepted before Alexander the Great stand in the closest relations one to another; they all are based on a mina of 436-6 grammes, 6,700 grains, or on one half as heavy again, and differ only as this mina is variously divided.' This is mere fancy. A useftd corrective to the a 'griori metrologists is fur- nished by Professor Eidgeway's Origin of Currency o.nd Weight Standards, which is a broad and comparative survey, and contains a great amount of interesting infor- mation. But unfortunately Eidgeway has adopted the theory that the weights of silver coins in Greece were fixed by a continuous series of attempts so to adjust them as to make them stand in a convenient relation to the gold shekel of 130 grains (grm. 8-42). This theory I hold to be, save in a few instances, quite baseless ^ : and thus, while the earlier part of Eidgeway's book is useful, the latter part is of a much lower order of value. He is much more at home in dealing with the practices of primitive peoples than in explaining Greek customs, I feel that in skirting a shore thus strewn with wrecks I cannot be too careful in adhering closely to that for which we have definite evidence. And if sometimes I have to propound hypotheses, I will at all events let it be clearly seen on what &cts I base them. In regard to the coinage of Greece, as in regard to sculpture, vase-painting, and other developments of Hellenic civilization, there are, and probably wiU always be, two views : the view of those who derive the origin of Greek civilization from the East, from the old and establishe(f cultures of Babylon and Egypt in the eighth and seventh * GriecJi. Geschichte, ii. 1, S45. 2 5^ ^jj^^ ^ and xvi, below. THE ORIGIN OF COIN-STANDARDS 27 centuries B.C., and the view of those who think it more or less continuous from the pre-Hellenic civilizations, which we now call Minoan and Mycenaean. In my view there was little actual survival from prehistoric to historic times. The invasions of the Hellenes from the North seem to have made an almost complete end of the Mycenaean culture ; a few centuries of comparative barbarism intervened ; after which fresh seeds of culture were imported by the Grreeks from their Asiatic neighbours.^ What positive evidence have we as to the weights in use in Minoan and Mycenaean Greece ? It is put together by Sir Arthur Evans in a paper in the Corolla Numismatica.^ But weights, unless they bear an inscription, are very hard to identify as belonging to this or that system ; and we have not yet attained to certainty. In Evans's opinion the Kedet system of Egypt, the gold shekel system of Babylon , and the Phoenician silver shekel system were all in use in the Minoan world. But apparently the Minoans had no native system of their own. From this point of view the question is only whether the Greeks received these oriental weights through the Minoans, or whether they derived them direct from the east. But there are a few other data. Professor E, A. Gardner weighed the gold rings found in the Acropolis graves at Mycenae ^ ; but the weights he records are so varied and erratic that it does not seem safe to base any conclusion on them. More important are certain dumps or pellets of silver, one of which was found i in the magazines of the palace at Cnossus. These are of forms very similar to that of the earliest electrum coins, of which Evans is disposed to consider them the forerunners. . The weight of the Cnossian example is 56-4 grains (grm. 3'65). Three other examples were found in the Mycenaean ceme- tery at Salamis in Cyprus. The weights are : 132-9 grains (grm. 8-60) ; 72-9 grains (grm. 4-72); and 72-2grains (grm. 4-67). If these pellets of metal had all conformed to one standard, their evidence would have been important. As it is, though * See especiaUy Poulsen, Friihgrieckische Kunst. ^ p. 336 and foU. 3 Joum. Hell. Stud.y x. 90. 28 INTRODUCTION severally they can be fitted into various scales of weight, the first to the Phoenician, the second to the Egyptian, the third and fourth to the Babylonic, yet they do not prove the use of pellets of silver of fixed weight as currency ; certainly they do not prove that it was from the primitive inhabitants of Hellas that the lonians and the Dorians derived their monetary standards. The view maintained in this book is that there were three chief original monetary systems in the Greek world, whence all, or almost all others were derived : (1) The gold system, exemplified in the gold staters issued by Croesus and the Persians (2) The silver system, exemplified in the silver staters issued by the people of Aegina. (3) The bronze system, in partial use in the Greek cities of Italy and Sicily, and probably derived from the original inhabitants of those countries. Of these the first is the most important : the third is important for Eome, but not for Hellas- (1) The coinage of Lydia and Ionia starts, so far as we can judge, with a gold stater of 130 grains (grm. 8-42) ; though the actual gold of Lydia is about four grains lighter, and the coinage of Phoenicia seems to take its origin from a gold stater of double the weight, U60 grains (grm. 16-84). These two staters correspond with the sixtieth part of two minae, weights representing which were actually found by Layard at Nineveh. The heavier standard, with a mina of about 1,010 grammes (15,600 grains), was represented by bronze lions, bearing inscriptions both cuneifoi*m and Aramaic. The lighter standard, with a mina of about 505 grammes (7,800 grains i, was represented by stone ducks, bearing cuneiform inscriptions. Whether these minae (manahs) were formed by multiplication of the above- mentioned staters, or whether the staters were arrived at by dividing the minae, is not certain, but the latter view seems clearly preferable. Two lion weights are inscribed respectively : (1) ' Five manahs of the King ', in cuneiform ; ' Five manahs weight of the country '. in Aramaic ; (2) ' Two THE OEIGIN OF COIN-STANDAEDS 29 manahs of the King', in cuneiform ; 'Two manahs weight of the country ', in Aramaic. The Aramaic legends are important, as they seem to show that the standard which they represent was in use in Mesopotamia and Syria, and this is confirmed by other evidence. But the lighter mina was historically more important, as the whole coinage of Lydia and Ionia is dominated by it. In discussing the early electrum coinage of Asia, I shall show how the weights of the early coins of Asia Minor, gold, electrum, and silver, are related to the Lydian gold shekels. That the Homeric Greeks equated this shekel with their older measure of value, the ox, is probable ; but it is likely that this equation was only a rough adjustment for practical purposes. It must have been quite conventional, since obviously oxen differ very much one from another in value ; and it is quite natural that when once the lonians had accepted the current gold pellet as the standard of value, it soon, in virtue of its greater stability and definiteness, would drive out the old method of reckoning in cattle or other units of value, or cause it to fall into line. (2) It might not be unreasonable to suppose that the tradition of Mycenae had some influence on the origin of the one really Greek system of weights and coinage — that of Aegina — a system which, with small exceptions, was not applied to gold but only to silver. On the other hand, the Pheidonian weights, which were the regulating condition of that coinage, may have been of pure Hellenic origin, and come in with the Hellenes from the north. To this question I will return when I treat of the Aeginetan coinage. How- ever this be, it is certain that between the Ionian coinage, which started with the gold stater, and divided it, or its equivalent in electrum, into thirds, sixths, twelfths, and twenty-fourths, and the Aeginetan coinage, which started with the bronze or iron spit, and went on to the silver drachm and didrachm, there was a broad line of distinction. The one represented the Ionian, the other the Dorian stream of influence. In coinage, as in architecture and in sculp- ture, and, in fact, in every department of civilization, the 30 INTEODUCTION Ionian and tlie Dorian contributions were the two elements which made up the Hellenic whole. We may perhaps find a silver standard independent of that of Aegina in use at Samos and at Cyrene in the sixth century. This question is discussed below, where I have conjectured its derivation from the Egyptian Kat. (3) The unit of value in Italy and Sicily, before the establishment of the Greeks in those countries, was the litra or pound of bronze. This had indeed been the case in Greece Proper before the coming in of the Aeginetan and Euboic silver ; but in Greece after that time the bronze unit of value seems to vanish ; while the iron imit held its place only in Sparta. In Italy and Sicily, owing to the tenacity of the native population, reckoning in pounds of bronze went on at the same time as reckoning in silver. But in Sicily, when the bronze litra had been equated with 13-5 grains of silver (grm. 0-87), and the drachm of silver made equal to five litrae, a simple and easy way of double reckoning was set up, and it was not untU the issue of gold coins at Syracuse, at the end of the fifth century, that the equivalence of a round number of litrae with coins of fresh denominations was seriously aimed at. In Italy, as we know from the history of the Eoman coinage, bronze as a measure of value better held its own, as indeed would be expected from the stronger character of the native population- At Tarentum, for example, Evans has proved the use of the .bronze litra and its equivalent in silver. In Etruria, silver and bronze lived on equal terms, and every silver coin had a value in bronze, commonly indicated by numerals on the coin itself. We may suspect that the continuous fall in the standards of the silver coins of the Greek cities of South Italy, a fall not easy to under- stand, and presenting a marked contrast to the strict maintenance of full weight in the cities of Sicily, may have been due to the influence of bronze. It is often by no means easy to determine to which standard a given coin belongs. We cannot, in assigning it to one or another, go merely by the weight, since with time THE OEIGIN OF COIN-STANDAEDS 31 coins may either gain weight by oxidation or lose it by friction or decay. One has to use the reason as well as the scales ; and in so doing there is, of course, a danger of importing erroneous theory into the question. It is also difficult to assign names to the various standards in use. The names at present in use are often unsatisfactory. I have as far as possible taken a safe line by naming each standard after the city from which it seems to proceed, or indeed the most important city which used it. It is much more satisfactory to speak of the standard of Miletus or Corinth or Abdera, than of the G-raeco-Asiatic or the Baby- Ionic standard. In fact cities, in adopting some standard for their coins, usually modified it ; and then commonly preserved their own version for centuries. This is a pro- cedure we could hardly have expected. But such is the fact. It is astonishing how little cities such as Athensi Ephesus, Syracuse, vary the weights of their coins over long' periods of time. Some other cities, such as Abdera, have not unfrequent changes in standard; and the reasons for such changes have to be carefully sought. VI. Mutual Relations of Precious Metals. It is obvious that the functions of coins in the commerce of the Greek states cannot be traced, unless we are able with some confidence to determine the mutual relations in value of the metals used for money : for coins in Greece were merely bullion, with an of&cial stamp to guarantee weight and fineness. In a great empire the money of the state may circulate for a time at a fictitious value. In the Middle Ages kings were able to compel their subjects, by threats of punishment, to take their depreciated coin at its nominal value, though in the long run such artificial inflation failed. But the case was different in Greece. Each city had its coinage, but it had no means whatever of forcing it into circulation beyond the limits of the city's territory, except by taking care that the coin was of full weight and pure metal. Tyrants like Dionysius of Sicily attempted to tamper 33 INTEODUCTION with the state coinage, but their success must have been both slight and transient. Fortunately we are able, within certain limits, to fix the relative values of gold, silver, electrum,and bronze in different regions at successive periods of history. I propose in this place to give a summary of our knowledge of the matter which in future chapters I can expand.^ As regards the proportional values of the three metals, gold, silver, and electrum, in the ancient world we owe an excellent summary of our knowledge to an investigation by M. Theodore Eeinach.^ On nearly all points the conclusions of M. Eeinach, based as they are upon a careful examination of ancient texts and inscriptions and of extant coins, seem to me to be solidly established. In Asia, from the beginning of coinage down to the middle of the fourth century, the ratio of value between gold and silver was 13^ to 1. This is a view maintained by Mommsen and Brandis, and it seems trustworthy. It is indeed estab- lished by induction from a consideration of the Persian coinage. The gold daric or stater in that empire weighed up to 130 grains (grm. 8*42) and the silver shekel up to 86 grains (grm. 5'57). Now we know on the definite authority of Xenophon^ that twenty of the silver coins passed as equivalent to one of the gold ; so we have the formula 1,720 grains of silver are equivalent to 130 of gold, and the relation between these numbers is nearly 13-| to i . The same equation holds in the Lydian coinage which preceded the daric; and we cannot doubt that it was an old-established equivalence. Herodotus, it is true, in his account of the revenues of Persia,* says that gold was thirteen times as valuable as silver ; but this is clearly only an approximate statement. The relation 13^ to 1, although at first glance ^ Especially useful are papers by M. E. Babelon, Origines de la monnaie, 1897, chs. 6-8, and by M. Theodore Keinach, VRistoire par les monnaies, 1902, chs. 4 and 5. ^ VSistoire par les monnaies, 1902, ch. 4. 3 Anab. i. 7, 18. Cyrus pays 3,000 darics in discharge of a debt of ten talents of silver, or 60,000 shekels. * Hdt. iii. 95, 1. MUTUAL EELATIONS OF PEECIOUS METALS 33 more complex, is in reality simpler, for by working on it tlie silver shekel is almost exactly two-thirds of the weight of the dario ; and this fact would greatly simplify the process of weighing (86 + 43 = 129). It appears from Egyptian inscriptions that gold was in Egypt regarded as twelve or thirteen times as valuable as silver.* Of course, however, the ratio varied from time to time. And we know that in very early times gold was plentiful in Egypt in comparison with silver. But E,idge- way is not justified in thinking that in Hellas a higher proportion than 14 to 1 prevailed between the two metals. But there was in use in Asia as a measure of value a third metal, electrum, a mixture of gold and silver ; of which, in fact, the earliest coins are composed. The same authorities who have established the proportionate values of gold and silver have shown that electrum was not regarded as a com- pound, but as a separate kind of metal, and reckoned in Asia as of ten times the value of silver and three-fourths of the value of pure gold. Hence electrum coins were usually struck not on the standard used for gold, but on that used for silver. "We are told by Herodotus that the bricks of electrum or white gold dedicated by Croesus at Delphi were of the same size as the bricks of pure gold, but weighed only four-fifths as much. An easy calculation based on the specific gravities of gold and silver respectively shows that these electrum bricks contained 70 per cent, of gold and 30 p^ cent, of silver, approximately. Isidore of Seville ^ says that electrum contained three-fourths gold and one- fourth silver. But we do not know whence he gained this information. Pliny states that the term electrum is applied to all gold mixed to the extent of at least one-fifth with silver. The question of the relation in value between gold and electrum nevertheless ofiers problems which, in the present state of our knowledge, we are scarcely able to solve. "What has caused the utmost perplexity to numismatists is ^ E. Babelon, Origines de la monnaie, p. 311. ^ Orig. xvi. 24. 1967 I> 34 INTRODUCTION the very remarkable fact that the proportion between gold and silver in the composition of the coins varies greatly, and with it their intrinsic value. It is possible by weighing, first in air and then in water, to determine the specific gravity of electrum coins ; and from the specific gravity it is possible to deduce, within certain limits, their composition, the proportion of gold and silver which they contain. In 1887 I applied this method to a number of electrum coins of Cyzicus ; and in the same year B. V. Head made a series of similar investigations as regards other electrum coins.^ The results are extraordinary, and very disconcerting. Instead of the proportions of gold and silver being fixed, they vary in an extreme degree. In the case of a set of electrum coins of Cyzicus of various ages, I found the per- centage of gold to vary from 58 to 33 per cent. Mr. Head, ranging over a wider field, found that the percentage of gold in early electrum coins varied from 72 to 10 or even 5 per cent. Thus of coins of the same weight, one might be sixfold the value of another. J. Hammer has analysed a far larger number of coins with similar results.^ The view which he accepts is that electrum was coined as it was found in the rivers. He shows that modem investigations prove that gold thus found contains up to 40 per cent, of silver. Yet it is hard to believe that Lydians and Greeks, even in the sixth century, were unaware of a process for separating the two metals. It is still harder to suppose that the same dis- ability existed in the case of the people of Cyzicus down into the fourth century. The Greeks, even at an early period, were perfectly well aware of the methods for mixing gold and silver ; and they used touchstones, found in the very district of Lydia where coinage originated, which enabled them to determine with considerable accuracy the degree of alloy in coins professedly of gold. How then is it possible that they can have accepted debased coins of electrum as of equal value with coins of good quality ? The view of Brandis and Mommsen, that electrum was ^ In the Numiam. Chronicle, ^ Zeitschr.f. Numism.j xxvi, p. 47. MUTUAL EELATIONS OF PEECIOUS METALS 35 originally regarded as a metal apart, and conventionally accepted as of ten times the value of silver, or three-fourths of the value of gold, strange as it may seem, is after all probably the true one. For, remarkable as it may be that Grreek merchants should be -willing to accept coins not guaranteed by any king or city at a fixed and conventional rate, it is still more improbable that they should have to value every piece of money offered them by means of the touchstone, and make the simplest bargain into a very elaborate arithmetical problem. In the latter case, one cannot see what advantage the electrum coinage would possess over bars or rings of gold or silver, which as a matter of fact it superseded in commerce. It is, however, improbable that this conventional value of electrum lasted after the sixth century. In the case of the electrum coins issued by the cities which took part in the Ionian Revolt, and still more in the case of the later Cyzicene and Lampsacene electrum staters, it is probable that the value in exchange better conformed to intrinsic value. At a relation of 10 to 1 a Cyzicene stater of 254 grains would be nearly the equivalent of 38 Attic silver drachms, and we know, as is shown below, that 25 drachms was much nearer to its actual valuation. M, Eeinach maintains that as the value of gold in relation to silver fell in Greece, the value of electrum fell also, retaining its proportion to gold of three-fourths. Thus in the early part of the fourth century electrum was in Greece no longer ten times as valuable as silver, but nine times, or three-fourths of twelve times. And in the days of Alexander, on the same principle, electrum fell to seven and a half times the value of silver. This view seems plausible, but it does not agree with the facts in regard to Cyzicene staters. "While, however, electrum coinage thus offers unsolved difficulties, this is not really the case with gold and silver issues. Habit was of infinitely greater power in the ancient than in the modem world, and conventions were more readily accepted. Thus there is no difficulty in supposing D 2 36 INTEODUCTION that the proportionate value of gold and silver as maintained by the Lydians and the Persians might persist for an indefinite period. In France, in the nineteenth century, the proportion of 15| to 1 was long maintained in coinage, and was only overturned by the vast output of silver in America. As the Treasurers at Athens sometimes required gold for dedications, we find in the Athenian treasure-lists a fairly complete account of the value of gold at Athens at various periods. It is true that these treasure-lists which have come down to us are usually mutilated or fragmentary, but it has been possible to collect their testimony. They prove that when the gold and ivory statue of Athena was being constructed, 438 B.C., gold was bought at the rate of 14 to 1. But when, towards the end of the fifth century, gold coins began to be struck at Athens, it is almost certain that the rate had fallen to 12 to 1. For not only the drachm was struck in gold, but also the third and the sixth of the drachm. If gold were at 12 to 1 these would be equivalent respectively to a tetradrachm and a didrachm in silver ; but at any other proportion they would not work in. In the pseudo:Platonic dialogue Hipparchus ^ the value of gold in relation to silver, is distinctly stated to be twelvefold. And this relation seems to have persisted until the great issues of gold coins by Philip of Macedon, and the dissipation of the gold treasures of the Persian kings by Alexander, brought down the value of gold in Greece to 10 to 1, a value confirmed by the Athenian accounts of 306 B.C. These values held in Greece Proper as a rule. In Sicily, gold seems to have retained its value bettei than in Greece. In the time of Timoleon it was still twelve times as valuable as silver. ^ VII. Eights of Coinage. At what period the right to issue coin came to b( regarded as belonging only to autonomous cities, tribes ' p. 231 d. 2 Head, Coinage ofSyramse, p. 28. EIGHTS OF COINAGE 37 and kings is not an easy question. M. Babelon has main- tained that the earliest coins were minted not by cities but by capitalists and merchants, and he cites many mediaeval and modern parallels.^ This question I have discussed in my chapter on the earliest electrum coinage. However that be, it is certain that in the course of the sixth century, if not earlier, private issues ceased and civic coinages took their place. Besides autonomous cities, it would seem that in early times the great religious centres of Greece sometimes issued coins. This was natural enough. Many of the shrines of Greece, notably those at Delphi^ Delos, Olympia, and Miletus, were possessed of great wealth, drawing revenues from lands and houses as well as by the exercise of religious functions. As the great temples exercised some of the functions of modern banks in lending money on lands or goods, it is not unnatural that they should have struck coin bearing as device an attribute or the efS^gy of the deity to whom they were consecrated. Ernst Curtius sought here the origin of the religious character of the types commonly borne by coins ; and though this view is an exaggeration, and the civic devices were usually religious as well as those of the temples, yet we are in a position, in a few cases, to prove the striking of coins by the religious corporations of temples. A coin of Miletus, struck in the fourth century, bears the legend 'Ey AlSv/jlcov Upij, where Spaxfi'q is probably understood. This must clearly have been struck on some special religious occasion, very probably at the time of the rebuilding of the temple of Apollo in 334 B.C. And as the weight, 27 grains (grm. 1'75), is just half of that of the Ehodian drachm then current, it seems to prove that a special issue was made on a reduced standard. The Jews, in Roman times, struck sacred coins for offerings in the Temple, whence money-changers set up their tables in the precincts to provide such coin in exchange for foreign money. Olympia was not a town, but only a sacred site, hence when we find coins inscribed * Origines de la monnaie, pp. 93-134. 38 INTEODUCTION 'OXvfmiKov (i.e. pofiiafia) we may be sure that such coins were issued in the sacred precincts, probably to provide memorials for the visitors who thronged the sacred place at the time of the festival.^ In fact, the whole coinage which bears the name of the people of Elis probably belonged to the temple and the festival, with which the types which it bears are closely connected, Zeus, Hera, the eagle, the thunderbolt, and the like. In the same way, the abundant coins issued at Heraea in the fifth century, and inscribed 'ApKaSiKoi/, were probably issued on the occa- sion of the festival of Zeus Lycaeus. At the time the people of Arcadia had no federal union, and cities such as Mantinea and Psophis struck their own coins, so that it seems certain that the issue at Heraea was a religious rather than a civic one. The coins, again, issued at Delphi after the sacred war, and bearing the legend !dfi Head, i7. N., p. 420. 2 ibi^., p. 342. * Sistoire de la monnaie dans Vantiquite^ ii, p. 54. EIGHTS OF COINAGE 39 when one reflects on the chaos "which must naturally have resulted in trade, if cities really used their autonomy in this unbridled fashion, one sees that there must have been restrictions of some kind, else the work of money-changers in commercial centres would have been impossibly com- plicated ; and the Greek world, like the Eoman world at certain periods, would have fallen back on only accepting the precious metals by weight, and not as currency. There must have been in all important markets predominant coinages, and other coinages of any importance would have to stand in some defined relationship with these. If we look at the coins of the less wealthy Greek cities, we often find that they seem to have been issued only on two or three occasions in the history of those cities. Of course, it is not easy to prove a- negative, or definitely to assert that since no coins of other periods have survived, therefore they were not struck. But where negative evidence is cumulative, it may demand acceptance. It is contrary to common sense, and to our evidence, to suppose that cities took no account of their neighbours' coin -standards in fixing their own. If that had been the case, the present book would have been without basis. But in our days no historic student believes that events happen by accident : we look for lines of influence and connexion everywhere, and attach special value to indications of commercial influence. It will be well to begin with instances in which we have actual evidence of the restriction of the right of coinage. It is the view of nearly all numismatists ^ that the great King of Persia allowed in his dominions no issues of gold coins save the royal darics. There is no definite statement of an ancient historian to be quoted to this effect ; but the survey of ancient coinage seems clearly to establish the fact. Darius prided himself, as Herodotus tells us, on the purity of his gold coin ^ ; and no other coins in pure gold were ^ M. Babelon is an exception. Traite, ii. 2, 5, =" Hdt. iv. 166. 40 INTEODUCTION issued in Asia until about 400 b. c, though the Greek cities of the coast struck money in silver freely ; and a few of them issued coins of electrum. Persian satraps also struck silver money in Cilicia on the occasion of military expedi- tions, but no gold. At a later time this monopoly of gold coinage was taken on by the Romans as part of their policy, and rigidly guarded through all their history, A second example may be found in the monetary policy of Athens in the time of her empire, 476-405 b. c. Here we have the authority, not only of numismatic facts but of in- scriptions, for the statement that it was a part of Athenian state policy to prohibit the issue of coins in all places which were under the Athenian dominion, and to force the subject cities to use the silver owl coins of Athens. (See Chap. XIV.) A third example may be found in the coinage of Boeotia. Mr. Head has shown ^ that for sixty years from the battle of Coroneia (447 b. c.) to the peace of Antalcidas (387 b. c.) Thebes used her position as head of the Boeotian League to monopolize the coinage. During these sixty years all coins struck in Boeotia bear the name and the types of the dominant city. Whether Corinth moved on the same lines will be discussed below. "We cannot doubt that when the history of Greek coinage is better known to us we shall find abundant instances of this restriction by dominant cities of the privilege of coinage in states controlled by them. How far the motive was commercial, and how far merely pride and a love of domi- nance, is a difficult question. At Athens certainly the finance of the state was largely based on the resources obtained from the silver mines of Laurium and Thrace, and the utilization of these resources in the form of coin ; but it does not follow that this motive held in all other cases. As regards rulers and tyrants it appears that, generally speaking, the issue of coins with the ruler's name is a proof of a claim to complete autonomy. But there are excep- tions to this rule. One of the most noteworthy is found in the case of Themistocles. "When he went over to the King ^ NumismaU<} Chronicle, 1881, p. 206. RIGHTS OF COINAGE 41 of Persia, the latter assigned to him some of the Greek cities of Asia Minor as a possession. In the city of Magnesia he struck coins with his own name (Q^fxca-TOKXios) and no sign of Persian overlordship. Other Persian satraps, such as Phamabazus and Orontes, followed the example ; and in the fourth century the Persian admirals and generals at the head of military expeditions struck in the cities of Gilicia silver coins which bore their names. When the Phoenician kings of Citium in Cyprus issued in the fourth century gold money bearing their names, it may fairly be considered as a proof that they threw up their allegiance to the Great King ; but the same does not hold of issues of silver money. Often, it appears, while a predominant ruler or city im- posed coin of large denomination in a district, to the lesser cities was left the privilege of striking small silver or bronze coins for local circulation. The small divisions of the early Attic money are seldom found in the hoards of Sicily or Asia, in which Athenian tetradrachms are of frequent occurrence, but seem to have been meant only for Attica ; and in the later time of the first Athenian Empire, when Attic tetradrachms passed everywhere in the lands around the Aegean, a number of towns in the Propontis, Mysia, Troas, and elsewhere issued small silver coius, sometimes following the Attic standard and sometimes departing from it. As to bronze coin, it may be said to have been in all Greek lands a mere money of account, struck to meet the needs of local markets, and having no circulation beyond them. There is in this respect a strong contrast between Greece and Rome, as the Roman coinage began with the as or pound of bronze, and bronze coins were for centuries state issues of wide circulation. In the Hellenistic age the matter became more compli- cated. Philip, Alexander, and the kings who followed Alexander, Seleucus, Ptolemy, and the rest had regular state coinages uniform through their dominions; and the mint-cities where the coins were struck are indicated on the coins at most by a few letters, a monogram, or a small subsidiary device. At that time the appearance of a civic 42 INTEODUCTION coinage bearing the name of a city at length is important, indicating some survival of autonomy, or grant of autonomy by a king. This, however, is a matter which lies outside the scope of the present work, though it would well repay investigation. / VIII. Monetary Alliances. Confederacies of cities in earlier Greece, and the federal unions of later Greece, such as the Achaean and Aetolian Leagues, naturally affected or even brought to an end the autonomous issues of coins. The early confederacies were of various degrees of closeness, varying from a mere mone- tary convention to a close political alliance ; and this variety is reflected in the issues of coins. Sometimes groups of cities merely had an understanding in regard to the weights of their coins and the fabric. Such uniformities do not necessarily prove any close political relations, though, of course, they do not disprove it. Two good examples in the time before the invasion of Xerxes are to be found among the cities of Magna Graecia and the Ionian cities of Asia. A number of the Hellenic foundations in South Italy adopted at the time when they first issued coins, about the middle of the sixth century, an identical standard and fabric. These issues I consider in more detail in Chapter XI. The standard is that of Corinth, with a stater of 130 grains (grm. 8-42) and a drachm of 43 grains (grm. 2-80). The fabric is notable as presenting on the obverse the ordinary civic device of the issuing city, on the reverse the same type incuse. How far these cities had a political union is a question of much controversy ; but that it was in any case not at all close is shown by the further fact that we have coins belonging to the class which testify to a closer alliance within the group of several pairs of cities, Siris and Pyxus, Croton and Sybaris, Sybaris and Poseidonia, and the like. These alliances would seem to have been of short duration MONETARY ALLIANCES 43 and were probably entered into for special reasons, as when Croton and Sybaris united for the conquest of Siris. The alliance of the Ionian cities against Persia in the movement called the Ionian Eevolt was certainly closer, since these cities had a common fleet, and Herodotus ex- pressly applies the term av/xfiaxta to their confederation. They also struck coins of uniform weight and identical fabric (see Chapter III), while retaining the civic types. When we find at Himera in Sicily, in the early fifth century, the crab, the civic type of Agrigentum, on the reverse of the coins which bear on the obverse the ordinary Himeraean type,^ the cock, we cannot hesitate to regard this innovation as a memorial of the domination at Himera, in 480-472 B. c, of Theron, the ruler of Agrigentum, Such cases are not rare, and indeed they furnish us with one of our most trustworthy indications for the dating of coins. A close alliance of cities is definitely indicated when the coins, in addition to identity of coin-standard, bear a common type or the legend Sv/iiiaxiKoi/. The term Sv/xfiaxi-KOj/ is found in the case of two im- portant series of coins. After Conon's victory over the Lacedaemonians at Cnidus in 394 b. c, a league was estab- lished, no doubt for mutual defence, by some cities of Ionia which threw off the Spartan yoke. (See Chap. XVL) These cities placed on the reverse of their coins the letters €YN and the type of young Heracles strangling the serpents, which seems to have been adopted from the coinage of Thebes, at that time the most prominent enemy of Sparta. They also adopted a new monetary standard. When Timoleon, about 340 b. c, was occupied in the liberation of the cities of Sicily from Carthaginian domination, several of those cities adopted on their coins the legend Svfi/j,a)(tK6u ; and these coins, largely of bronze, are of uniform size and fabric. A still closer union is indicated by the coinages of the cities which composed the Leagues of later Greece. These belong mostly to Macedonian times, but some are earlier. 1 Head, H. 2V., p. 144. 44 INTEODUCTION As early as the sixth century the cities of Phocis and of Boeotia, respectively, struck money of federal type — that of Phocis bears the name only of the district, <|)0 or OKI. That of the Boeotian towns has an identical tjrpe, the Boeotian shield ; but the initial of the striking city is usually introduced on obverse or reverse, A for Acraephia, for Haliartus, for Thebes, T for Tanagra, and so on. The Chalcidian League in Macedon, of which Olynthus was the chief city, issued early in the fourth century very- beautiful coins bearing the legend XaXKiSicou. And the Achaeans seem, even before the formation of the later league about 380 e.g., to have struck money with the legend 'Axoctan/.^ From these alliances and confederations which had a political bearing we must distinguish others which appear to have been merely commercial. These may have been common, but it is scarcely possible to establish their existence only on the evidence of the coins. Fortunately one inscrip- tion has survived which gives us the particulars of a purely commercial monetary agreement. In the latter part of the fifth century Phocaea and Mytilene agreed to issue in alter- nate years hectae of electrum of identical weight and alloy.^ It is stipulated that the coins shall circulate indiscriminately at the two cities. Any degradation of weight or fineness is to be punished by the death of the moneyer who is re- sponsible. We possess a great series of these coins, proving their wide circulation. That similar conventions existed in regard to the issue of the electrum staters of Cyzicus, Lampsacus, and other cities is clear ; but the documents have unfortunately disappeared. IX. Mother-city and Colony. A special case of the dominance of one city over another in the matter of coinage is that of mother-city and colony. And here it seems that a few observed rules can be laid down with some confidence. * Head, H. N., p. 416. * Hicks and Hill, Greek hist inscr.^ p. 181. MOTHER-CITY AND COLONY 45 Already in my Types of Greek Coins (1883) I had reached views on this subject which still seem to me valid ^ : * Coin-types and coin-weights are the two matters in which we may look for signs of connexion between mother- city and colony. But the connexion which is indicated by identity of type considerably differs from that indicated by identity of monetary standard. When a colony keeps the types of its mother-city it thereby atta<3hes itself to the deities of its home and their temples. On the other hand, by retaining the monetary system of the mother-city, the colony merely shows that it remains in close commercial intercourse with her, and is one of the depots of her trade.' In the case of colonies founded before the invention of coinage, very few examples can be found in which a colony has the same types as the mother-city. Naxos, the earliest of the Greek colonies in Sicily, seems to be an exception, since it was founded before coins came into use in Greece ; and yet the type which it presents, the head of Dionysus, must be derived from that island of Naxos from which the city took its name, and which was specially devoted to the God of wine. The coins of the island of Naxos also have Dionysiac types ; but it is not from them but from some religious connexion that the Sicilian city takes its types. Croton also was founded before the Achaean mother-cities had any coins. Its type, the tripod, connects it with Delphi and Apollo, and we observe that the city was founded at the immediate prompting of Delphi. But such cases are quite exceptional. The Chalcidian and Achaean colonies in Italy and Sicily, and the Aeolic and Ionic cities of the Asiatic coast, usually took types referring rather to deities whom they found in possession of the sites which they occupied than to the gods of the mother-city. The types of the coins founded by Chalcis in Macedonian Chalcidice seem to have no relation to Euboea. If in many cases in the fifth and later centuries the deities of the founding city appear on the coins of the colony, as the head of Apollo at the Delphic colony of Ehegium, it ^ Types^ p. 36. 46 INTEODUCTION need not imply any political influence on the part of the metropolis, but rather a religious veneration. The case is somewhat different when at the time of the founding of the colony the mother-city already possessed a coinage. The classical example is Abdera, which was founded by the people of Teos in Ionia about 544 b. c, when they were flying from the conquering Persians. Teos already possessed a silver coinage bearing the type of the griffin, which was probably Apolline, This type the colonists took with them, and kept on their money. In fact, if they had not, as we shall presently see, changed the standard on which the money was minted, it would be no easy matter to distinguish the coins of Abdera from those of Teos. A notable instance of the carrying of a type from Ionia to the "West is to be found at Velia or Hyele in Italy, a city founded by the people of Phocaea in Ionia, when they fled from the Persian conquerors of Asia Minor. An usual type at Hyele is a lion tearing the prey, which is certainly a Phocaean coin-type. Somewhat later, after the failure of the Ionian revolt, a body of Samians fled to the straits between Italy and Sicily, being invited by Anaxilaus, Tyrant of Rhegium. How they fared there and what they founded is hard to make out, as the accounts of the ancient historians are contradictory.^ But it cannot be a mere coincidence that at just this period there appear upon the coins of Rhegium and the neighbouring Zancle quite new types, a lion's scalp and a calf s head, which seem certainly derived from the coinage of Samos. Another example may be found in the case of Thurium, a colony established on the site of Sybaris by Athens in the time of Pericles. The new city combined on its money the head of Athena of Athens with the bull (probably Poseidonian) which had been the old type of Sybaris. Some of the colonies of Corinth, notably Leucas and Anactorium in Acarnania, struck from their first foundation (not before the sixth century) coins bearing the types of the mother-city ; in fact differing from the coins of Corinth * See a paper by Mr, Dodd in Journ. Hell. Stud.j 1908, p. 66. MOTHEE-CITY AND COLONY 47 only in inscription. In the same way the Corcyrean colonies, Apollonia and Dyrrhachium, struck coins only different from those of Corcyra in inscription. Corcyra herself, it must be observed, had been founded by Corinth before that city had any coins, and, according to the rule we have already mentioned, the types are purely local, not Corinthian. Nor does Syracuse, the other great colony of Corinth, use during the fifth century the types of Corinth, but such as were connected with the worship of Persephone and Arethusa, When we come to the relationship of the weight or standard in coinage between mother-city and colony, we cannot in the same way draw a line at the existence or non-existence of coin in the founding-city at the time of the foundation. For, of course, before actual coin was struck every city had a recognized monetary standard according to which the precious metals were weighed. Presumably the colony would under ordinary circumstances take it to the new home. But it seems that it was not long retained if the colony found itself in new trade surroundings which made a change of standard expedient. Here again Abdera and Teos offer us a striking example. The standard used at Teos in the sixth century was the Aeginetan, at that time universally used in the Cyclades, as well as in Caria, but by scarcely any of the Ionian cities. Abdera from the first did not continue to use this standard, but adopted instead a variety of the standard of Phoenicia, midway between the standard used by Chios in Northern Ionia and that used by Miletus, Samos, and Ephesus in Southern Ionia. The facts are in this case clear and decided, but the reasons which caused the people of Abdera to take the particular line which they did take are anything but clear. At the time only the cities of Chalcidice and the island of Thasos, in the whole stretch of the coast of Thrace, struck coins, and in neither of these places was the standard which the Abderites adopted in use. This matter will be further considered in Chapter X. At the same time that the people of Teos migrated to 48 INTRODUCTION Thrace, those of Phocaea sailed for the far West, and after many adventures came to stay at Massilia in Gaul and Velia (Hyele) in Italy. They took with them the Phocaean weight standard, stater, 256 grains (grm. 16-6), which hitherto had been little used except for electrum. A few silver coins seem to have been struck at Phocaea in the early part of the sixth century on the Aeginetan standard, and apparently also a few on the Phocaean standard. The money used by the Phocaean colonists has been found in a great hoard at Auriol in France, as well as in Italy. The colonists from Euboea who settled in Chalcidice in Macedonia naturally took with them the Euboic standard, according to which their silver was struck : it bears in its types no traces of the influence of Ohalcis. But it is shown in the present work^ that the inhabitants of Chalcidice, possibly as a result of the influence of Potidaea, a colony of Corinth which was in their midst, divided their staters by three, on the Corinthian, not by two, on the Euboic plan. The small coins which they struck belong to a system in which the unit or drachm weighs 45 grains (grm. 2-91) as at Corinth, and not 67 grains (grm. 4.34) as at Athens and Euboea. The same combination of the Attic or Euboic and the Corinthian standards took place more evidently and on a larger scale in South Italy and Sicily, as shown below.^ When the Athenians founded Thurii in Italy, in the time of Pericles, the coinage of Athens was not only well established but dominant in the Aegean. It is natural that the colonists should have adhered to the Attic standard, which differed slightly from that of the neighbouring cities of Magna Grraecia, and should have used as their standard coin the tetradrachm, instead of the (debased) Attic di- drachm (or Corinthian tridrachm), which was the usual currency in South Italy. The influence of Thurii caused the neighbouring city of Metapontum exceptionally to issue tetradrachms, 1 Chapter X. =» Chapter XI. STANDAED CURRENCIES 49 X. Standard Cubrencies, The question of the existence and the exercise in cities of the right of coinage is evidently a very complicated one, which underlies every page of the history of ancient coins. But equally difficult and even more complicated questions arise from the fact that often classes of coins attained what may be called an international circulation, not from any political reason of overlordship, but as a mere matter of convenience in trade. The trapezitae, or money-changers, who had their seats in the Greek market-places, must have usually kept in stock certain kinds of specie generally recognized and universally appreciated, to form a basis for their trade. "What these were it is hard to ascertain. The historians seldom help us: we have usually to resort to such evidence as the composition of hoards, or the inscrip- tions which are the financial records of temples. Among the most notable of these cosmopolitan issues were the electrum staters of Cyzicus. "We know, alike from the financial inscriptions of Athens and from the statements of such writers as Xenophon and Demosthenes, that these staters had a wide circulation alike in G-reece and in Asia, and especially were used in the Pontic trade and for the payment of Greek mercenaries. "Why Cyzicus, a city of moderate importance, should have possessed, and retained, for at least a century and a half, a practical monopoly in the issue of these staters (for the staters of Lampsacus and Mytilene are comparatively scarce) we do not know. Nor do we know how far Athens officially recognized them. The hectae, or sixths of an electrum stater, struck in alternate years at Mytilene and Phocaea, seem also, from their great abundance, to have circulated far beyond the limits of the cities which issued them. As regards silver coin we have a few instances in which we can trace the dominance of widely circulated issues. The cities of Italy and Sicily, in the later sixth and fifth centuries, used the coins of Athens and of Corinth in great quantities as currency. This is abundantly proved by the 50 INTRODUCTION finds whicli have been discovered in those countries. The cities of South Italy, notably Metapontum, sometimes used Corinthian staters as blanks in their mints, to be stamped with the local dies. In the fourth century we have less abundant evidence of the use in Italy and Sicily of the Athenian coins. But the Pegasus staters of Corinth constitute a considerable part of Sicilian hoards at that period. They were imitated in all the Corinthian colonies of Epirus and Acarnania, and even in cities such as Leontini and Khegium, which do not seem to have had political relations with Corinth, and which must have adopted the types of Corinth merely because Corinthian money was the most ordinary currency in their districts. At a later time the coins of Rhodes seem to have attained wide recognition. And later still the cistophori, so called because they bear as type a Dionysiac cista or chest, issued by Greek cities in the domains of the kings of Pergamon and in the Roman Province of Asia, were the main currency of Asia Minor, as we may see from the enormous quantities of them carried in the triumphal procession of the con- querors of Antiochus III of Syria. They seem to have been first struck at Ephesus. In a valuable paper contributed to the Mdmoires of the French Acad^mie des Inscriptions^ M. Theodore Reinach has put together such extant texts and inscriptions as give some light on the difficult question of the exchange of coins in the market. The comic poet Diphilus, describing the ways of the Athenian fish-market,^ says that the dealers in fish, if the price were fixed in oboli, were apt to demand Aeginetan oboli ; but if they had to give change, gave it in Attic oboli, the Attic obolus being little more than two- thirds of the value of the Aeginetan. "We have evidence that at Delphi at one time in the fourth century Attic money passed at a premium of 5 per cent. : at Tenos in the second century Rhodian silver commanded the same pre- * Memoires, 1911, p. 351. VAnarchie monetaire. ^ Keil, Fragm. cow., ii. 563 ; fragment 66. STANDAED CUEEENCIES 51 mium. And we have a decree of the Amphictyons, of about 95 B. c, ordering that the Athenian tetradrachms are to be accepted throughout Greece as legal tender. The Treasurers of Delphi in the fourth century, having frequent dealings with coins of both Attic and Aeginetan standard, established a convention that the Attic mina, which contained, of course, 100 Attic drachms, should be regarded also as equivalent to 70 Aeginetan drachmsJ This valuation closely conforms to the actual weights of the re- spective issuQs, and therefore we are not surprised to find that it was recognized not only at Delphi but in other places. Reinach has shown that it was accepted also at Orchomenus in Arcadia, at Grortyna in Crete, and at Epi- daurus in Argolis. At an earlier time a similar valuation lies at the basis of the Solonian reform of the Attic coinage ; in fact it seems to have been generally accepted, much as the equation of an English sovereign with twenty-five francs is accepted in Latin countries now. Thucydides ^ tells us that when troops were raised by the Confederacy formed against Sparta by Corinth and Argos in 421 B.C. it was stipulated by treaty that the foot-soldiers should receive half an Aeginetan drachm a day, and the horse- soldiers a drachm : in Attic money this would have been equivalent to four and eight obols respectively; in Corinthian money to a drachm and two drachms respectively, or a little more. Proof of the international acceptance of a class of coins is to be found if there exist in its case barbarous imitations. Of the coins of Athens such imitations are common, especially in three periods — first, at the time of the Persian invasion (probably struck by the Persians) ; secondly, in the time of Alexander the Great ; thirdly, in the later age when the coinage came to a final end at Athens, and the trading tribes of Arabia, used to that currency, issued curious imita- tions of it to fill the gap.^ The gold coins of Philip of 1 T. Keinach, VEistoire par les monnaieSj p. 100. ^ v. 47. ^ See Numismatic Chronicle, 1878, p. 273 ; also a paper by Mr. HiU iu the Proceedings of the British Academy for 1915. E 2 58 INTEODUCTION Macedon were imitated from tribe to tribe across Europe, even to remote Britain. And the silver coins of Alexander were copied, not only by remoter peoples of Asia, but also by the Greek cities of the Ionian coast when, after the victory of the Eomans at Magnesia, they were free from the dominion of Antiochus III. Such imitation was sincere flattery, proving the reputation of the coins copied. XI. Monometallism and Bimetallism. Two plans are possible for a government which strikes both gold and silver coins. The one plan is monometallic ; one of the two metals is made the official standard, the legal tender; and the other metal is used only in a subsidiary way in relation to it. England is monometallic ; gold is the legal tender, and silver is only used in subordination, to it for payments of small amount. The English shilling is not really worth a twentieth of the sovereign ; it is a money of account. India is monometallic ; the silver rupee is the standard coin, and gold is only a matter of commerce. The other plan is bimetallic. Two metals, usually gold and silver, are both made legal tender ; and a fixed relation between their values is fixed by law. A man who has to pay a debt may pay it in coins of either metal. France before 1872 was bimetallic, the proportionate value between gold and silver being fixed at 15f to 1. Both the monometallic and the bimetallic systems are found in modern days to have great disadvantages in conse- quence of the fluctuating value of gold and silver. But no remedy for this has yet been found. In ancient times commerce was less active than with us, and custom and convention were far more powerful, so that the troubles arising from the monometallic and the bi- metallic systems were less seriou^. Both systems were in use at various times and places. When coinage began in Asia, bimetallism was in possession ; and it held its ground in Asia as long as the Persian empire existed. The daric and the shekel were both of a weight MONOMETALLISM AND BIMETALLISM 53 which did not vary, and one daric passed as of the value of twenty shekels. Whether the shekel was accepted in large payments we do not know. On the coast of Asia Minor the relations between silver and electrum, the electrum being ten times the value of silver, appear to have persisted, at all events until the time of Croesus. In Greece Proper, on the other hand, from the time when silver coins superseded the ancient bars of bronze, that is from the seventh century b. c, those coins were the standard of value, and gold and electrum coins passed only as metal of fixed weight. Whereas Asia was bimetallist, Greece was monometallist. No gold coins of any importance were struck in the West until the fall of Athens, which city had strongly adhered to the use of silver, and promoted its dominance. Some writers have been disposed to find traces of bi- metallism in Greece. For example, E-idgeway has suggested that the early coins of Aegina in silver were originally in- tended to pass at the rate of ten staters (1,950 grains) for one gold shekel of 130 grains, giving a ratio of 15 to 1 for the proportionate value of gold to silver. This view I have decidedly rejected (see Chapter V) on the ground that the gold shekel (daric) was purely Asiatic and had no dominance in Greece Proper. A more plausible suggestion is that we may trace in the changes of monetary standard at Abdera in Thrace in the fifth century an attempt at bimetallism, a purpose so to regulate the weight of the silver staters of the city, that a round number of them should be equivalent to a daric, or two darics. This view has at first sight some plausibility, as numismatically Thrace belonged, at all events before the Persian wars, rather to Asia than to Europe. Even Mr. Head was half converted to the view. I have below (in Chapter XIV) carefully considered it, but it does not bear examination. The Thracian coast was a source of gold, as Herodotus was aware ;^ but what became of the gold is quite unknown. It was certainly not minted into coin at Athens or at Thasos. It may have passed in the » Hdfc. vi. 46, 47. 54 INTRODUCTION form of bars of bullion, or possibly it may have been used for the issues of electrum coins at Oyzicas and Lampsacus. In any case it is clear that the daric exercised no influence on the coinage of HeUas, and that it had no fixed value at places like Athens and Corinth. When the authorities at Athens wanted gold for the adornment of their Goddess, or for any other purpose„they bought it with silver like any other merchandize. "What is still more remarkable is that the silver coinage of cities of Asia sometimes followed the Aeginetan or the Attic standard, and had no relation, so far as we can judge, to the value of the daric. "We can, in a measure, trace the respective supremacies of Persia and Athens in Asia Minor in the fifth and fourth centuries by the predominance in the coinages of cities and districts of the Persian daric or the Athenian silver stater. How devoted the Athenians were to their silver, and how completely it excluded other metals may be judged from Xenophon's work on the Revenues of Athens.^ He regards it as the first duty of the city to exploit the mines of Laurium, considering silver as the only commodity of which one can never have enough. Even gold and copper, he thinks, may be superabundant, but silver never. The silver coin issued by the cities of Greece was ex- tremely pure, even the small amount of alloy was probably accidental. In the paper of J. Hammer already referred to there are tables of the proportion of alloy in the silver coins of various cities. Only two or three cities, Mytilene, Phocaea, and Cyzicus, for example, which had been in the habit of issuing electrum coins, struck in the sixth century billon coins, containing about 40 per cent, of silver, and so bearing to pure silver coins the same relation which electrum coins bore to pure gold. The reasons for the purity of the coin are obvious. Generally speaking, the Greek cities had no way for pro- curing acceptance of their coins beyond the limits of the city, save by making it good, though perhaps beauty might 1 Chapter IV. MONOMETALLISM AND BIMETALLISM 55 help. In later days, under the rule of Greek and Parthian kings, and in the days of the Romans, those in authority tried, like the rulers in the Middle Ages, to force base coin into circulation. It is to the credit of the Athenians that, even in the days of their somewhat tyrannical empire, they made no such attempt, but preserved intact the high reputation of their money. "When coins of gold and silver were struck at one time in a city, the normal rates of the two metals would naturally govern their weights. We can scarcely suppose that the gold coins would belong to one commercial system and the silver coins to another, and that there would be no easy relation between them. To this question we shall return on occasion in future chapters. But in the business of the money-changers, no doubt, there would usually be an agio. Coins in demand, because of their purity and wide acceptance, would command a premium. Some examples of the practical preference for certain kinds of coin are given above. The agio might greatly vary in different districts owing to the difficulty and risk of conveying gold and silver from one place to another. This held also in more modern days in a measure ; but when the Mediterranean Sea was bordered by nests of pirates, and sea-voyage was attended by many risks, the difficulty of conveying coin might cause a great temporary appreciation or depreciation of particular kinds of money. A fact which has caused great perplexity to modern writers is that there is great inexactness in the weight of the gold and silver coins of the Greek cities. It is true that the divergency may be partly accounted for by changes wrought by time, by the oxidation which silver undergoes when buried in the earth. But when a number of silver coins are found together in exactly the same state of pre- servation, these variations in weight still exist. And they even exist, though in a lesser degree, in the case of gold coins which are not liable to oxidation. It is probable that the ancient money ers were more successful in striking so many coins to the pound weight 56 INTEODUCTION tliaii in keeping their blanks all of one size. The process of forming these blanks was a rough one, and did not lend itself to exactness, so that silver coins struck at the same place and time may vary in weight as much as a quarter of a gramme (four grains), or even more. Gold coins or silver issues of the standard types, such as the staters of Athens or of Alexander, vary less; but even these show an extra- ordinary variety, from the modem point of view. We find it hard to understand how a gold coin of 130 grains and a gold coin of 135 grains can have passed, when struck at the same time and mint, as of identical value ; and we are disposed to suspect that the scales were commonly in use, and light coins taken only at a discount. But we must not project our strict commercial notions into antiquity. It is more likely that coins of recognized classes passed as if of standard weight, even when they were short of it. As we have seen, there is a far greater difficulty of the same kind attaching to the general use of electrum coins, which differed in intrinsic value in a remarkable degree. In Sicily, and in some cities of Italy, there was in the fiith century some attempt at a double standard of silver and bronze. At Syracuse, for example, the silver litra, weighing 13-5 grains (grm. 0-87), was struck as the equivalent of a pound of bronze. And this silver coin remained for centuries the basis of the Syracusan coinage, being the tenth part of the Corinthian silver stater, and the twentieth part of the Syracusan tetradrachm. "Whether a parallel currency in actual litrae of bronze was in use we do not know : the bronze coins of Sicily bearing marks of value diminish rapidly in weight, and evidently passed only as money of account. (See Chapter XX.) XII. The Dattng of Greek Coins. I have already in my Types of Greek Coins (1883) de- scribed the way in which numismatists proceed in order to arrange the coins of any Grreek city in chronological order. A consideration of the style of the coins is, of course, funda- THE DATING OF GEEEK COINS 57 mental ; and their weights and the composition of hoards in which they are found are of importance. But our chief reliance must always be on the fixing on historic grounds of the dates of certain issues, and thus gaining fixed points whence we may work upwards and downwards in the series. For example, the archaic decadrachm of Syracuse struck by Gelon in 479 B.C., and named after his wife Damarete, furnishes us with a fixed point in the coinage of Syracuse : we may fairly suppose that the pieces of earlier style at Syracuse may be dated before 480, and the pieces of later style after 478. In the same way, when we find the name Simos on a coin of Larissa in Thessaly/ and with reason identify the name as that of one of the four tetrarchs set up by Philip of Macedon in Thessaly, 352-344 b. c, we may regard this coin as marking a fixed point in the coinage of Larissa. Or at a later time, it is reasonable to follow Evans ^ and attribute the coins of Tarentum, which bear the figure of an elephant, to the time of Pyrrhus in Italy, 281-272 b. c. ; as Pyrrhus first brought the elephant into the country. The dates of the destruction of the cities of Sicily at the time of the Carthaginian invasion of 409-405 give us fixed dates for the latest issues of such cities as G-ela and Camarina. Other examples abound. But in the present work we are endeavouring to pass beyond the arrangement of coins under separate cities to their classification in commercial groups or geographical districts. From this point of view it is most important to point out how the arrangement of the coins of any city in chronological order, with definite points of division, helps us to arrange in the same way the series of all cities which had any connexion with it, either political, commercial, or even artistic. Thus the science of numismatics becomes rapidly progressive, and coinage after coinage falls into its proper place and time. To return to an instance already given, the Damareteion not only makes a dividing point in the series of coins of ' Brit. Mus. Gat., Thessaly, PJ. VI. 9 : cf, ch. xviii. ^ Horsemen of Tarenfum, p. 136. 58 INTEODUCTION Syracuse, but it also enables us to divide the coins of Leontini, For at Leontini was issued a tetradrachm, so closely similar in style to the Damareteion (having also the same figure of a lion in the exergue), that we confidently give it to exactly the same period, and so gain a fresh fixed date in another coinage. Similarly, the occurrence of coins bearing the type of young Heracles strangling the snakes, in several of the cities of Asia, just after the Athenian victory at Cnidus in 394 b. c, can be used with great effect as a means of dating coins. Not only does this issue of money make a clear dividing line in the coinages of Samos, Byzantium, Ephesus, and Cnidus, but the occurrence of a closely similar type on the coins of Lampsacus, and even of the distant Croton, furnishes us with a means for dating some of the issues of those cities also. If one sets side by side Mr. Head's scheme for the arrangement of the coins of Ephesus and my own for the arrangement of the money of Samos,^ it will be seen how each of these arrangements helps the other. Ephesus appears not to have issued coin at all during the period of the first Athenian empire : Samos, on the other hand, continued its coinage all that time, though the conquest of Samos by Pericles in 439 has left unmistakable traces on the coin. Both cities belonged to the Cnidian League (394), and accepted the Chian or Ehodian standard about that time. But again Samos passes through the crisis of a second Athenian conquest, and the issue of money in the island is intermitted, 365-322 b. c, while Ephesus has a continuous coinage during the fourth century. On the other hand, while at Samos after 322 there is an un- disturbed period of coinage, at Ephesus there is a decided break in the time of Lysimachus (288-280 b. c), who renamed the city after his wife Arsinoe and changed both the types and the standard of the coin. Each city has crises, but they are not usually the same crises ; so that to arrange the successive issues of the two cities side by side gives one 1 Ephesus, by B. V. Head, 1880 ; Samos, by P. Gardner, 1882. Both originaUy printed in the Xumismatic Chronicle, THE DATING OF GREEK COINS 59 much more information than either city can farnish separately. There is no district of the Greek world where changes in the coin standards were more frequent than in Thrace. And there the influence of city upon city in their adoption and abandonment is sometimes clearly to be traced, but more often can only be surmised as a probability. If the cities of the southern coast of Thrace be taken one by one, the history of their coinage is a complicated one, and a clue to the labyrinth is scarcely to be found. If they are con- sidered in groups in connexion with the commercial history of the time, this history can, at least in its main outlines, be traced, and will usually be found to be not inexplicable. (See Chapters X, XIV, and XVI.) XIIL Hoards. No more valuable evidence in regard to the dates and the circulation of coins can be had than that which is furnished by finds or hoards. There can be no doubt that hoards of coins have been at all times constantly discovered in lands which were once Hellenic. But in the great majority of cases, and in fact in almost -every case until lately, the coins so found were either at once melted down or divided among the finders and sold piecemeal. In such cases the evidence is of course destroyed. We have now a fairly accurate account of a certain number of hoards, but the misfortune is that the evidence which they furnish must be used with great caution. Such evidence is in the nature of things cumulative ; a series of finds in a particular district may give us much information; but each taken by itself is obviously too much the result of chance, or rather of un- known causes, to be much relied on. It is very natural that, when an enemy advanced into a country, or other danger impended, the inhabitants should bury their valuables, and especially their money. Fre- quently, when these inhabitants were slain, or carried into slavery, the hiding-place was never revealed, and the hoards 60 INTRODUCTION remained underground to our day. In a few cases, military chests or the capital of bankers have thus survived. But, generally speaking, finds consist of comparatively few coins. A few examples may be cited. Archaic period. First in importance and interest come the finds in Egypt. No native Egyptian coins were issued until the time of the Ptolemaic kings. Gold and silver seem usually to have gone by weight, even after the time of the Persian conquest, though the Persian darics and sigli may have circulated to some extent. At various sites in Lower Egypt a quantity of archaic Grreek coins has been found, some of them broken and some defaced, which were almost certainly intended for the melting-pot. These coins are mostly scattered and isolated examples from the mints of many cities on the Aegean Sea and the southern coast of Asia Minor. At Myt Rahineh ^ was found a treasure including coins of Lete, Maroneia, Corinth, Naxos, Chios, Cos, Cyprus, and Cyrene. At Sakha was discovered a deposit,^ including coins of Dieaea, Lete, Aegina, Corinth, Naxos, Pares, Chios, Clazomenae, lalysus and Lindus in Rhodes, and Cyrene. As with these coins were found frag- ments and bars of silver, the destination of this hoard for the melting-pot has been conjectured. The coins included in it belong to the most usual currencies of the eastern Mediterranean. A small find of coins of Cyrene from near Ramleh emphasizes the close connexion affirmed in historic records between Egypt and Cyrene. Another hoard, found in the Delta,^ is very similar in composition to those above mentioned. It included a few coins of Athens, and examples of the coinages of Corinth, Thasos, Lete, Mende, Miletus, Chios, Samos, Cos, Cyprus, Cyrene, and other places ; the date being seldom later than 500B.C. Some of these coins are rough, and appear to be barbarous imitations. M. Babelon* thinks that they were made at ^ Reo. Numism,j 1861, p. 414. 2 Num. Ckron., 1899, p. 269 ; Zeitsckr.f. Num., 1900, p. 231. s Num. Chron,j 1890, p. 1. * Traite, ii. 1, p. 1572. HOARDS 61 Naucratis itself; and certainly not dissimilar copies of Egyptian scarabs were made by the Greeks of Naucratis. But it does not appear wliy tbe people should have taken the trouble to make copies of coins only in order that they should be melted down. Barbarous work is not unusual in many series of archaic coins, and they may often be most simply explained by the supposition that the moneyers at the city mints were often careless or worked under pressure. At Athens, however, we seem to have clear proof of imita- tion by the Persians, as will be shown in its place. The site of Naucratis has yielded a small hoard,^ supposed to have belonged to a silversmith, buried about 439 b. c, in- cluding coins of Lycia, Chios, Samos, Aegina, Athens, Cyrene, and — a notable fact — one of Syracuse of archaic style. Of the other early coins found scattered on the site the over- whelming majority (86 out of 97} were tetradrachms of Athens, struck mostly at the time of the Athenian empire, when Athens almost monopolized the coinage of the Aegean. Probably at that time the Athenian money passed by tale and not by weight in Egypt. Near the harbour of Tarentum was found a few years ago ^ a large jar containing about 600 early G-reek silver coins, together with bars of silver, indicating that the whole was intended for melting down. M. Babelon fixes the date of burying at about 510 b, c. The coins came from almost every part of the Greek world. Some cities of Italy and Sicily were represented, Selinus, Himera, Metapontum, Sybaris, Croton, Poseidonia, Velia ; but more abundant were the coins of Aegina, Athens, Eretria, Potidaea, Acanthus, Lete, Thasos, Peparethus, Carthaea in Ceos, Naxos, Chios, and other places. This hoard gives us most valuable in- formation as to the dates of the coins comprised in it ; but it does not give us data as to the course of commerce at Tarentum. A celebrated hoard is that discovered at Thera (Santorin) ^ NaukratiSj i (W. M. F. Petrie and others), p. 63. ^ Rev. Numism.j 1912,1. Babelon. 6? INTEODUCTION in 1821,1 consisting of 760 coins of the Aegean Islands and the coasts of Thrace and Asia Minor. Of these, 541 -were of Aegina, showing how in the seventh and sixth centuries that city dominated the coinage of the Aegean. Among the mints, Naxos, Paros, Siphnos, and a few others can be identi- fied ; but the attribution of many of the coins, in the absence of inscriptions, is doubtful. Another similar hoard, found about 1889 at an undeter- mined place,^ included 114 coins of Aegina, and a few examples of Carthaea in Ceos, Paros, Siphnos, Chios, Cos, and some Ionian mints. The want of inscriptional evidence mars the value of another noted find made at Auriol, near Marseilles in France.^ M. Babelon, in describing the class of hoards, of which this is one, writes as follows : ' Besides finds of isolated pieces, several hoards all of one character have come to light ; at Velia in Lucania, at Volterra, near Eosas and Ampurias in Spain,* and other Spanish sites. ' The examination in detail of all these hoards allows us to discover in them two cate- gories of coins ; one class, generally broken and worn in circulation, may be assigned to the Greek cities where they originated ; the most numerous coins in this category are of Phocaea and Mytilene in Lesbos, from which cities origi- nally came the Phocaean settlers of the western Mediter- ranean. The other category, by far the most considerable, is composed of silver pieces which are imitations of those already mentioned,' and which seem to have been struck on the spot. The types of the little coins composing these hoards are very various ; and it seems doubtful whether, even when they repeat the recognized types of cities in Greece and Asia Minor, they really come from those cities. "We may compare a hoard of small electrum coins found by Mr. Hogarth ^ Num. Chron.j 1884, p. 269, Wroth. Compare Brit Mus. Ckit, Crete^ Ac, p. xlii. » Num. Chron., 1890, p. 13. ' A fuU account in Babelon, Traite, ii. 1, p. 1571. HOAEDS 63 at Ephesus,^ whicli also bear a great variety of types, yet which may belong to one district, or even one city. Later period. Of somewhat later date is a very interesting hoard, supposed to have been discovered in Cilicia, and pub- lished by Mr. E. T. Newell.^ Unfortunately the place of its discovery is not recorded, nor can we be sure that the coins were all found together. The date of burial is fixed at about 380 B. c. : most of the coins are defaced with gashes on one or both sides, apparently to unfit them for further circula- tion, which looks as if they had been destined for melting. Many of them also bear small stamps or counter-marks which Mr. Newell regards as private marks of certain bankers or traders: we know that such marks are very common on the Persian silver sigli and the coins of several cities of southern Asia Minor.^ The three classes of coins most common in this hoard are : first, Persian sigli ; second, coins of Athens of the fifth century ; * third, coins issued in the cities of Cilicia by Persian Satraps, especially Tiribazus. Besides these there are coins of the later fifth and earlier fourth centuries, struck at Byzantium, Calchedon, Sinope, Miletus, Samos, Aspendus, Side, Teos, Celenderis, Soli, Mallus, Issus, Aradus, Tyre, and the kings of Salamis and Citium in Cyprus. The collocation of these coins gives us useful information as to the dates of issues in all the cities represented; and by carefully recording which examples were fresh-struck and which had been worn in circulation, Mr. Newell makes our information more precise. It is mainly by the evidence furnished by hoards found in Sicily that Sir Arthur Evans ^ has succeeded in more accurately dating the series issued at Syracuse, and the money issued by Phoenicians in Sicily. These data, so far as they concern the purposes of the present work, are con- sidered in the chapters below dealing with Sicilian coins. ^ Excavations at Epkesus, 1908, p. 74. ^ Num. Chron.j 1914, p, 1. ^ Compare a find of Persian silver sigli published by Mr. Milne in Num, Chron.j 1915, p. 1. * One is of the early fourth century, with the later type of the head of Athena. * Num. Chron., 1890, 1891. 64 INTEODTJCTION In the following pages, it is needless to say, the evidence of hoards is used whenever it is available. XIV. Fabric. As regards the process of coining, I may begin with a quotation from a recent traveller in the native states of India, where ancient ways of manufacture still survive ^ : ' Under a little, open, whitewashed roof, there are two or three tiny furnaces, two or three small anvils, and two or three nearly naked workmen. Three iron pegs, six inches high, with flattened heads, looking rather like exaggerated golf-tees, spring from the stone floor. The workman takes a lump of bullion in his hands, heats it in the furnace, cuts ofP a round or moderately round disk, and carries it with his pincers to the die, and hammers on it until he has got a sufficient impression; then he casts it aside upon a little heap to get cool, and to be conveyed into the royal treasury.* If this, or anything like this, was the method by which coins were commonly struck in Greece, we need not be sur- prised at their variations in fineness and in weight. There is, however, a notable distinction between the method of providing blanks at Jodhpur, by cutting slices from a bar, and the method generally in use in earlier Grreece, which consisted in casting, as bullets are cast, in a mould. By this means certainly more exactness would be attained than by the Indian method, but not nearly so much exactness as is attained in modern days by the use of a collar. But until modem writers rid themselves of our natural presuppositions, and realize more completely how rough and ready were, as a rule, the methods of the ancient mints, they will always be making theories far too exact to fit the facts. For example, numismatists often try to give the standard weights of particular classes of coins to the third decimal place in grammes. There is no indication that the controllers of ancient mints worked with anything like this accuracy. I therefore have nowhere made any ^ Sidney Lee, Vision of Indiaj p. 106. The mint described is that of Jodhpur. FABRIC 65 attempt to give more than an approximate statement of the weights of any classes of coins. Further refinement gives the appearance of great accuracy without its reality, and tends only to mislead. It has been shown by Dr. Macdonald ^ that in the Middle Ages ' Decrees generally prescribe, not that coins shall be struck of such and such a weight, but that so many coins shall be struck out of such and such a quantity of metal' . We can scarcely doubt that this was the case also in ancient Greece. This would explain considerable variation in the weights of individual coins. If the mint-master found that the coins he was producing were above the standard, he would at once take measures to diminish the size of the blanks : if he found that the coins were light, he would move in the opposite direction. Except in the case of gold coins a small excess or deficiency would not be serious. At the beginning of coinage it would seem that the type was engraved on the head of the anvil, which may have been, as at Jodhpur, an iron peg let into the floor, and the rude incuse which marks the other side of the coins may have been produced by the head of a punch which by a hammer was driven into the round or oval blank which was to be the coin. At a later time there were two neatly en- graved types, let the one into the anvil, the other into the punch. But it is impossible by a mere description to make clear the history and the peculiarities of the technique of coin-striking. Knowledge on the subject can only come from practical familiarity with coins. In assigning a mint and a date to coins the numismatist is necessarily largely guided by peculiarities of technique, often so minute that he is scarcely able to describe them in words. But to do justice to this subject would require a technical treatise fully illustrated. One innovation recently introduced by Mr. Hill in the British Museum catalogues^ is to state in what positions relatively to one another the obverse and reverse dies of a ^ The Evolution of Comage, -p, 70, ^ See the Preface to the Brit Mtis. Caidlogiie of Coins of Phoenicia. 1967 P 66 INTEODUCTION coin stand. No doubt such statistics give us valuable in- formation. But no mere statistical information can ever be used mechanically, and without common sense. Mechanical principles of arrangement may weU serve to give us sug- gestions, or to decide doubtful points, but one must be prepared to disregard them when they conflict with well- established inductions. The respective placing of obverse and reverse dies may in some cases be the result of a system, but in others may be only the result of habit in a particular workman. CHAPTEE I EAELY ELEOTEUM § 1. Origin of Coinaoe, It is generally thought, alike by numismatists and his- torians, that the coinage of the western world took its origin on the coast of Asia Minor in the eighth or at latest in the seventh century b.c, in those primitive and rude coins of electrum, which are now abundant in our museums. Of this coinage I do not propose to treat in detail, as it has been the subject of able papers by Head, Babelon, and other writers,^ nor is it possible fully to discuss it without taking into account a multitude of small numismatic considerations, the introduction of which would thwart the purpose of the present treatise, which is to give a broad historic sketch. I will, however, give a brief summary of the principal discussions which have arisen in regard to it. In the first place, it has been disputed to whom belongs the honour of the first invention of coins. We know from Julius Pollux that this question was much discussed by his learned authorities. He writes ^ that it was disputed ' whether coins were first issued by Pheidon of Argos, or by the Cymaean Demodice, wife of the Phrygian Midas, who was daughter of Agamemnon, King of Cyme, or by the Athenians, Erichthonius and Lycus, or by the Lydians, as Xenophanes asserts, or by the Naxians, according to the view of Aglaosthenes '. Some of these views are now out of court, especially those which give the origination of coins to ^ Head in Numismatic Chronicle, 1875 ; Catalogue of Greek Coins in the British Museum : lonia^ Introduction. Babelon, Traiie des Monnaies grecques et romaines. Part II, vol. i, where further references ; also Revue Numismatique, 1894 and 1895. ^ Onom. ix. 83. F 0, 68 EARLY ELECTRUM Pheidon of Argos or to Athens. It is universally allowed that money first appears on the western coast of Asia Minor, But it may still be doubted whether it originated with the wealthy Mermnad kings of Lydia or with Miletus and other Ionian cities of the coast. In favour of the Lydians it may be argued that Herodotus supports their claim. He writes of the Lydians,^ irp^Tot dydpcoTTCov, roou rjfieis tSfi^v^ i/ofiiafia \pv See Head, I. c. * Cat. loniaj p. 350. Mr. Head observes that the weight and the style of the incuse is rather Lycian than Samian. For such reasons the coin was omitted in my paper on Samian Coins, Num. Chron., 1882. IONIA 79 130 grains at most (grm. 842). The Babylonic gold standard, with which Herodotus equates it, also reaches 130 grains as a maximum, and is almost always somewhat below that. But the standard for the electrum coins which we are considering is quite clearly higher than this. Its normal full weights seem to be — Double stater Grains. . 269 Grammes. 1743 Stater . . . . . 183 8-61 Half . 67 437 Third . 45 292 Sixth . 22 146 These are the weights, not of the Euboic standard, but of the Attic standard introduced by Pisistratus, as I try to show in Chapter VIII, about the middle of the sixth century, and adopted from Athens by Euboea and Corinth, and in Sicily. As these electrum coins are certainly much earlier than any coins of the same weights in Grreece, we must needs suppose that they were issued on the standard of the city which struck them, whether Samos or another, and that this standard was imported into Greece by Pisistratus. Some numismatists may be disposed to regard this standard as one handed down to later Greece from the Mycenaean Age. Thus Professor Hidgeway,^ in drawing up a list of the weights of some gold rings found at Mycenae, regards a group of them as following an unit of 135 grains, 8'75 grammes. Sir A. Evans ^ regards a ball or ' dump ' of gold from Salamis in Cyprus and some carnelian duck weights from Palaikastro as evidencing the use of this standard in prehistoric times. It will, however, be found, on examining the rings of Mycenae, that their weights are too irregular to allow of any satisfactory deduction. And Evans regards all the weights used at Onossus as derived from Egypt, so that in any case the derivation of the standard we are considering may be from that most ancient empire, whether through Crete and Argos or not. ^ J. H, S.x. 90. 2 Corolla Numismatica, p. 365, 80 EARLY ELECTRUM When we reach the coins of Cyrene we shall see that the • same monetary standard was in vogue there from 600 b. c. onwards. It is almost certainly derived from Egypt, where a Kedet of the weight of 139 grains (grm. 9-0) was in use in the Delta ^ at Heliopolis. The Samians, who were among the most important of the peoples who founded Naucratis, seem to have there adopted the local weight for silver, and transferred that weight to electrum, electrum coinage being, as we know, usually issued on a silver standard. (3) Next to these coins of Samian weight we must place a few very early staters of pale electrum which follow the standard afterwards called Persian. Ohv, Irregular transverse furrows. Bev. Three incuses ; in the middle ofte, which is the largest, one can trace the figure of a fox. Weight, 10-81 grm., 167 grains. B. M. Gat Ionia, p. 183, PL III.'^ (B. M. I. 1.) Mr. Head doubts whether the fox in the incuse can really be made out. He attributes the coin, doubtfully, to Miletus. But this attribution, in view of its weight, is most im- probable. It is of the same weight as the silver coins, and a few of the gold coins of Croesus; and for that reason M. Babelon^ would give it to the time of Croesus. But the fabric is as fatal to this attribution as is the weight to Mr. Head's. The coin contains but a small proportion of gold (according to its specific gravity only 2 per cent.), and it may have passed as silver, in which case it would be an early and exceptional prototype of the silver coinage of Croesus. Considering the coin thus, the objection to the attribution to Miletus would be lessened ; but it is much more probable that it was struck at Sardis. (4) There is a somewhat later class of coins which follow the lead of Phocaea. These coins are of somewhat darker colour, and contain a larger proportion of gold. (B. M, I. 10, 11.) Indeed, Mr. Head has suggested that they were intended to pass as gold, not as electrum. Their standard, ^ Petrie, Proc. Soc. Bibl. Archaeol., xxxiii, p. 378 and foU. 2 Corolla Numismaticaj p. 365. ^ Traite, ii. i, p. 19. IONIA 81 which in common with other numismatists I call Phocaean, is the double of the gold stater or shekel (260 grains; grm. 16-84). It is partly for this reason that Mr. Head has maintained these coins to be really intended for gold ; since in nearly all other cases electrum coins are minted on a silver standard. They can be assigned in some cases to mints with considerable confidence. I mention a few staters ; at Phocaea and Cyzicus there are also smaller denominations. Phocaea. Obv, O (<|>) Seal (phoca). Eev, Two square punch-marks. Brit. Museum, Munich. Weight, 255 grains (grm. 16-50). (PI. I. 3.) Cyzicus, Ohv. Tunny bound with fillet. Eev, Two punch-marks ; in one a scorpion. Brit. Museum, Weight, 252 grains (grm. 16-32). (PI. I. 4.) Dr. von Fritze, in an elaborate monograph on the coins of Cyzicus,^ denies, on account of the character of the incuse on the reverse, that this coin belongs to the city. The coins which he attributes to Cyzicus in the sixth century have on the reverse a single, rather rough, incuse square. They will be found on PL I of his paper: they have a variety of types, part of which is always a tunny or the head of a tunny. Among the more remarkable devices are a winged fish and a male or female winged figure. These coins, dating from about 600 B.C., are regarded by von Fritze as the earliest examples of the great series of electrum coins so prominent in the fifth century. He thinks that the issue was uninterrupted ; but I prefer the view that in the latter part of the sixth century electrum issues came to a stop until the Ionian revolt. There is also a stater of this weight with the type of the griffin's head and the inscription I^OM (Zioy?) which has been given with some probability to Teos,^ Other attribu- ^ Nomisma, Part VII. "- Babelon, Traite^ ii. 1, p. 119 ; PI. V. 2. 1967 Gr 82 EAELY ELECTEUM tions, of a less convincing kind, to Methana and Mytilene in Lesbos, Smyrna, Cyme, and other cities are proposed by M. Babelon. All these coins belong, so far as we can judge, to cities to the north of Smyrna ; and they may be mostly assigned to the period mentioned by Eusebius in his list of thalassocracies as the time of the greatest sea-power of Phocaea, 578-534 b.c. It is also the time of the foundation of the Phocaean colonies Velia and Massilia. To the same class of electrum staters, though of lower weight, belong the early staters of Lampsacus, These bear on the obverse the forepart of a winged horse, usually with traces of a vine-wreath, and have on the reverse an incuse square, sometimes quartered, sometimes having only two of the four divisions sunk.^ The weight is 15*15 grammes (234 grains) or less, which weight is also in use for the Lampsacene staters issued in the fifth century. It is very remarkable how cities in Asia preserved their monetary standard unchanged through successive periods. Such are the principal issues of electrum coins in the seventh and sixth centuries. The question of the date of their cessation will be considered in the next chapter. 1 See Babelon, Tmrte, ii. 1, p. 183, PI. VIII. 1-2; Nos. 3-5 of the plate belong to later issues. CHAPTER II LYDIAN AND PERSIAN COINAGE § 1, Gold op Lydia. There is no proof that the earlier Mermnad kings of Lydia, whose power was rapidly increasing in the seventh and sixth centuries, showed any desire to interfere with Ionian issues of electrum. If, as is probable, they issued electrum coin of their own at Sardes, they seem to have allowed it to take its chance with the rest, and did not stamp it dis- tinctively as a royal issue. But when Croesus came to the throne he seems to have determined to take another line. It may be that the inherent faults in the electrum coinage of Ionia were unfitting it for its purpose. It may be that with great sagacity he grasped the notion that by concen- trating the issue of coin in his own hands he could strengthen his political power. It may be that he merely wished, with commercial instinct, to make the most of his great stores of gold. Whatever the motive, he certainly initiated one of the greatest of all the political movements which the world has known — the issue of a state coinage. It is true that the proofs that this action was due to Croesus are not absolutely conclusive. Holm is even dis- posed to call them in question. They are circumstantial rather than direct. But in my opinion they are ample. This is the only view which brings consistency and order into the arrangement of facts. And since Julius Pollux talks of the staters of Croesus in the same line with the noted gold staters of Philip and the darics, he bears testi- mony to the existence of well-known gold coins named after Croesus. These can only be the coins long attributed by numismatists to the king, which are the following : G 2 84 LYDIAN AND PERSIAN COINAGE Ohv. Foreparts of lion and bull facing each other. Eev. Two incuses side by side. (PI. I. 5, 6 ; B. M. I. 13-16 ; B. T. X. 1-12.) These coins were issued in ggld on two standards, a stater of 10-89 grm. (168 grains), with its fractions of a half, a third, a sixth, and a twelfth; and a stater of 8-17 grm. (126 grains), with corresponding divisions, and on one standard in silver with an unit of 10-89 grm. (168 grains), again with corresponding fractions.^ The gold and silver employed are extremely pure : the specific gravity of the gold being that of unmixed gold. If we accept the current view as to the proportionate value of gold electrum and silver as 13^ : 10 : 1, we can easily calculate the values of the Croesean coins in currency in relation to the existing electrum. The gold piece of 168 grains (grm. 10-89) would be equivalent to ten silver pieces or one electrum piece of the weight of 224 grains. The gold piece of 126 grains (grm. 8-17) would be equivalent to ten silver pieces or one electrum piece of 168 grains (grm. 10-89). The Phocaean gold or electrum coins of 260 grains (grm. 16*84) can scarcely have been regarded as equivalent to two Croesean staters of 126 grains (grm. 8-17) since the gold of the latter is far purer. The gold of Croesus, and of the Persian kings who succeeded him, seems to have superseded the electrum coinage. It is not easy to prove this, because it involves the negative proof, that of the electrum coins which have come down to us none belongs to the second half of the sixth century. This would scarcely be generally conceded, and it is of course quite possible that the Persian kings may have in the sixth century, as they certainly did in the fifth, allowed to a few Greek cities of the coast the privilege of issuing money of electrum. All that we can do is to examine the electrum coins of such well-known mints as Chios, Cyzicus, Phocaea, and Lampsacus, to see if we can there discern a break or gap in the series which might 1 See Babelon, TraiUj ii. 1, p. 227. GOLD OF LYDIA 85 correspond to the period 540-500 B.C. This may easily be done by the help of the earliest plates of M. Babelon's great work. The identiiicatiou of the coins of the Ionian Eevolt shows us the state of monetary art in Asia Minor in 500 b.c. Chios. Mr. Mavrogordato, in his careful paper on the coins of Chios,^ observes that the coinage of electrum must have ceased under the Persian rule. The coins are quite consistent with that view. Iiampsacus. There certainly, seems to be a considerable interval of time between the very early electrum staters (Babelon, PL VIIL 1, 2) and Babelon, PL VIII. 5, which is of the time of the revolt. Nos. 3 and 4 of this plate, where the half-horse is surrounded by a vine-wreath, are certainly of the fifth century. Cyzicus. Here, if anywhere, we should expect to find a continuous and uninterrupted coinage of electrum. And the most recent writer on the coins of Cyzicus, Dr. von Fritze/ arranges them in consecutive series from 600 b.c. onwards. If, however, we turn to von Fritze's plates, we may discern a distinct gap between PL I. 38 and I. 39. Coins 1-38 on that plate are marine in character, with very few exceptions. The tunny, body or head, appears on them all ; and fish swimming or flying appear usually. A few winged human monsters make up the tale. The incuse of the reverse is rough and primitive. Coins I, 39 onwards are of quite a different type ; the tunny comes in as mint- mark, but the types are very varied, animals or the heads of animals being usual. The incuse has become a mill-sail pattern. It is true, as von Fritze points out, that some of the human heads in this series are decidedly archaic in character, such heads as II. 13 and 19. But some types, of which the reverse bears the same mill-sail incuse as these, must be dated well into the fifth century. I am disposed to think that the facts of the coinage of Cyzicus do not compel us to suppose that the coinage was continuous through the sixth century; it is more probable that it intermitted. ^ Num. Chron.f 1915, p. 35. ^ Nomismaj Part VJI. 86 LYDIAN AND PERSIAN COINAGE Phocaea. The early electrum of Phocaea must almost certainly have come to an end when the bulk of the in- habitants left their city to sail westwards. The coinage was resumed under the Athenian Empire. It seems then that the electrum coinage of Asia Minor came to an end generally, if not universally, soon after the middle of the sixth century. As we shall see later, it was revived for a while at the time of the Ionian Revolt, and continued at a very few mints, such as Cyzicus, Phocaea, and Lampsacus,' in the fifth century ; and even, at Cyzicus, Phocaea, and Mytilene, down to the time of Alexander the Great. § 2. Gold of Peesia. When the kingdom of Croesus fell, about 546 b.c.,^ the royal coinage at Sardes probably ceased. Before long, its place was taken by the royal darics and sigli, or staters of gold and drachms of silver, issued by the Persian kings. The daric stater was a few grains heavier than that of Croesus, following the Babylonic standard, also a little less pure in metal. It was current until the fall of the Persian empire, and governed the trade of Asia Minor for ages. The issue of gold coin was the exclusive privilege of the Great King, a privilege jealously guarded and enforced. Satraps of the Persian Empire were allowed to strike silver coins freely for the needs of military expeditions, and the Greek cities of the coast struck silver for ordinary purposes of trade. But no issue of gold coin was allowed, save under exceptional circumstances. Although this view is generally accepted,^ yet it is not easy to establish it by quotations from ancient writers, Herodotus seems under the influence of such a view when 1 All tLe dates in early Greek and Oriental history are only approximate. Winckler prefers for the date of Croesus' fall 548 b. c. As the exact year in which events took place is a matter of small importance to the purpose of the present work, I have not judged it necessary to enter into chronological discussions, but usually accept the ordinary view, except in a few cases where there are numismatic data to come in. ^ M. Babelon, however, does not allow it. TraiUj ii. 2, p. 5. GOLD OF PERSIA 87 he writes,^ ' Darius wished to leave such a memorial of himself as no king had ever left before : therefore, refining his gold to the last degree of purity, he issued coins of it '. But this is, of course, no assertion of a principle of state, that no one else should issue coin. Nor in fact is it likely that the issue of gold coin was from the first looked upon as something quite exceptional. The first issue of pure gold was due to Croesus, not to Darius. It seems likely that the principle that the issue of gold coin was the first privilege of authority was one which made its way slowly and perhaps almost unconsciously. From age to age it became more solidly fixed, and the Roman Empire main- tained it even more rigidly than did that of Persia. The type of the darics is well known. It is a figure of the king, kneeling, or perhaps rather running, holding spear and bow, and wearing the royal crown, the kidaris. The reverse is an oblong incuse, in which occasionally a device may be made out ; but more often the search for such a device is quite fruitless. (Pl. I. 7 ; B. M. I. 17 ; B. T. X. 13-23.) Some metrologists, such as Lehmann-Haupt, have re- garded the Croesean and daric staters as of different origin, the former being derived from the common gold mina of the Babylonians, the latter from the royal gold mina, which was heavier by one thirty-sixth. But it seems that in fact the two were nearly equivalent, since the Croesean coin was of purer metal than the daric. The most recent investi- gation of the specific gravity of these coins (by Mr. Hunkin) shows that the fineness of the Croesean staters is about 0-99, and that of the darics about 0'98. On this basis the daric would be slightly more valuable,^ The date of the first introduction of the daric is a matter of some uncertainty. The word daric is a Greek adjective, formed from Darius, and it is expressly associated by Julius Pollux with the name of that king,^ but that fact does not 1 iv. 166. 2 Num. Chron.^ 1887, p. 303 ; 1916, p, 258. ^ Onom. iii. 87 ol Aapeucol d-nb Aapeiov. 88 LYDIAN AND PEESIAN COINAGE necessarily prove that darics were not issued before the accession of Darius in 521 b c. For it is quite maintainable that the Greeks named the coin after the Persian king best known to them, even if they were issued before his reign.^ It is certainly in itself improbable that Asia Minor had to wait until the reign of Darius for a satisfactory gold currency. The coinage of Persia is confessedly modelled on that of Lydia ; and it is difficult to believe that the 25 or 30 years which elapsed between the overthrow of Croesus and the reforms of Darius passed without the issue by Cyrus and Cambyses of coins to take the place of the Lydian money. Indeed, so improbable does this seem, that some writers, such as Fran9ois Lenormant and B. V. Head, have supposed that the Persian governors of Sardes con- tinued to issue money of the types and the standard of Croesus.^ This is of course not impossible, and parallels may be found ; but it is improbable, and the view is rightly rejected by M. Babelon.^ Herodotus^ asserts the purity of the coin issued by Darius, but does not at all imply that he was the first to issue a Persian gold coinage. Thus it seems most probable that the Persian darics were issued immediately after the conquest of Lydia, and were the institution of Cyrus rather than of Darius. It has been supposed that half-darics also were struck, because Xenophon records, in his account of the expedition of the younger Cjnnis,^ that the latter promised to raise the pay of his soldiers from a daric a month to a daric and a half, rpia rjfiiSapeiKd, Since, however, no half-darics are known to exist, it is probable that the half-daric was a ^ Attempts have been made to show that similar words to daric were used for money in Assyria in pre-Persian times. In any case, though the adjec- tive dapeiKos is regularly formed in Greek from Aapeiosj it may be what is called a Volksetymologie, and really have nothing to do with that king. Cf. Harpocration (Hultsch, Metrol, Script, reliquiaej p. 310), kK\^9r}' krtpov rivhs reaXaiOTipov fiaatXeo]^. 2 Lenormant, Monn.royales de la Lydie, p. 198 ; Head, Coinage of Lydia and Persia, p. 23. 3 Babelon, Traite, p. 242. * Hdt. iv. 166. s j^nabasis, i. 3.21. GOLD OF PEESIA 89 money of account. Double darics have in recent years been discovered in considerable numbers, especially in the Far East. They certainly belong to the very latest time of Persian rule. M. Babelon thinks that they were issued shortly before the time of Alexander, and that he continued to strike them ; but numismatists have generally been more disposed to think that they were struck only by Alexander and his generals. The main subsidiary coins to the daric were silver coins of the same type and form, the sigli or shekels weighing about 86 grains (grm. 5-57), which, as we know from the testimony of Xenophon,^ passed at the rate of 20 to the daric. It is strange indeed to find thus, at the beginning of consecutive history, the primary coinage of Asia con- sisting of gold coins of nearly the weight of an English sovereign, divided into twenty sigli, each nearly of the metal weight of a shilling, or a German mark. Very rarely, fractions of the daric and the siglos seem to have been struck, of the same types as the larger coins. Twelfths of the daric are mentioned by M. Babelon,^ weighing 10-5 to 11-5 grains (grm. 0-65 to 0-75). Also a small fraction weighing grm. 0-155 (2-4 grains), and bearing only the head of the king. Several ancient historians bear witness to the enormous extent of the daric currency of the Persian Empire. In the reign of Xerxes, as Herodotus ^ informs us,- a wealthy Lydian named Pythius had amassed four millions of darics, lacking seven thousand. The Persian archers, as the darics were called because they bore the type of the king holfling the bow, were but too well known and too potent in the domestic affairs of Greece. The vast stores of them found by Alexander at Ecbatana and Susa * inundated the whole Greek world with gold, and doubtless formed the material out of which many of Alexander's own coins were struck. * Anabasis^ i. 7. 18, where the talent of silver (6,000 sigli) is equated with 300 darics. 2 TraiUj ii. 2, p. 46. 3 Hdt. vii. 28. * At Susa Alexander captured 9,000 talents of darics, besides unminted gold and silver. Diodorus, xvii, 66. 90 LYDIAN AND PERSIAN COINAGE A century ago the daric was a comparatively rare coin in our museums, the obvious reason being that those found were concealed by the finders, and at once melted down. A great abundance of them has appeared in recent years. To determine their find-spots is almost impossible ; but they certainly range over a great part of western Asia. Can they be classified as regards period? Lenormant tried fco find on them the portraits of the successive reigning monarchs of Persia. Mr. Head, with his usual sanity and moderation, writes ^ : 'A close examination of the gold darics enables us to perceive that, in spite of their general similarity, there are differences of style. Some are archaic, and date from the time of Darius and Xerxes, while others are characterized by more careful work, and these belong to the later monarchs of the Achaemenian dynasty/ More recently, M. Babelon ^ thinks that he has found a clue in a hoard of 300 darics discovered in the canal of Xerxes by Mount Athos, which he ventures to divide, on the ground of minute differences in the portrait and beard, between Darius and Xerxes. For my part I prefer to stop at the point marked by Mr. Head.^ An exceptional coin has as type the king not bearded but beardless. M. Babelon proposes to attribute it to the younger Cyrus ; but there appears no sufficient reason for such assignment. In fact, several of the Persian kings came to the throne young. And the extreme rarity of the coin in question is a strong reason against supposing that it was issued by Cyrus, who must have used gold coins in great quantities to pay his Greek mercenaries, who received a daric or more a month. More- over, the weight of the example in Paris (grm. 8-46: 130-5 grains) seems to point to the period of Alexander the Great. 1 Lydia and Persia, p. 28. " Babelon, Traite, ii. 2, p. 51 : PI. LXXXVI, 16-18. 3 The arrangement of M. Babelon is inconsistent with the data of the find in Cilicia published by Mr. Newell in Num. Chron., 1914. CHAPTEE III THE COINAGE OF THE IONIAN EEVOLTi In a paper published in the Proceedings of the British Academy ^ I tried to show that the cities of Ionia which took part in the revolt against Persia in the years 500- 494 B.C. issued an uniform coinage in electrum. So far as I am aware, this discovery has met with general acceptance. I propose here to state my view somewhat more in detail, and to trace certain corollaries. I need not go through the story of the Ionian Pevolt, as narrated by Herodotus : it is fair to assume that every scholar is familiar with it. It may, however, be well here to mention the cities, the names of which occur in this section of the story of Herodotus, with the definite facts recorded of them, as the issues of coins would probably be civic issues. It was Miletus, under the guidance of Arista- goras, which began the revolt (Hdt. v. 35). It spread rapidly to Mylasa and Termera in Caria, as well as to Mytilene and Cyme. The Ionian cities expelled their tyrants, and set up o-Tparrjyoi in their place (v. 37). The Athenians and Ere- trians, at the invitation of Aristagoras, land at Ephesus, and bum Sardes (v. 101). The lonians compel the people of Byzantium and the Hellespont, and the Carians, including the Caunians, to join them (v. 103), The Cyprians join them willingly (v. 104), but are reconquered (v, 115). Daurises the Persian reduces Dardanus, Abydus, Percote, * This chapter is reprinted, with certain omissions and modifications, from the Journal of Hellenic Studies for 1911. It is somewhat disproportionately long : my excuse must be the importance of the class of coins, which I was the first to identify. 2 Vol. iii, 1908. 92 THE COINAGE OF THE IONIAN REVOLT Lampsacus, and Paesus in the Troad and Mysia (v. 117). He attacks the Carians unsuccessfully (v. 121). Hymeas the Persian reduces Cius and Gergithus and other places in the Troad (v. 122). The Persians take Clazomenae and Cyme (v. 123). Aristagoras departs in despair to Thrace, where he dies, leaving the government of Miletus to Pythagoras (v. 126). The Chians capture Histiaeus, but afterwards release him, and he goes to Lesbos, thence to Byzantium (vi. 5). The battle of Lade, in which Miletus has 80 ships, Chios 100, Samos 60, Priene 12, Myus 3, Teos 17, Erythrae 8, Phocaea 3, Lesbos 70. [Notably absent are Ephesus and Lebedus] (vi. 8). Flight of the Samians and Lesbians. Desperate resistance of the Chians : Persian victory (vi. 15). A band of Chian fugitives cut off by Ephesians (vi. 16). Taking of Miletus (vi. 19). Samians sail to Sicily (vi. 22) : their temples spared (vi. 25). Histiaeus gains possession of Chios (vi. 26). The Persians reduce Chios, Lesbos, and Tenedos, also the cities of the Hellespont, Chersonesus, Perinthus, Selymbria, and Byzantium. The people of Byzantium and Chalcedon escape to Mesembria. The people of Cyzicus had already submitted unattacked to the Persian satrap of Dascylium (vi. 33). Mardonius the Persian comes to Ionia: he puts down the tyrants, and establishes democracies (vi. 43). Artaphemes having already established a federal system among the cities, so that their disputes should be amicably settled, measured out their territories, and arranged tribute on the basis of that which they had paid before the revolt: an arrangement which endured (vi. 42). Such being the facts recorded by Herodotus, let us next see what is the extant numismatic evidence. There is a well-marked and homogeneous set of coins in electrum, evidently contemporary one with another, and struck on the coast of Asia Minor about 500 b.c. Some of them are of certain, or almost certain, attribution : others are of quite uncertain mint. The reverse of all is uniform : an incuse square divided into four squares. The weight is also uni- form : they are staters of the Milesian standard, weighing THE COINAGE OF THE IONIAN EEVOLT 93 from 216 to 218 grains, grm. 13-98 to 14.09. The obverse types are as follows : ^ 1. Sphinx seated to r. 2. Forepart of bull r., looking back. 3. Eagle to 1. looking back, standing on hare. 4. Eagle to 1. looking back ; in front a dolphin. 5. Forepart of winged boar to r. 6. Forepart of winged horse to 1. ; above, leaf-pattern. 7. Horse galloping to 1. ; beneath, leaf. 8. Sow walking to r. 9. Cock to r. ; above, palmette. 10. Head of Athena in close-fitting helmet.^ The similarity of these coins one to another in fabric and art, in weight, and even in colour had long ago struck numismatists. In 1890 M. J. P. Six maintained that they were all issued from the mint of Chios.^ M. Babelon^ did not accept this view ; but he held that the coins, in view of their identical fabric, must have been issued either from a single mint, or by a group of closely allied cities. As to their date the authorities differ rather widely. M. Six thinks of the end of the fifth century : M. Babelon gives them to ' une ^poque assez avanc^e dans le cinquifeme sifecle*. These views seem to me impossible. The art, though fine, is distinctly archaic, and after 490 b.c. there were no issues of electrum staters in Asia, except at the privileged mints of Cyzicus, Phocaea, Lampsacus, and Mytilene. Mr. Head's view of date is much nearer the mark. As early as 1887^ he accepted for the coins of this class the date of the beginning of the fifth century b.c. In 1892 he observed^ that they probably began to be struck before ^ PI. I, 8-13. It does not seem necessary to give a detailed list of examples : such a list will be found in Babelon, Traii^^ ii. 1, pp. 191-8 ; Head, Cat, Ionia, pp. 7-8 ; Six, Num. Chron., 1890, pp. 215-18. 2 Reme Numism., 1911, p. 60. s j^^^^ Chron., 1890, p. 215. * Traits, ii. 1, p. 198. ° Num. Chron.j 1887, p. 281. * B. M. Cat. Ionia ; Introduction, p. xxv. 94 THE COINAGE OF THE IONIAN EEVOLT 500 B.C. But if we accept, as I think we must, tiie view that this group of coins was issued on the Ionian coast about 500 B.C. by a group of allied cities, that is tantamount to saying that they are the money of the Ionian Revolt. It is strange that numismatists should have missed so obvious a corollary. The question of the exchange value of these staters, and their relation to the contemporary silver drachms, is one of considerable difficulty. They are of more uniform weight and composition than the early electrum of Asia Minor, They contain from 40 to 20 per cent, of gold, and from 60 to 80 per cent, of silver.^ If we reckon their average con- tents as 30 and 70 per cent, respectively, and compute gold as 13| times more valuable than silver, we shall find that the staters were intrinsically worth about 76 grains of gold or 1,012 grains of silver, which is nearly twenty silver drachms of the Milesian standard. If these equations were established, we should have a proof of the view maintained in the Introduction that the convention fixing the value of electrum at ten times that of silver did not outlast the sixth century. It is very probable that the choice of electrum as the material for the coinage of the League was dictated by a determination to be free from the tyranny of Persian gold. Electrum was the ancient currency of the Ionian cities, and in time of crisis they seem to have reverted to it. At an earlier time the stater of 224 grains had probably passed as the equivalent of the gold coins of Croesus ; ^ and it is not impossible that the revolting cities may have had a hope that their new coins would attain the value of the daric : but it is very improbable that this hope ever came to fruition. At a somewhat later time, as we learn from the Anabasis of Xenophon, a daric or a Cyzicene stater per month was the ordinary pay of a mercenary soldier. Xenophon tells us that, when the Greek mercenaries of Cyrus learned that 1 Six, in Num. Chron.j 1890, p. 218. 2 gee above, p. 84. THE COINAGE OF THE IONIAN REVOLT 95 they were to march against the Great King, they demanded higher pay ; and Cyrus promised them a daric and a half a monthj in the place of a daric, which they had so far received.^ Later these Greek soldiers were offered, by Timasion, a Cyzicene stater a month ; ^ and Seuthes the Thracian made a similar offer.^ This being the case, it seems not unreasonable to think that the coins which we are considering, of somewhat lower value than the daric and the Cyzicene, represent each a month's pay of a mer- cenary. No doubt the sailors and soldiers of the Ionian fleet were in the main not mercenaries, but citizens. Yet the poorer would require pay. The issue of an uniform coinage by a set of allied cities is in later Greece an ordinary phenomenon. There is the set of coins struck by Ehodes, Samos, Ephesus, and other cities of the Ionian coast after the victory of Conon at Cnidus, and the expulsion of Spartan governors in 394. In that case the type of reverse is the same, young Heracles strangling the snakes; and the inscription CYN {avvfiaxta) records the alliance. Later we have the coinage of the Achaean League, of the Lycian League, and other con- federacies. The earliest issue of the kind took place among the Greek cities of Southern Italy about the middle of the sixth century : each of the cities retaining its own types, while the fabric of the incuse reverse (obverse type reversed) is identical in all, as is usually the monetary standard. Numismatists suppose that the appearance of this uniform coinage proves some kind of understanding to have existed among the Greek cities ; but the nature of it is doubtful.* I think that those who suppose it to prove the existence of some sort of Pythagorean brotherhood throughout Magna Graecia go beyond the evidence ; for we do not know that the influence of Pythagoras had much effect on politics. It is clear, however, that this Italian coinage might serve as a precedent to the Ionian cities. In the case of these latter we have more definite proof not merely of a confederation 1 Anab. i. 3. 21. 2 y_ q^ 33 3 ^yi. 3. 10. * See G. Macdonald, Coin-types^ p. 12. 96 THE COINAGE OF THE lONIAlT EEVOLT of cities, but even of a federal unity. For Herodotus repre- sents the envoys sent by the lonians to stir up a revolt in Cyprus as saying 'H/xia? a7r€7re/fi/re to koiuov raty 'Ia>v(OP (v. 109) : and this word koivou implies a close union. The assignment of the coins above mentioned to particular cities involves some difficulty. No. 1 bears the ordinary type of Chios, the sphinx, and was almost certainly struck in that city. The early electrum coinage of Chios is by no means easy to arrange ; but the excellent paper of J. Mavro- gordato^ facilitates matters. A Chian stater was actually found at Vourla in company with other coins of the Revolt.^ It seems, however, almost impossible in view of its style and fabric to assign it to a period much later than the middle of the sixth century. It seems that the coins of the class of the Vourla stater may well be the prototypes of all the staters of the League. A somewhat later and much finer stater of Chios may well be of the time of the League {Num. Chron., 1915, PL 11. 10). I must mention that the stater which in my previous paper (J, H. S. xxxi, PL VII* 1) I selected as being of the time of the Revolt is now regarded as a forgery, and I wish to withdraw it in favour of the stater last mentioned. It is to be observed that these pieces of Chian electrum are continuations of a series of staters of Milesian weight which began at Chios in the seventh century; it is at once suggested to us that it is Chios which is the true originator of the whole coinage, other cities merel^^ falling into line and adopting the Chian standard. This completely accords with the position taken by the Chians among the allies : they furnished the largest contingent of the fleet, and were the last to fly at Lade. In the sixth century Chios was very flourishing; and the works of the Chian sculptors Archermus and his sons had influence far and wide. Indeed, some numismatists might even be disposed, in view of the great uniformity of the coins, to give them, as did M. Six, all to the mint of Chios ; to hold that Chios J Num. Chron.j 1915. ^ Ibid,j PI. I. 7. THE COINAGE OF THE IONIAN EEVOLT 97 became the banker of the League, and struck money for the various cities with their own types. This is possible, but improbable : it is far more likely that each city issued its own coins. To take the nearest parallel, we do not suppose that the early incuse coins of South Italy were issued at a single mint; but their fabric is even more notably uniform than is the case in Ionia. No, 2 is almost certainly Samian. The half-bull is the ordinary type of Samos in later times: the reversion of the head is according to the fashion of art at the time. No. 3 is probably of Abydos, the type of which city is an eagle. No. 4 may also be of Abydos ; but the eagle standing on a dolphin is the ordinary type of the Pontic city of Sinope, a colony of Miletus, which may have followed the fortunes of the parent city. Abydos joined the Ionian League, but was soon reduced by Daurises. No. 5 bears the type of Clazomenae, which city was also reconquered by the Persians before the battle of Lade. No. 6 is certainly of Lampsacus. It is of different standard from the other electrum coins of Lampsacus,^ which are of Phocaean weight, and was evidently struck on a special occasion. M. Babelon observes that it ' permet d'affirmer que Lampsaque conclut, a un moment donne, avec Chios et, sans doute, d'autres villes, un traite d' alliance monetaire '. It is strange that, having gone so far, M. Babelon should not have thought of the Ionian Ev 'Idvcov ; and they suggest that had the Revolt succeeded, other things than coins would have been held in common by the cities, perhaps even a powerful State might have arisen. Indeed, we have in Herodotus a hint that, though the attempt failed, it yet had some result in counteracting the excessive autonomy of the cities of Ionia. He records to our surprise the leniency of the Persian victors, who, in place of selling the people as slaves, delivered them from their tyrants, established something like a federal arrangement among them,^ and put upon them no heavier tribute than they had borne before the Revolt. It may be that this leniency was a piece of Persian policy, in view of the contemplated invasion of Hellas. If so, it was very successful ; for a great part of the fieet of Xerxes at Salamis consisted of Ionian ships ; and some of them were zealous in the Persian service. Xerxes is said to have treated the accusation of treason brought by the Phoenicians against the lonians as a vile calumny. It is quite in accord with this that an inter- national or inter-civic coinage in electrum by Cyzicus was allowed by the Satrap of Dascylium, If at most cities of the Ionian coast silver coinage is rare in the fifth century, the fault lies not in Persian oppression but in the jealousy 1 Hdt. vi. 42 La6evTa^ dyairrjaaL TOXfS Trei'T/ray, koi t\apd pcoirevfia rovro, Kat ttjv dfia tovtco y^vo- \Lkvy\v rmv t€ yArprnv eTrav^rjariv koi rod uofiicrfiaro^ tl^tjv, ^EKarov yap €7roirj9 KOfit^op.evov^. According to Androtion, then, the alteration in the coinage was part of Solon's Seisachtheia or relief of debtors. Solon, says Androtion, did not cancel the debts but moderated the interest. He caused the mina, which before had been of the weight of 73 drachms, to be equivalent to 100, so that debtors paid the same number of drachms which they had borrowed, but in drachms of less weight ; thus those who had sums to pay were gainers, while those who received them were no losers. It was this operation which gained for Solon and his friends the name of x/aeco/co- TTtSai or debt-cutters. Androtion, however, adds that at the same time Solon made an increase of measures, that is, no doubt, measures of capacity. Apart from this phrase, to which we will return later, the passage seems quite clear. As the proportion of 73 to 100 is nearly the proportion in weight between the mina and drachm of the Athenian coinage and those of Aegina, numismatists naturally con- cluded that the Aeginetan standard was before Solon's time in use at Athens, and that he lowered the standard from Aeginetan to what may be called Solonic or Attic level, in order that debtors should save 27 per cent, in their re- payments. To say that the creditors would lose nothing is of course absurd : whatever the debtors would gain they would lose; but it is very natural that Solon should not have realized this fact. M. Babelon has no difficulty in showing that the measure attributed to Solon was financially THE EEFORMS OF SOLON 145 unsound ; ' but that is scarcely to the point. It is quite certain that, all through the course of history, coinage has been debased in order to accommodate debtors or to relieve the financial straits of governments ; and we have no reason to think that Solon would be too wise to attempt such things. We must next turn to the passage bearing on the ques- tion in the recently discovered work by Aristotle on The Constitution of Athens. The text of Aristotle, as determined by Blass and Kenyon, runs": 'Eu fiey ovv rot^ v6fioL9 ravra 8oK€t detuai SrjfioTLKdy TTpb Se Trj9 i^ofxodecFLas' 7roL7J(ra[i] rrjv tcov xipl^^l^ drro^KOir-qv , Kat fierce ravra rrjp re rat* jxirpoav koI (TraOfiSiV Kat rrjj/ rod POfiiafiaro? av^rjcrLv, kn eKeivov yap iyiuero Kal ra fierpa fiet^co r5>v ^eiBcAivemv Kal -q jivd rrporepov [dyo\v(ra ara\6fi\ov ijSSop.rJKoi'ra Spa^fid^ dt/eTrXrjpcoOr} raFy iKarov, rjv S 6 dp)(aio9 Xf^paKrtfp StSpa)(fioi'. knoL-qcre 8e Kal o-raO/xd irpos r[o] vo/xca/ia r[p]€i9 Kal e^rjKovra ^vds to rdXavrov dyovaa^, Kal kmSuv^^ fj.rj drj crai/ [at r]pei9 jxva'i rS> ararrjpL Kal T019 dXXots crradiioi^. The only serious question as to the reading arises over the phrase beginning rrju re rS>v fierpcoi/ with the repetition of the article rrju before rov vofiiarfxaro^. Hill had already remarked on the oddness of the phrase, and suggested as a possible emendation rriu re rZv fierpcav Kal o-radfxoip {av^ri£ other places. We have a coin of Lampsacus of Attic weight, perhaps struck on the same occasion (see p. 174). No. 3 is of more doubtful assignment. M. Six compares with the female head of the reverse that of Hera on coins of Heraea, and thinks that the coin may be a memorial of bhe alliance of Hippias with the Spartans; the Spartans baving no coinage, Hippias might regard that of Heraea as the most characteristically Peloponnesian. This, how- ever, is fanciful. Unless the alliance was under the special patronage of Hera, her ef&gy would scarcely be borrowed for the coin ; we might rather expect on the coin under the circumstances the head or figure of the Zeus of Olympia. M. Babelon is disposed ^ rather to regard the head on the coin as that of the Nymph Larissa, and to consider it as a record of an alliance of Hippias with the powerful Aleuadae of Larissa. In fact, a Thessalian alliance of the Tyrant is mentioned by Herodotus (v. 63), the Thessalians sending him a force of 1,000 horse. There is perhaps a weak point in these conjectures in the fact that coins (2) and (3) are both trihemiobols, that is, coins of an unusual denomination ; and for such denomi- nations at Athens special types were chosen.^ Nor is there any inscription on them to indicate that they are other than usual coins of Athens. § 4. The Olive-Wbeath of Athena. On the earliest tetradrachms of Athens the helmet of the goddess bears no wreath. But the later archaic types (PI. II. 12) regularly have the wreath. The question naturally arises, on what occasion the change was made, and what it means. To this question a fairly satisfactory answer can be given. The suggestion was made by M. Six ^ that it has reference to the victory of Marathon, in 490 B.C., 1 Traite, ii. 1, p. 757. 2 gee below, Ch. XIV. s Num. Chron., 1895, p. 176. 1957 M 162 EAELY COINS OF ATHENS and M. Babelon ^ has been able to contribute numismatic evidence wliich seems almost conclusive in favour of that view. About 1839 there was found in the canal of Xerxes at Mount Athos a treasure of 300 darics and 100 Athenian tetradrachms.^ This treasure was almost certainly buried at the time of the Persian invasion in 480 b.c. One of the tetradrachms has been figured. It is of barbarous fabric, probably an imitation, but the helmet of the goddess bears a wreath, thus conclusively proving that the wreath was introduced on the coins some time before 480 b.c. In 1886 there was found on the Acropolis of Athens, between the outer wall and the Erechtheum, just where the dedicated Corae were discovered, a treasure of Athenian coins, consisting of 35 tetradrachms, 2 drachms and 23 obols. These coins ^ were probably buried about 480 b.c. They are nearly all of barbarous fabric, and without the wreath. One only (which seems not to belong to the find *) is of careful work, and has the wreath. Thus it would seem that it was very shortly before 480 b.c. that the olive-wreath made its appearance. Among the earliest in type of the coins which bear it are the great Athenian decadrachms. These are rare and exceptional coins. It seems almost certain that they are contemporary with the Damareteia of ten drachms struck in Sicily by Grelon after his defeat of the Carthaginians. As to the date and occasion of these latter there is no dispute. Thus the victory of Marathon seems to have left its mark, not only in great dedications at Delphi and works of art at Athens, but also on the issues of the Athenian mint. Hence- forward Athena bears constantly on the coins the olive- wreath of victory. Decadrachms seem in Greece only to 1 TraiUj ii. 1, p. 765. ■^ Beul6, Monn. d'Athenes, p. 44, 3 Some of them in Babelon's Traite, PI. XXXIV, 2-11. * Mr. Kampanea has proved (Bit?/. Corr. HeU., 1906, p. 89) that the coin with the olive-wreath is a later insertion in the find. THE OLIVE-WREATH OF ATHENA 163 have been issued on the occasion of some great national triumph.^ If we may synchronize the decadrachm with Marathon, we obtain a valuable fixed point in the Athenian series. For the decadrachm is the latest of the true archaic coins, and the type thus fixed is perpetuated on the tetradrachms for a century. It is true that the stereotyping of the style is not complete. We may trace first an excessive and lifeless convention in the copying, and then, in the fourth century, greater irregularity and carelessness. But speak- ing generally, the type of the normal Athenian coinage during the greatness of Athens is thus given. Just as the victory of Marathon fixed for the future the Athenian ideas of patriotism and glory, so the coinage of Marathon fixed for the future the character of the Athenian coin. ^ The only decadrachms issued in Greece were the following : Syracuse — after Gelon's victory. Athens — after Marathon. Syracuse — after the defeat of the Athenians. Agrigentum — after the defeat of the Athenians. Alexander the Great — after his victories. M 2 CHAPTEK IX EAELY SILVER OF ASIA § 1. Earliest Issues. It appears that tlie silver coins issued by Croesus and the Persians were the earliest silver issues of Asia of wide circulation. But they were certainly not the very earliest in use. Silver coins of primitive aspect, with rough incuse reverses, had already been struck by some of the Greek cities^ of the coast and the islands. This we may conclude on various grounds. (1) A few silver coins of Asia are of extremely early fabric, and closely resemble the Ionian electrum. I would take as examples the following : (A) Obv. Rude female head, JRev. Two incuse squares, one much larger than the other. Weight 153-1 (grm. 9-92). Much worn and reduced in weight. Brit. Mus. (B. T. XVIII. 9.) The coin is probably of Aeginetan standard. It is attributed with probability to Cnidus. (B) Coin of Cos (British Museum). Ohv, Crab. Bev. Two incuse squares, one much smaller than the other. Weight 189-5 (grm. 12-33). PL III. 1. Stater of Aeginetan standard. (2) The coins of Phocaea appear to cease (for a long while) after the abandonment of the city by its inhabitants about 544 b.c. There are known many small silver coins of Phocaea which must have been struck before this time. (See Babelon, TraiU ii. 1, pp. 323-330.) The standard of these coins is uncertain, but there exist, as we shall presently see, larger coins of Phocaea of Aeginetan weight, which also precede the migration. The coinage of Phocaea is farther discussed under South Italy (Ch. XI). EAELIEST ISSUES 165 The people of Teos also migrated about 544 b.o. to Abdera on the Thracian coast. The coinage of the city is not how- ever in this case brought to an end, but continues. The earliest coins (type, griffin with one paw raised) (B. M. II. 24) follow the Aeginetan standard, and are certainly earlier than the migration to Abdera. (3) Definite evidence of the issue of silver coins in Asia Minor, and of the source whence the suggestion of them came, is furnished by the important Island finds of staters, mostly of Aeginetan weight, which have been already dis- cussed in Chapter V. In these finds the great mass of the coins was from the mint of Aegina. But there were many coins, of Aeginetan weight, and similar in type and appear- ance to Aeginetan coins, which were struck at other islands of the Aegean. In describing these finds I observed that some of the coins seemed to belong to the earliest issues in silver of the cities of Ionia and the islands of the Ionian and Carian coasts. This observation requires expansion and comment. The coins in question, almost all from the Island finds, are as follows : 1. Cyme in Aeolis. Ohv, Fore-part of horse, to r. or 1. Eev. Two incuse squares, one large and one small, enclosing patterns. Weight, 181-6 grains (grm. 11-70-12-04). (B. T. XIII. 22-24.) 2. Miletus. Ohv. Fore-part of lion looking back, with paw. Bev. Square incuse, sometimes enclosing a pattern. Weight, 181-6 grains (grm. 11.70-12-04). (B. T. XIX. 11-14.) 3. Chios. Obv. Sphinx seated, body nearly parallel to ground. Eev. Incuse square^ beside which a smaller incuse. Weight, 184-92 grains (grm. 11-97-1244). Babelon, Traite, ii. 1, p. 630. 4. Teos. Ohv. Griffin seated with curled wing, 1. fore-paw raised. Eev. Eough incuse square. Weight, 90-4 grains (grm. 5-85). (B. T. XIII. 2.) 166 EARLY SILVER OF ASIA 5. Phocaea. Ohv. Fore part of griffin. Eev. Incuse square in four compart- ments. Weighty 96 grains (grm. 6-26). Babelon, Traite, ii. 1, p. 327. 6. lasus. Ohv. Youth riding on dolphin. Rev. Incuse square. Weight, 92 grains (grm. 5-98). (B. T. XVIII. 1-2.) 7. Lindus in Rhodes. Ohv. Head of lion, mouth open. Bev. Incuse square, divided into four. Weight, 167-72 grains (grm. lO-SO-lllO). (B. T, XX. 16-18.) 8. Poseidion in Carpathos. Ohv, Two dolphins passing one another. Eev, Incuse square in eight sections, as on the earliest coins of Aegina. Weight, 188-93 grains (grm. 12.18-12-50). (B. T. LXII. 16-17.) 9. Cos. Ohv. Crab. Bev. Larger and smaller incuses, the larger divided into triangles. Weight, 188-90 grains (grm. 12-15-12-38). (B. T. XIX. 1.) These coins require a few comments. (1) Cyme. M. J. P. Six has proposed for these coins the attribution to Mylasa in Caria, partly on the ground of fabric, and partly because a stater of electrum with the type of a half-horse is of the Milesian class, and should belong to the south of Asia Minor. This electrum stater, however, belongs to the Ionian Revolt, and may very prob- ably have been struck at Cyme. The silver also are best attributed to that city, which was near to Smyrna. (2) Miletus. The chief difficulty in assigning these coins to Miletus is the inscription OVA which occurs on some of them, and has hitherto defied interpretation. But the type is practically identical with that in use in Miletus at a later time (lion looking back at a star), and the Milesian origin is most probable. It seems very unlikely that Miletus, being at the height of her power in the sixth century, would not issue silver coins. EARLIEST ISSUES 167 (3) Chios. No silver coins of Asia are more archaic in appearance than some which bear the type of the sphinx, and have usually been attributed to Chios. A recent excel- lent paper on the coins of Chios, by Mr, J. Mavrogordato,^ enables us satisfactorily to deal with these coins. 1. The earliest class consists of didrachms of Aeginetan standard : Obv. Archaic sphinx seated, body almost parallel to ground. Bev. Incuse square, beside which smaller incuse. Weight, 184-92 grains (grm. 11-97-12.44). (PL III. 3.) 2. Next comes a rare didrachm of Euboic weight : Obv. Sphinx in form similar, but a little more advanced ; in front rosette. Eev. Incuse square, quartered. Weight, 130 grains (grm. 842). 3. Next are didrachms of a lighter weight : Obv, Sphinx resembling the last, with separate lock falling from head, but the body slopes more. Eev. Incuse square, quartered. Weight, 113-20 grains (grm. 7.32-7.78). One weighs 105 grains (grm. 6-80, but this is quite exceptional). Three specimens of No. 1 were found in a hoard con- taining mostly coins of the islands of the Aegean Sea.^ Some writers, without adequate reasons, have regarded it as improbable that this coin is of Chios. The rare Chian coin of Euboic or Attic weight must have been struck on the occasion of some convention with Athens or Euboea. After this come the didrachms of the ordinary Chian standard, though at first they are somewhat light. (4) It is noteworthy that at Teos, lasus, and Phocaea the drachm, and not the didrachm, of Aeginetan weight is in use. (5) The Aeginetan standard of this coin, as well as its mint, seems certain. But the coin of Phocaea, which succeeds it, Obv, Grriffin walking, raising fore-foot. Eev. Incuse square quartered. Weight, 193 grains (grm. 12-51), ' I Num. Chron.j 1915, p. 1. 2 GreenweU in Num. Chron., 1890, p. 18. 168 EARLY SILVER OF ASIA is somewhat later in fabric. Mr. Head ^ observes that it has lost 20 grains through corrosion; it must therefore follow the Phoenician standard, rather than the Aeginetan. (7 and 8) The authorities have been greatly exercised as to the attribution of these coins. No. 7 they have given to a great variety of places : no. 8 to Argos, Delos, and Thera. The whole difficulty has arisen because numis- matists did not observe that shortly after coinage was started at Aegina many of the cities of Asia Minor and the islands of the coast issued money on the same standard ; and then before long gave up the Aeginetan for Asiatic standards, retaining the types. If this is borne in mind, it will be most natural to regard the lion's head coin, (no. 7) as belonging to Lindus, since the type is almost identical with that of later coins of Lindus, and the coin with the dolphins (no. 8) as belonging to Carpathos, which city is naturally indicated by the type. 10. Dardanus in Troas (?) Ohv. Cock 1. Mev, Incuse formed of eight triangles. Weight, 190 grains (grm. 12-31). Montagu Collection. (B. T. XVI. 10.) This coin also belonged to the Santorin find. The attribu- tion to Dardanus was suggested by Mr. Head ; ^ but here again the evidence of the electrum points in another direction. There are many early electrum coins with the type of the cock, some of them found by Mr. Hogarth ^ on the site of the temple of Artemis at Ephesus, and belonging almost certainly to Southern Ionia. The electrum stater of the time of the Ionian revolt, bearing the cock as type, is of uncertain attribution ; but Miletus has as good a claim to it as any city. As we have seen, Miletus did, in all prob- ability, strike silver staters of Aeginetan weight ; and it is possible that the coin above mentioned may belong to Miletus. The best plan is to leave its place of mint undetermined. * B. M. Cat. Coins Ionia, p. 214. ^ ^^ j|f_ (^^^^^ Ionian p. xxxiii. ^ Excavations at Ephesus, p. 81. EAELIEST ISSUES 169 The dominance of the Aeginetan coinage is conspicuous. It seems even to have been used at Athens till the time of Solon. "Westwards it did not spread ; for it is a mistake to regard as of Aeginetan standard either the staters of Corcyra or the earliest issues of Sicily at Naxos and Himera. In both these cases the standard was really that of Corinth ; the Corcyrean staters being tetradrachms of that standard, and the early coins of Sicily didrachms. But on all shores of the Aegean and the Euxine the Aeginetan standard was victorious. It was not only that the Aeginetan was the earliest silver coinage, and held for a time a monopoly, but that the Aeginetans were the most successful and wealthiest of merchants, though they founded no colonies. The invasion of Ionia by the Aeginetan standard is a very interesting phenomenon. How coins minted on this standard fitted in with the electrum issues which were there in possession, we have no means of knowing. All these coins are very early, earlier than the time of Croesus. And it would seem that as soon as the state issues of Croesus and Cyrus in pure gold made their appearance, and the Ionian electrum was superseded, most of the cities which had for a time adopted the Aeginetan standard gave it up for some silver standard (Phoenician or Persian) more in accord with the Croesean and daric currency. There were, however, three districts in which the Aeginetan standard was retained after the time of Croesus. The first is the cities of S.W. Asia Minor, Cnidus, lasus, Cos, Camirus. The Carian cities had a Dorian origin, and probably retained a connexion with Peloponnesus. They had an union centring in the temple of Apollo Triopius near Cnidus. Herodotus ^ gives the names of the cities belonging to the league as Cnidus, Halicarnassus, Cos, and the three Rhodian cities, Lindus, lalysus, and Camirus. It is interesting to observe that this religious league does not include all the Carian cities which used the Aeginetan standard; but five of the cities above mentioned, Cnidus, HaUcarnassus, Cos, Lindus, and Camirus, used this standard. 1 i. 144. 170 EAELY SILVER OF ASIA So did Chersonesus, that is the Tripolis of Chersonesus ^ in the immediate neighbourhood of Cnidus, and lasus farther to the north. Some of the most noteworthy coins of the Carian district in the latter part of the sixth century are — Cnidus. Obv* Fore-part of lion. Rev. KNIAION (usually abbreviated) Archaic head of Aphrodite. Weight, 94-9 grains (grm. 610-646). (PI. III. 6.) Cos. Ohv. Crab. Eev, Incuse squares. Weight, 189-5 grains (grm. 12-28). British Museum. (PL III. 1.) Camirus in Khodes. Ohv, Fig-leaf. Eev. Incuse divided by band. Weight, 183-86 grains (grm. 11-89-12-03). (PL III. 7.) Chersonesus of Caria. Ohv, Fore-pai*t of lion, with paw. Bev. X E P Fore-part of bulL Weight, 183 grains (grm. 11-83). (PL III. 5.) lasus in Caria. Ohv. Youth riding on dolphin. Rev. Incuse square. Weight, 92-3 grains (grm. 5.97-5-99). (B. T. XVIII. 1, 2.) It is noteworthy that the cities of this district of Asia Minor are cut off by mountains from the interior, so that island influence would, in their case, be considerable. The second group consists of a single Ionian city, Teos, which kept to the Aeginetan weight when the other cities of Ionia gave it up. The reason for this anomaly may probably be found in the fact that the Aeginetan standard for silver coin was dominant in the Black Sea, and the relations between Teos and the Black Sea are indicated by the foundation of Phanagoria on the Asiatic side by the people of Teos. It was the Phoenician standard, not the Aeginetan, which the people of Teos carried with them to their new home at Abdera in Thrace. Phocaea, as we have seen, seems to have issued a few coins on the Aeginetan standard. But * See Babelon, Traite, ii. 1, p. 433. EARLIEST ISSUES 171 in the case of Phocaea, as in that of Teos, it was not the Aeginetan standard but an Asiatic standard which the people who emigrated took with them to their new home. The base silver issued by Phocaea is discussed later. The third group comprises some cities on the Black Sea, of which Sinope and Panticapaeum struck money before 500 B.C. These, it is probable, in the great time of Miletus used the Milesian electrum. They seem to have been unaffected by the coinages of Croesus and the Persians, After the fall of Miletus there came a time when the trade of the Black Sea fell partially into the hands of the Aeginetans. Xerxes at the Hellespont^ saw ships sailing out of the Euxine laden with corn for Aegina and Pelopon- nese. The silver coinage of Sinope^ begins just at this time, and it seems to follow the Aeginetan standard, only issuing the drachm instead of the didrachm. The earliest coins of Sinope are very heavy. Sinope. Ohv, Eagle's head : beneath, dolphin. Eev. Incuse square in four compartments. Weight, 100-92 grains (grm. 645- 598). (B. T. XVII. 1-8.) Panticapaeum, Ohv. Lion's scalp, facing. Eev. Rough incuse square. Weight, 91 grains (grm. 5-89). (B. T. XVII. 9.) The facts thus put together seem to indicate that the Aeginetan standard was an exotic in Pontus, but that several cities and districts passed on to it from the Milesian standard. The Milesian stater only weighing 222 grains (grm. 1440), the fall to the Aeginetan stater of 192 grains (grm. 1244) was not great, and may have been gradual. Nevertheless the adoption of the Aeginetan stater marks not only a slight lowering of standard, but also the intro- duction of the drachm in place of the trinal division, the adoption of silver instead of electrum as the standard, and ^ Hdt. vU. 147. Though the speech of Xerxes on this occasion may be an invention, we may accept the testimony of Herodotus as to facts of com- merce, 2 Six and Wroth {B. M. Cat.) give it to the time after 480 b. c. 172 EARLY SILVER OF ASIA the passing over to an essentially European way of reckoning. And the change must have taken place early in the sixth century, certainly before the destruction of Miletus by the Persians. There is another region, that of Oilicia and Cyprus, in which early coins of Aeginetan standard are usually sup- posed to have been struck. But this opinion appears to be erroneous. M. Babelon gives the following attributions : Celenderis in Cilicia. Obv. Goat kneeling. Eev. Eude incuse. Weight, 93-90 grains (grm. 6-05-5-85). (B. T. XXV. 1-3.) Mallus in Cilicia. Ohv. Winged figure running. Eev. Conical stone in rude iacuse. Weight, 185-178 grains (grm. 11-98-1 1-60). (B. T. XXV. 5-17.) Both of these assignments are more than doubtful. The coin given to Celenderis probably belongs to the island of Andros. The coin given to Mallus was assigned to that city by the high authority of Dr. Imhoof-Blumer ; but the latter has since retracted his attribution.^ He now gives the coin to Aphrodisias in Cilicia; but there does not appear to be any better reason in this case than in the other. In the absence of any other coins of Aeginetan weight belonging to cities on this part of the coast, we may best regard the coin as belonging to some other region. The weight would best suit Caria. It has commonly been supposed — and the view is even accepted by Head — that the archaic coins of Cyprus follow the Aeginetan standard ; but Mr. Hill in the B. M. Cat Cilicia ^ states the matter exactly. ' For all practical purposes the coins (of Cyprus) were of the Persic standard.' I do not think that there are any grounds for holding that the Aeginetan standard gained even theoretic sway in Cyprus. It is interesting to see that the Aeginetan silver standard, ^ Kleinasiat, Milnzen^ ii. p. 435. ^ p. xxii. EARLIEST ISSUES 173 like the power of tlie Athenian Empire, does not extend as far west as Cilicia and Cyprus. § 2. The Attic Standard. There are very few certain examples of silver coins being minted in Asia at this period on the Euboic, Corinthian, or Attic standards. The coins commonly given to Samos, and regarded as of Attic weight, with types of the fore-part of a bull, and a lion's head facing, have already been considered in Chapter I, where it is suggested that they follow a standard different from the Euboic and of earlier origin than the Attic. The archaic coin bearing as type a lyre, attributed to Colophon in the Historia Numorum (ed. 1), is withdrawn from that city in the British Museum Catalogue of Ionia ^ and assigned, in the second eAitiouoi the Historia^ to Delos. The remarkable archaic coin {Ohv. Lion tearing prey : Revf, Forepart of winged boar in incuse : Weight, 266 grains (grm. 17-23): (B. M. II. 23)) was formerly attributed to Clazomenae, but is now reckoned among the uncertain. The weight is certainly Attic (or Cyrenaic), not Euboic. It seems very improbable that it can belong to Ionia, A few of the coins of Chios, as we have seen, were minted on the Euboic standard; but it soon gives way to the standard called Chian. There remains only the beautiful coin of Methymna, which is certainly of Attic weight : Ohv. MAOYMNAIOC. Boar to r. scratching himself. Eev. Inscr. repeated. Head of Athena r., Pegasus on her helmet. Weight, 132-126 grains (grm. 8.65-8-15). (PI. VI. 11.) M. Six^ assigns it to the period 523-513 b.c, between the death of Polycrates and the institution of Goes as ruler of Lesbos by the Persians. I do not think that it can be so early, and I would assign it to the period 480-460 b.c. It must have been struck on the occasion of some alliance or understanding with Athens. An alliance with Athens 1 Num. Chron., 1895, 191. 174 EAELY SILVER OF ASIA suggests itself in the case of a coin struck probably at Lampsacus ^ : Ohv, Fore-part of winged horse. Bev, Incuse square, quartered. Weight, 33 grains (grm. 2-16). This is clearly a hemidrachm of Attic standard : in fabric it is earlier than the silver of Lampsacus struck at the time of the Ionian Revolt. It may "well be a memorial of an alliance between Lampsacus and Hippias of Athens, as M. Six has suggested.^ We have above (p. 167) met with a coin of Chios of Attic weight, perhaps recording a similar alliance. § 3. Phoenician Standard. Although the Asiatic cities in the half-century pre- ceding 480 B. c, setting aside the exceptions which I have mentioned, are usually said to have issued silver money on either the Babylonic (Persian) or the Phoenician (Graeco-Asiatic) standard, yet as a matter of fact there prevails a great irregularity in the weights of such coins. Strictly speaking, every city seems to have used a standard of its own, which (a remark- able fact) seems, when once fairly established, to have held its own for long periods. We can, however, distinguish a heavier standard with a stater of about 240 grains (grm. 15-50), or the half of this, 120 grains (grm. 7-75), and a lighter standard with a stater of about 216 grains (grm. 14), or the half of this, 108 grains (grm. 7), and we can distinguish between the heavier Persian standard, with a stater of about 168 grains (grm. 10-88), or its half, 84 grains (grm. 5-44), and the lighter Babylonic standard with a stater of 152-142 grains (grm. 9.84-9-20). We have seen, in treating of the electrum coins of Asia, that cities to the north of Smyrna and the Hermus valley, ' Babelon, Traite, ii. 1, p. 378. 2 Babelon in CoroUa Xumismatica, p. 3, PHOENICIAN STANDARD 175 such cities as Lampsacus, Cyzicus, and Phocaea, minted electrum on the Phocaean standard, which is the same as that above called heavy Phoenician. At the same period, the cities to the south of the Hermus, such as Miletus and Ephesus, used the Milesian standard, which is identical with that above called the light Phoenician. The same division applies in the case of the silver coin. The cities to the north of the Hermus still use the heavier, and those to the south of the Hermus the lighter standard. "We may well then retain the names Phocaean and Milesian standards in preference to the more cumbrous names of heavy and light Phoenician or Grraeco- Asiatic. "We begin with the cities which struck silver on the Phocaean standard : Phocaea. Ohv, Seal. Rev, Incuse square. Weight, 57-60 grains (gim. 3-68-3-85). (B. T. XIII. 12.) Tenedos. Ohv. Janiform heads, male and female. Bev. TENEAION. Bipennis ; amphora attached to it. Weight, 239-43 grains (grm. 1548-15-73). (PI. III. 8 ; B. M. II. 19.) Also the half of this : the didrachm.^ Parium. Olv. Gorgon head. Bev. Pattern in incuse square. Weight, 50-61 grains (grm. 3'24-3-95). (B. T. XVI. 22, 23.) Also the half and the quarter. The attribution to Parium of these coins is probable but not certain. It is notable that Tenedos and Parium are close to the Hellespont, and in the line of commerce. Chios also may be classed as using the Phocaean standard, though some of its coins, up to 122 grains (grm. 7-90) (B. T. XII), exceed the limit usual with this standard. "We shall see in a later chapter ^ that in the fifth century the 1 Babelon, Traite, ii. 1, p. 367. 2 Ch. XIV. 176 EARLY SILVER OF ASIA Chian tetradraclim was regarded as a fortieth of the mina of Aegina ; and it is quite possible that from the beginning it had a recognized relation to the island coinage. In that case the Chians, after beginning, as we have seen, with a stater which was a fiftieth part of the Aeginetan mina (p. 167), went on to a stater which was the fortieth part of that mina. Some cities, Phocaea, Mytilene, and Cyzicus, also issued, on the Phocaean standard, coins of base quality, bearing the same relation to silver which electrum bears to gold. At a later period, as we know from the excellent testimony of an inscription, Phocaea and Mytilene made a convention by which they issued alternately hectae of electrum struck on the Phocaean standard, hectae of poor quality of metal, though good as works of art. The base silver issued earlier by Phocaea and Mytilene is of metal called billon, being silver adulterated with copper and lead. It is interesting to observe that the chief cities which issued electrum also struck in base silver. Mr. Head long ago conjectured that whereas the Milesian electrum was intended to pass as a special metal, the Phocaean electrum was intended to pass as gold ^ ; and we may best accept this view. The Phocaean electrum contains, according to the experi- ments of Mr. Head, from 51 to 64 per cent, of gold; the billon of Mytilene, according to Lenormant, contains about 40 per cent, of pure silver.^ It may be suggested that the people of Cyzicus, Phocaea, and Lesbos, having found their issues of electrum exceedingly profitable, tried a similar experiment with silver. There is no pure silver at Mytilene contemporary with the billon. The billon begins about 550 B.C. and continues till about 440. Silver begins at Mytilene about 440.^ The exceptional silver coin issued at Methymna about 480 b.c. conforms, as we have seen, to the Attic standard. ^ Cat. Gr. CoinSj Ionia, p. xxvi ; above, p. 81. 2 Co*. TroaSj &c., p. Ixiv. 3 Ihid. PHOENICIAN STANDARD 177 The principal early coins in billon are the following (all lave incuse reverse) : Weight. Lesbos. grm. grains. Bahelon, . Four-leaf device (on shield) 15-24-15-30 235-6 p. 344 PI. XIV. 1 . Head of lion to 1. 15-10-15-19 283-4 p. 345 )> 2 . Lion's scalp facing 14-85 229 J? ■>) 3 . G-orgon-mask 14-28-14.45 220-3 J? 17 5 . Fore-part of boar 6-85 106 p. 347 5) 6 . Two calves' heads 10-50-11.22 162-73 p. 359 PI. XV. 14 . Calf's head 5.40-5-52 84-5 )? J} 17 . Calf kneeling ; above, cock 3-88 601 Cyzicus. . Head and tail of tunny 14.22-14-70 220-7 p. 390 PI. XVI. 25 The coins of Parium, above described as being of silver, >re not of quite pure metal. A quantity of smaller divisions was issued; but, as d!. Babelon observes, they are not to be trusted for the letermination of standards ; they vary considerably in weight, and a little added or subtracted takes them over apparently from one standard to another. If we examine the above-mentioned larger coins, they )resent simple phenomena. M. Babelon, losing as I think he wood in the trees, assigns the base silver coins of ?hocaea and Mytilene to a number of standards, the Euboic, ^eginetan, Persian, and Phocaean. All, however, except > and 7, may be reasonably assigned to the standard which ve may call Phocaean, with a tetradrachm of 236 grains grm. 15'30) and a didrachm of 118 grains (grm. 7-65). lumbers 6 and 7 of the list, however, follow the Persian tandard. They are certainly later than the others, and it vould be natural to assign them to the period of the ixpeditions of Darius and Xerxes. The principal issues of silver, according to the lighter Phoenician or Milesian standard, in the latter part of the ixth century, are : /- i I ■amos. Obv, Lion's scalp, facing. Eev. £A. Fore-part of bull. Weight, 198-202 grains (grm. 12.80-13-05). (PI. III. 10 ; B. T. XI. 23-30.) 1 Num. Chron., 1899, p. 276. 19B7 ;N 178 EAELY SILVER OF ASIA Ephesus. Ohv. Bee. Eev, Incuse square, quartered. Weight, 50-56 grains (gnn. 3.20-360). (PI. Til. 9; B. T. XL 13-16.) Poseidion in Carpathos. Odv. Two dolphins passing one another ; beneath, a smaller dolphin ; in square. Bev. Incuse square divided by band. Weight, 209-214 grains (grm. 13-50-13.90). (PI. III. 11 ; B. M. III. 22; B. T. XIX. 8-10.) lalysus in Rhodes. Ohv, Fore-part of winged boar. Hev, lEAYSION. Eagle'shead; in square. Weight, 223-30 grains (grm. 1442-14-86). (PI. III. 12; B. M. III. 31; B. T. XX. 14.) liindus in Rhodes. Obv, Lion's head. Bev. Inscr. Incuse square divided by band ; sometimes inscr. AINAI. Weight, 210-213 grains (grm. 13-60-13-80). (B. T. XX. 16-20.) It will be observed that the standards of these coins vary notably. A coin of Milesian weight has been, in the B. M. Cat. Troas (no. 1, p. 42), given to Cebren — Obv, Head of ram r, Bev, Quadripartite incuse square. Weight, 217 grains (grm. 14-06). Here again we may follow the lead of the electrum coins on which a ram and a ram's head are frequent devices;^ but in all cases they are of Milesian weight and South Ionian character. It seems clear that the coin we are considering cannot belong to the Troad. Clazomenae has been suggested as an alternative, and to this there is not the same objection. Other silver coins of Milesian weight, mostly didrachms, struck at Lampsacus, Erythrae, Clazomenae, Miletus, and Chios, at the time of the Ionian Revolt, have been discussed already in Ch. III. It is noteworthy that, whereas the electrum of Ionia is divided into thirds, sixths, and twelfths, tlie silver coinage of the cities of Asia from the first divides by two and four ' Babelon, TraiU^ ii. 1, p. 30. PHOENICIAN STANDARD 179 We have the tetradrachm, the drachm, the obol, and their divisions and multiples. We must suppose that it was the influence of Hellas, and mainly of Aegina, which introduced into Asia the drachmal division. But this division, while thoroughly adopted by the Greek cities, does not seem to have passed into the state coinage of Persia. The silver coin there is properly the siglos or shekel; and if it is sometimes spoken of as the Persian drachm, this way of speaking is only derived ; nor does the shekel divide in currency : there are no Persian state hemidrachms or obols of silver ; only among the later issues we find thirds of the shekel, which might, no doubt, be called diobols,^ If there were a serious attempt to keep the silver coins in a certain ratio of value to the gold, it might seem to account for considerable fluctuations in their standard. When or where gold was at a premium, the silver standard might rise, as at Chios, to 240 grains : where gold was at a discount the silver standard might fall, as at Ephesus and Samos, to near 200 grains. This explanation, however, does not satisfactorily account for the varieties of the Ionian silver standards, and there remains to be accounted for the fact that when once a silver standard has gained acceptance in a city, it remains fixed there for centuries. Gold could not be permanently at a lower value in the northern cities of Ionia than in the southern, distant only a few hours' sail. This view must therefore be definitely rejected. § 4. Persian Standard. It was on this standard that the main currency of Asia in early times was based. The Persian silver sigli or shekels of 86 grains (grm. 5-57) circulated in immense quantities in the interior of Asia Minor and are now found in hoards. A great proportion of them bear countermarks, small devices stamped upon them, probably by the collectors of the king's taxes, or by the local authorities in the different satrapies ^ * Babelon, Traite, ii. 2 ; PI. Ixxxvii. 5, 13. 2 See Num. Ohron., 1916, p. 1. N 2 180 EARLY SILVER OF ASLl The countermarks may have been intended to guarantee them for currency in particular districts. The sigli do not appear, however, to have been the normal currency in all parts of Asia Minor. In the south of that region they were dominant, and the Greek cities of Pamphylia, Cilicia, and Cyprus conformed the coins of their civic issues to this standard. In the cities of the Ionian and Mysian coast, on the other hand, the Persian sigli were less frequent, and the standard used for the civic issues was, as we have seen, usually some variety of the Phoenician. As I have already observed, in the civic coinages which followed the Persian standard, the weight of the siglos was treated as a drachm, and multiplied or divided after the manner of the Grreek silver coinage. Didrachms of this standard, 172-176 grains (grm. 11-14- lO'SO) were minted at many cities of the south coast as early as or earlier than 500. But in no case can they be given to an earlier date than the Persian Conquest. Among these cities are : Phaselis. Ohv, Prow of galley in the form of a boar's bead. Bev. So times inscr. Incuse square ; or stern of ship in incuse. Weight, 167-172 grains (grm. 10.80-11.15). (PI. III. 13; B. M. III. 36 ; B. T. XXIII.) Aspendus and Selge. Ohv, "Warrior advancing. Bev. Inscr. Triquetra of legs. Weight, 164-170 grains (grm. 10-60-11). (B. T. XXIII.) Side. Ohv. Pomegranate. Bev, Head of Athena. Weight, 158-172 grains (grm. 10-20-11-10). (B. T. XXIV. 6-9.) These cities lie near together in Pamphylia on the southern shore of Asia Minor. Opposite is the island of Cyprus, where most of the cities used the same standard, Salamis, Citium, Idalium, and Paphos. Outside this region we cannot find cities which have used it. The cities of Cilicia would no doubt have used it. had they struck coins in the sixth century. But this does not seem to have been PEESIAN STAND AED 181 the case ; and other coins of the Persian standard, given to the sixth century and to Asia Minor mints, seem to be wrongly assigned. J. P. Six,^ followed with much hesitation by M. Babelon, proposes to give to the Cilician city of Issus a series of archaic coins having on the obverse the head of a roaring lion with paw advanced, on the reverse an incuse square made up of four triangles. "Weight 168-158 grains (grm. 10-86-10-23). For this attribution, however, the only evidence is a very doubtful reading by M. Six of I ^^ A I ON on a satrapal coin at The Hague which bears on the obverse a lion's head and two paws. The legend certainly cannot be read on a photograph of the coin,^ and M. Babelon rejects it. Mr. Hill is disposed to give these coins to Selge^ in Pamphylia. There is a very remarkable stater given to the island of Calymnos : * Ohv, Kude head of warrior in a crested helmet. Bev, Seven- stringed lyre fitted into an incuse. Curious fiat fabric. Weight, 162-156 grains (grm. 10-50-10-10). (PI. III. 14; B. M. III. 29.) The coin is carefully struck : it ^is quite a mistake to suppose the exaggerated and absurd features of the head of the obverse to be the result of clumsy archaism : they are intentionally made so. Nor is the fitting of the reverse- type into the incuse really archaic. Almost the nearest parallel is to be found on the early coins of Parium and of Zancle in Sicily ; also on a coin of Eretria in Euboea,^ where the sepia on the reverse is similarly fitted into an incuse. This coin of Eretria is given in the B, M, Cata- logue to 480-445 B.C. ; I do not think that the coin before us is much earlier. Closely similar also are the earliest coins of Tyre, of about 450 b. c, bearing on the reverse an ^ Num, Chron.j 1888, p. 115 ; cf. Babelon, Traite, ii. 1, p. 567. 2 Traite, PI. xxv. 20. ^ B. M, Cat, Lycia, p. cxv. * B. M. Cat. Carittj PI. xxix, 8 ; Traite, PI. xviii. 22. 5 B. M. Cat. Central Greece^ p. 121, 25 ; PI. xxiii. 4. 182 EAELY SILVER OF ASIA owl fitted into an incuse (B. M. Cat Phoenicia, PL XXVIII. 9). It is true that the two types of a helmeted head and a lyre are found together on later coins of Calymnos. Yet the fabric of our coin, which is quite different from that of Caria, and the weight, which is unknown west of Lycia, make us hesitate to give the coin to Calymnos, and we must certainly withdraw it from the veiy early period. Several Greek cities on the Asiatic side, situated near the entrance to the Euxine, or on the shores of the Pro- pontis, struck coins on the Persian standard before or during the Persian wars. Antandros. Ohv, Fore-part of lion. Eev, Goat and pine-tree. Weight, 171 grains (grm. 1140). Didrachm. (B. T. CLXIII. 1.) Abydos. Obv. AB YARN ON. Eagle. Rev. Gorgon-head. Weight, 84- 80 grains (grm. 541-5-21). Drachm. (B, T. CLXVII. 29.) Iiampsacus. Obv. Jauiform female head. Rev. Head of Athena. Weight, 85-72 grains (grm. 5-50-4-65). (B. T. XVI. 18.) Astacus. Obv. Lobster. Rev. AS. Head of Nymph. Weight, 76 grains (grm. 4-90). (B. T. CLXXXI. 1-5.) It is to be observed that M. Babelon gives these coins of Antandros, Abydos, and Astacus to the time after 480 B.C. It is rather on the ground of historic probability than on any other ground that I place them earlier. It is noteworthy that there is no corresponding coinage of Persian weight before 480 b. o. on the European side. Cardia in the Thracian Chersonese issued, as we have seen, money on the Attic standard. The coins of Salymbria are almost undistinguishable from those of Dicaea, and follow, like them, the standard of Abdera. The coins of the Lycian cities certainly do not follow the royal Persian standard, but one 20 grains lighter. PERSIAN STANDARD 183 The Lycian coins struck before 480 b.o. seem to liave the following weights : ^ Stater 148-136 grains . . grm. 9-60-8-80 (some lighter) Third or tetrobol . . 46-38 grains . . grm. 3 -2-46 Sixth or diobol . . . 22-18 grains . . grm. 1-40-1-16 The only other district which struck on a similar standard is that of the minting tribes of the Thraco-Macedonian coast. But their stater is half a gramme heavier, and they divide it by two and do not strike any coin equivalent to the Lycian thirds. This standard is difficult to explain. It cannot be the Attic, being decidedly too heavy. What is clear is that it is a system of thirds and sixths like that of the electrum coins or that of Corinth, and that the weight of the coins varies in a remarkable and inexplicable way (see p. 188). Six and Head have called it Babylonic. But it cannot be the silver standard adopted by the Persians from Babylon. If we could with any confidence accept the statement of Herodotus that there was a talent in use for silver in the Per- sian Empire equal to 70 Euboic minae,^ this would about give us the required weight. But Mommsen, with the general approval of numismatists, has corrected Herodotus's 70 to 78 ; and it is certain that if the Lydian and royal Persian silver coinage was minted on the Babylonic standard, 78 : 60 rather than 70 : 60 represents the true proportion of that standard to the Euboic. The fact that the stater in Lycia is divided into thirds and sixths, not into halves, is a strong reason for supposing that, whence- soever the standard may be derived, it is of Asiatic character. The natural supposition would be that the heavier coins were the earlier, and that the lighter coins, which are practically of Attic standard, were struck towards the ^ B. M. Cat. Lycia^ pp. 1-10. 2 Hdt. iii. 89. Julius PoUux {Onom. ix. 86) gives the same proportion as Herodotus, It is uncertain whether Hex'odotus is his authority or not. 184 EARLY SILVER OF ASIA middle of the fifth century, in the time of the Athenian Empire. Such an effect seems to have been produced in Thrace towards 440 B.C., by the spread of the Athenian sea-power, on the coins of Thasos and Neapolis.^ But the misfortune is that the fabric of the Lycian coins does not bear out the theory. Coins of less than 140 grains weight were issued in the sixth century ; indeed, some of the earliest we have are among the light specimens : Obv. Fore-part of boar. Bev. Eude incuse square (Brit. Mus.). Weights, 136-2 grains (grm. 8-83), 143 grains (grm. 9-26). (B, T. XXI. 1.) Thus the Lycian standard does not appear to have been originally the same as that of Persia ; but it is exceptional. It may be well briefly to sum up the conclusions of this chapter. Silver coinage appears in Asia at some of the Greek cities in the sixth century. The weight of it, the Aeginetan, and the drachmal system according to which it is divided, alike indicate an European influence ; silver coinage seems to have spread from the Cyclades to the cities of the mainland. After the introduction of the gold staters of Croesus and the darics, these dominated the silver issues of Asia, and the Aeginetan weights survived only in a few districts, as stated above. The electrum coinage of the coast disappears ; and in place of it the G-reek cities strike silver coins on the two systems which work in with the daric and the gold bars or pellets of 130 grains (grm. 842) which preceded the daric, the systems called Persian and Phoenician. The properly European systems, the Euboic, Corinthian and Attic, get no footing in Asia. "Whether any silver coins of Asia are earlier than the time of Croesus, excepting only those of Aeginetan weight, is improbable. It would simplify matters, from the his- torical point of view, if we could make the silver issues of the Asiatic standards subsequent in every case to the electrum issues; but we are scarcely at present able to affirm this with confidence. 1 See Ch. XIV. PERSIAN STANDARD 185 The districts dominated by the four systems, heavy Phoenician, light Phoenician, heavy Persian, and light Persian, may be mapped out clearly. Heavy Phoenician (Phocaean) dominates the coast north of the Hermus river, light Phoenician (Milesian) from the Hermus southward to Oaria. Caria, with the Pontic region, retains the Aeginetan standard. The light Persian system prevails in Lycia, and the heavy Persian in Pamphylia and Cyprus. Thus what seems at first sight to be a chaos of weights is reduced by a careful scrutiny to a reasonable system. The wild assertion of Lenormant that Greek cities regulated the weight of their coins without regard to any external authority, or the customs even of their neighbours, turns out to be as inconsistent with the facts of the surviving coins as it is contrary to probability and reason. They were guided, as we should be, by considerations of com- mercial utility ; though no doubt the force of tradition was stronger with them than with us. CHAPTER X EAELY COINS OF THEACE AND MACEDON The region comprising Southern Thrace and Eastern Macedon ^ must be regarded as one from the numismatic point of view* It was a region in which various streams of influence contended for the mastery, with the result that the variations of standard are many and frequent. It may be regarded as a meeting-point of European and Asiatic influences, the latter being in early times more powerful. We may discern five lines upon which various influences moved : (1) The island of Thasos was a great source of precious metals, especially gold ; and the neighbouring coast of Thrace, which was unequalled for richness in the precious metals, was much under its hegemony. (2) The region of Chalcidice, including Mount Athos, was from a very early period fringed with colonies from Hellas, sent out principally from the great colonizing cities of Chalois in Euboea and Corinth. Athens was also active in this district, and Neapolis, somewhat farther to the east, was regarded as a colony of Athens. (3) The cities farther to the east, notably Abdera and Maronea, were colonized, not by the Greeks of Europe, but by those of Asia, and their relations were rather with Ionia than with Europe. (4) The Kingdom of Macedon had a powerful inland influence. The Kings of Macedon boasted of Argive descent, and imported some Greek culture into the moun- tain valleys to the west of the Strymon, where the mass of the people were of Thracian and Paeonian descent. ^ I use the current names : Mr. Svoronos, with some reason, suggests Paeonia as a more satisfactory name. THASIAN STANDARD 187 From 500 b.o. onwards the power of the kings gradually extended eastward. It is their coins, bearing the names of kings and so to be dated, which enable us to reduce to some order the mass of coins struck in the silver-producing districts of Mounts Pangaeus and Bertiscus. (5) In the days of Darius and Xerxes Persian armies crossed the Hellespont, and made their way along the Thracian coast. These armies needed abundant supplies, and must have increased the demand for a coinage. I. Thasian Standard. The coins of Thasos must be regarded as giving the key to the coinages of the neighbouring districts of Thrace. Thasos was in very early times used by the Phoenicians as a source of gold. At some early but unassigned period they were succeeded by colonists from Pares, who are said by Herodotus^ to have made a great revenue from gold mines on the island and on the neighbouring coast shortly before the invasion of Xerxes. We have, however, with the doubtful exception of rare coins in electrum,^ no early gold coins of Thasos. But the produce of the silver mines on the coast adjoining Thasos and under Thasian dominion was issued as coin during most of the sixth century — abundant silver coins, notable for their type and style. The type is a satyr carrying off a woman. (PI. IV. 1 ; B. M. IV. 3.) The style is so massive and vigorous, though somewhat rude, that Brunn made it one of the corner-stones to support his theory of a north G-reek style of art mainly Ionic in ten- dency. "We may distinguish a rounder and more lumpish fabric which belongs to the earlier part, from a flat fabric which belongs to the later part, of the sixth century. It was doubtless in imitation of the coins of Thasos that certain of the tribes of the mainland took to minting. The influence of Thasos may be observed alike in the monetary standard used and in the types chosen. The latter are taken from the circle of Dionysus, a satyr pursuing or » Vr. 46. 2 See Ch. IV. 188 EAELY COINS OF THEACE AND MACEDON carrying a nymph, or a centaur bearing a woman in his arms. Sometimes the type is a horseman beside his horse. In the Pangaean district the moneying tribes were the Orrescii and Zaeelii : we know hardly anything about them ; not even their exact geographical location. In the Emathian district coins of the same weight and types were issued by the Letaei. It has been the custom to suppose that these tribes were in a very backward state of civilization, and that their com- paratively early entry into the list of peoples who issued coins must be attributed partly to the abundance of silver in their country, and partly to the influence of Hellenic cities founded on the coast. But in a remarkable article ^ Mr. Svoronos has claimed for them a higher state of culture ; and certainly, so far as the coins go, they testify to the existence of a robust and vigorous, if somewhat coarse, school of art in the district. Whether the coins of the same class, and usually attributed to the cities of Aegae and Ichnae in Macedon, really belong to those cities is not certain. Dr. Svoronos maintains that in Macedon coinage was only issued by the kings ; that the coins given to Aegae are wrongly attributed, and that the Ichnae which struck coins was not the city in Macedon, but one farther to the west on the river Angites. The standard on which the Thasian coins were issued is noteworthy. The staters weigh 152-140 grains (grm. 9-84-9-07), and sometimes nearly reach 160 grains; the drachms are of rather lower standard, not exceeding 70 grains (grm. 4-53) ; there are also obols (type two dolphins) weighing 10-7 grains (grm. 0-65-0-45), and half obols (type one dolphin) weighing 5 grains (grm. 0-32).^ This standard has been by numismatists regarded as a light variety of the Perso-Babylonic standard, of which the drachm weighs ^ Numismatique de la Peonie et de la Macedoine {Journ. Jnternat. de Numism. archeoLj vol. xv). 2 We should naturally expect the coin with two dolphins for type to be a diobol, and the coin with one dolphin to be the obol. But an obol of only 5 grains is unknown. THASIAN STANDARD 189 86 grains (grm. 5-57), which was adopted by Croesus and the Persians. It seems, however, absurd to suppose that a Thasian drachm of a gramme less weight would be in currency accepted as the equivalent of the Persian siglos : we know that provincial issues in relation to standard coins were tariffed not above, but below, their metal value. Thus it seems best to speak of the Thasian standard as one apart. The remarkable fluctuations in the weight of the coins is also difficult to explain. It is indeed probable that the coins of Thasos issued at the time of Athenian supremacy (465-424 B.C.) were adapted to the Attic standard, since they fall to its level. But in the case of earlier coins it does not seem possible to find any reasonable explanation for their variation. A similar problem met us in Lycia.^ But though the Lycian stater in weight approximates to that of Thasos, it is divided not into drachms but into thirds, which seems to show that the two standards cannot be identical. In the field, on the coins of the Letaei, there appear often a number of globules or pellets, which should, one would think, be marks of value. Before 500 b.o. Didrachm, six pellets, three pellets. (B. M. IV. 4 ; B. T. L.) Diobol, three pellets. After 500 b.c. Didrachm, three pellets. Diobol, two pellets. On some coins of each kind the number of pellets is smaller ; but it is in such cases impossible to be sure that some pellets cut in the die were not outside the area of the coin as struck. It seems impossible to recover the meaning of these pellets. Apparently they would give an unit of 25 grains (grm. 1-62), afterwards raised (not lowered) to 50 grains (grm 3-24). This unit cannot be the pound of 1 Ch. IX, p. 183. 190 EAELY COINS OF THRACE AND MACEDON bronze or copper, as bronze was not a measure of value in this region. The early coins bearing as type a Gorgon's head (PL IV. 5 ; B. M. IV. e), and corresponding in weight and fabric to those of Thasos, have usually been attributed to Neapolis, which is described in the Athenian tribute-lists as situated •nap 'AvTLo-dpav, It is not certain that Neapolis was a colony of Athens, though at a later time it was closely connected with that city.^ Svoronos,^ however, tries to show that the Grorgon-head coins, some of which are marked with the letter A and some with ?, were issued by the two cities of Scabala and Antisara, both on the sea-coast of the rich district belonging to Daton, and not far from Thasos. Theopompus ^ mentions Scabala as a place belonging to the Eretrians, which would account for the Grorgon type, since the Gorgon is on the early coins of Eretria, Neapolis was apparently a later foundation. 11. Abdeeite Standard. We can date back the beginning of the coinage of Abdera to the time of the foundation of the city about 544 B.C. For before that time the people of Teos, the mother-city of Abdera, had issued coins, with the same type as that used at Abdera, the griffin, but of a different weight, the Aeginetan. The colonists who settled at Abdera carried with them the type of the griffin, probably Apolline, but did not preserve the monetary standard. It is in fact only by considering the standard used that we can distinguish the early coins of Teos from those of Abdera. This change of standard is a very remarkable fact, and one requiring explanation. "When Abdera was founded, few coins were struck in Thrace or Macedon, except in Chalcidice. "We may, however, assign to this early age the earliest coins of Thasos and those of the neighbouring mainland, of thick and rounded fabric, which follow the ^ See an inscription of 356 b. t;. : SchOne, Oriech, Reliefs, No. 48, p. 23. 2 L u., p. 232. 3 Quoted byStephanus, s. v, 5tfajSa\a. ABDEEITE STANDARD 191 Thasian standard. The large coins of the tribes of the valley of the Strymon were certainly later, and in all prob- ability took their standard from Abdera, as did in later times the Macedonian Kings. Thus there was not, so far as we know, any precedent for the Abderite standard to be found in Thrace. It would be most natural to seek for a commercial reason for it. The reason which naturally suggests itself is that on leaving their city and settling in Thrace, the people of Teos found themselves in a different commercial connexion. The Aeginetan standard, which they had hitherto used, was isolated in the midst of Ionia, though both in Pontus and in Caria it was in general vogue : at least this was the case after such cities as Cyme, Miletus, and Chios had given up their early sixth-century issues on the Aeginetan standard. Why the Abderites chose the particular variety of standard, which as a matter of fact they did select, is less evident. "We should have expected them to adopt either the standard of Thasos, the wealthiest city of Thrace ; or if they preferred an Ionian connexion, to adopt the North Ionian standard of Phocaea, or the South Ionian standard of Miletus. The people who remained at Teos still kept to the Aeginetan standard : we may well suppose that there was a sharp collision between the con- servatives who were willing to submit to Persian rule and the more nationalist and freedom-loving citizens who preferred expatriation to submission. The standard which the Abderites actually adopted, and fully naturalized in Thrace, was half-way between the Phocaean and Milesian. The stater weighed about 230 grains (grm. 14-90), and most nearly corresponds to the coins issued at a later time in Phoenicia. We can, however, scarcely regard its introduction as a proof of Phoenician influence, since it was the domination of Persia and the Phoenician allies of Persia which the people of Abdera were most anxious to avoid. The Abderite coin-standard, whencesoever derived, being thus planted on the Thracian coast, spread both towards the east and towards the west. On the east it was used 193 EARLY COINS OF THRACE AND MACEDON by the cities of Dicaea and Maronea in the sixth century. Dicaea in Thrace, which must be distinguished from the Dicaea in Chalcidice, a colony of Eretria, is called in the Athenian tribute-lists Dicaea near Abdera. To this city are given very early coins with a head of Heracles on the obverse and an incuse on the reverse, of Thasian weight, 150 grains, or the double^ (grm. 9-72 or 19-40). These are succeeded by coins with a very similar head of Heracles on one side, and on the other the letters A I K and the head and shoulders of an ox, in an incuse : weight 112-110 grains (grm. 7-25-7-12). These coins are of Abderite weight. Mr. Head ^ gives them to the time of Darius : I think them somewhat earlier. The type of the reverse seems to be taken from the coins of Samos, which island was about 530-520 B.O. at the height of its power under Polycrates. The Samians at this time were predominant on the north shore of the Propontis, where were their colonies Perinthus and Bisanthe. It is therefore reasonable to regard Samos as probably in close relations with Abdera and Dicaea. Very possibly indeed Dicaea may have been a Samian colony. Some of the late coins of Perinthus have as type a head of Heracles with the inscriptions TON KTICTHN iriNHN on the obverse, and nEPING I nN AlC NEnKOPaN* Heracles then may have been regarded as oekist alike at Perinthus and Dicaea ; and his head on coins of the latter city would be quite in place. The coinage of Maronea, which was almost certainly an Ionian colony, follows the same lines as that of Dicaea. Before the middle of the sixth century Maronea also used the Thasian weight, and afterwards went over to that of Abdera. "We have staters of 150-132 grains (grm. 9-72-8-54) and obols of 14-5 grains (grm. 0-94). Coins of later fabric, and bearing the name of the city, weigh, for the stater, 118-114 grains (grm. 7-63-7-36), and for the half-stater 56-50 grains (grm. 3-62-3-24). There was a tradition, cited ^ Head, H. N.^ ed. 2, p. 252. This is the only known tetradraehm of this standard. 2 B. M. Cat. Thrace, p. 115. ABDERITE STANDARD 193 by Scymnus, of a Ohian colony about 540 b.o. ; and this might account for the somewhat high weight of the staters of Maronea, as the standard of Chios is nearer to the Phocaean than to the Abderite weight. It is clear that in the early days of Persian dominion the southern shore of Thrace served as a place of refuge for the lonians who would not accept the Persian yoke, and thus it became in all respects largely Ionized. "We have next to trace the westward course of the standard of Abdera. It was not adopted at Thasos nor at Lete. But of the mining tribes, the Orrescii appear to have adopted it. Their earliest coins, of lumpy fabric, are on the Thasian standard : the later and larger coins, of flat , fabric with a neat incuse square on the reverse, are of Abderite weight.^ Whether the latter weight wholly superseded the former, or whether the tribes used both standards at once, is not an easy question to settle : in any case there must have been some recognized connexion between the coins struck on the two standards. To this question I will return. About 500 B.C. there appear on the southern shore of Thrace a number of coins of great size, almost the largest which have come down to us. It is reasonable to think that these coins were the result of Persian influence, and issued at the time when the great Persian armies of Darius and Xerxes passed that way. War, even in those days, necessitated a great store of specie ; and if the tribes of Paeonia had to pay tribute to the Persians, or to buy supplies of food for their armies, they would greatly need an abundance of coin. It is to be observed that the issues of decadrachms by Grelon at Syracuse, and by the Athenians, took place about 480 B.C., also as a result of Persian or Carthaginian invasion. Notable among these great coins are those of the Derrones. They bear the inscription AeppoviKos or Aeppoi/iKov, and were formerly attributed to a king called Derronikos. But ^ B. M, Cat. Macedon, pp. 145-9. 1967 O 194 EAELY COINS OF THRACE AND MACEDON Gaebler^ has shown that the inscription is an ethnic. "What was the seat of the Derrones is somewhat doubtful ; but the coins come from Istip near the river Axius : Ohv. Draped personage seated in a car drawn by an ox : above, helmet ; beneath, flower. Bev, Triquetra of legs, and acanthus ornaments. Weight, 624 grains (grm. 4043). Brit. Mus. (B. M. V. 17.) On another coin of similar type, weight 610 grains (grm, 39-48), Mr. Svoronos ^ has read the legend Euergetes, the name probably of a Paeonian chief. With these coins go others issued by the Laeaei of similar type and weight,^ but with a figure of Pegasus on the reverse. Of lesser size and weight are the coins issued at the same period by other tribes, the Bisaltae, Edoni, Orrescii, Ichnaei, and Sapaei. A type adopted by the Bisaltae was a herds- man accompanying two bulls (B. M. V. 16 ; PI. IV. 7) : that adopted by the Edoni was the same ; on the coins appear the name of the King Getas. The Orrescii and Bisaltae adopted the type of a spearman walking beside a horse. (PL IV. 8.) The weight of all these coins is 420-440 grains (grm. 27-20-28.50). There can be little doubt that as the coins of the Derrones were 12 drachm pieces of Abderite standard, so these are 8 drachm pieces of that staaidard. A fixed landmark in the history of the early coins of Thrace is given us by the earliest of the money of Alexander I, King of Macedon, which bears his name, and can be definitely assigned to him. Ohv, Warrior carrying two spears standing on the farther side of a bridled horse r. Bev. AAEZANAPO round a shallow incuse square, within which a raised linear square. Weight, 450-400 grains (grm. 29-26). (PI. IV. 0.) This coin, alike in type and in weight, is almost identical with the coins of the Bisaltae : one was found in Egypt ^ Zeitschr.f, Num., xx. 289. 2 Journ. Intern.^ xv, p. 200. ^^B. M. Cat. Macedon, p. 161. ABDEEITE STANDAED 195 with early coins of Terone and the Bisaltae. When Alexander acquired the territory of the Bisaltae, which he did shortly after the Persian wars, he continued the coinage in his own name, maintaining the same types and standard. His coins are, however, somewhat more advanced in style than those of the Bisaltae, the incuse of the reverse being surrounded with an inscription. The weight is clearly Abderite. The early silver coins of Thasian standard are so irregular in weight that it is almost impossible to determine what amount of silver they were intended to contain. They seem to grow lighter with time until they approximate to the Attic standard, about 450 b.c. There must have been some means of relating one to the other the coins of the Abderite and Thasian standards. The Orrescii struck on both standards, and if the two issues were not actually contemporary, they were so nearly con- temporary that there must have been some understanding as to their respective values. According to Brandis the coins of the Babylonic and Phoenician standards stood thus related : Babylonic stater = 3^0 gold Daric. Phoenician stater = ^^^ two Darics. Babylonic : Phoenician : : 7-| : 10 : : 3 : 4. But this applies to the Babylonic stater weighing 168 grains : in Thrace the Thasian standard is ten or more grains lighter than the Babylonic, whereas the Abderite standard is on a level with the Phoenician. Thus two- thirds would be much nearer to the actual proportion of value between the staters than three-fourths. And that this relation held in practice seems to be indicated by the facts of some of the coinages. The Bisaltae, for example, issue at the same time coins of 440-445 grains (grm. 28«50— 28-30) and coins of 61-68 grains (grm. 4-4-40). The larger coins may well be octadrachms of Abderite weight. The smaller coins can scarcely be drachms of that weight ; but must rather be drachms or half-staters of Thasian weight, and must have passed as octobols or sixths of the octa- o 2 196 EARLY COINS OF THEACE AND MAOEDON dracliin of Abderite weight. Thus the octadrachms of Abderite weight struck by the Bisaltae are very nearly of thrice the weight of the Thasian staters issued by the same tribe. The relations between the standards being thus simple, coins struck on either might well circulate together, just as did the coins of Corinth and Athens, which bore a similarly simple relation to one another. A few words must be added in regard to M. Svoronos' important paper already cited. This writer, in opposition to Head and other numismatists, denies that there was any clashing of monetary standards in the Thraco-Macedonian district, which he calls Paeonia. He regards all the coins as belonging to a standard which he calls Paeonian. 8 drachms 40-80 grm. 630 grains. 6 „ 30.60 „ 472 „ 2 „ 10-20 „ 158 „ 1 „ 5-10 „ 79 „ Such a view might seem plausible, if we left out of account the influence of Abdera, which was certainly great in those parts. At Abdera, in the sixth century, besides the tetra- drachm of 230 grains (grm. 14*90), there were current coins of double the weight, 460 grains (grm. 29-80) ; and these must certainly have passed as octadrachms of the local standard. When then we find that the Bisaltae, Orrescii, Edoni, Ichnaei, and Sapaei issued coins of exactly this weight, it is scarcely possible to disconnect them from the influence of Abdera. Mr. Svoronos makes an exception from his Paeonian standard for one set of coins, having the type of Pegasus (B. M. IV. 12, 13), which he gives conjecturally to the Crestonians.^ These coins are found at Salonica, and weigh 14-30 grm. (220 grains) or less. Svoronos and Babelon call the standard the Milesian, but it must clearly be that of Abdera. And if these coins are of Abderite weight, it is reasonable to think that other coins of the region follow the same standard. Abdera clearly set the 1 Babelon, TraiU, p. 1239, PI. LVIII ; p. 803, PI. XXXVI. ABDEEITE STANDAED 197 fashion in striking coins of unusual size; and the other cities or tribes, in following that fashion, kept the Abderite weight. III. CHALOimCE. The cities of Chalcidice, such as Acanthus, Terone,01ynthus, Scione, Mende, Potidaea, Dicaea, Aeneia, all follow the same course. They strike tetradrachms according to the Attic standard (270 grains ; grm. 17-50) ; but the divisions are not Attic drachms, but Corinthian, of 45-38 grains (grm. 2-91-2'46). Mr. Head in the Historia Numorum calls these latter tetrobols ; and of course they would pass as tetrobols of Attic standard. But proof that they were intended rather for drachms is not wanting. At Olynthus^ was struck a coin of double the weight (86-3 grains) ; and Mr. Head consistently calls it an octobol ; but since the type is a horseman leading a second horse, which in Sicily is the usual type for the didrachm, it is fair to judge that it at Olynthus also indicates the didrachm (Corinthian). Thus the ordinary coins of half this weight, bearing as type a single horseman, would be Corinthian drachms. Hemi- drachms of Corinthian weight occur at Acanthus and Potidaea, and in the case of the latter city again the type suggests that the coin is not an Attic diobol but a Corinthian hemidrachm ; it is a naked horseman on the fore-part of a prancing horse.^ These facts indicate that, whereas the stater was intended to pass as equivalent to the ordinary silver tetradrachrd" of Athens, the divisions follow the Corinthian standard. Probably the chief seat of Corinthian influence was Potidaea. "We know that that city was a Corinthian colony, and received yearly magistrates called epidamiurgi from Corinth. I know of only one set of coins attributed to a city of Chalcidice which is of the weight of an Attic drachm. This is given to Acanthus. 1 Hist Num., ed. 2, p. 208. ^ Hist. Num.y ed. 2, p. 212. 198 EARLY COINS OF THEACE AND MACEDON Obv. Bull kneeling, head turned back ; above or in exergue, flower. JRev, Incuse square. Hist. Num., ed. 2, 205. Weight, 62 grains (grm. 4). This coin, however, is not inscribed, and its attribution is very doubtful. It must be placed among the uncertain coins of Macedon, and probably is a light example of a drachm of Thasian standard. The standard, then, in use in Ohalcidice is the Attic, "with Corinthian divisions. It would be natural to expect the Euboic weight in any coins issued before 550 e.g., when in the time of Peisistratus the true Attic standard first appears at Athens, and influences the issues of Euboea and Corinth. We have therefore to consider the question whether all the extant coins of the district are later than that date. Those of Acanthus, Terone, Aeneia, and most of the cities certainly are. The fabric at Acanthus and Terone is flat and akin to that of the coins of Lete and Thasos in their second, not their earliest form. The date of this fabric is given us by the coins of Alexander I of Macedon as belonging to about 500 b.o. But there are coins of the district of an earlier style, such as : Fotidaea. Ohv. Poseidon on horse. Bev. Incuse square. Weight, 266-271 grains (grm. 17.20-17-57). Mende. Ohv, Ass standing, crow perched on his back. Mev. Incuse of eight triangles. Weight, 262 grains (grm. 16-97). Brussels. Soione. Ohv. Helmet. Mev. Incuse of eight triangles. Weight, 263-262 grains (grm. 17-16-97). Paris.^ (B. T. LII. I.) Olynthus. Obv. Quadriga facing. Bev. Incuse of eight triangles. Weight, 259 grains (grm. 16-78). Sandeman Collection. ^ B. M. IV. 8. Of the same period is an early drachm of Mende {Num. Chron.j 1900, p. 6) : weight, 42 grains (grm. 2-72). CHALCIDICE 199 These certainly precede in date the coins of flat fabric, but not by many years. They do not appear to be in any case earlier than the coins of Abdera, which cannot precede 543 B.C. There is, therefore, no reason why they should not be of later date than the Peisistratid tetradrachms of Athens, which began about 560 b.c. At the same time the standard used by Peisistratus does occur earlier at Samos, Gyrene, and other places. (See Chaps. I, XIII.) IV. The Thbacian Chersonese. The Thracian Chersonese stands by itself in regard to coinage. The early money of the district consists of tetra- drachms and smaller denominations of Attic weight, with Corinthian sub-divisions, as in Chalcidice. 01}v. Lion advancing to r., head turned to 1., paw raised. Rev. XEP (sometimes). Head of Athena in incuse square. Weight, 264 grains (grm. 17-10). Ohv. Fore-part of lion looking back, paw raised. Eev. Incuse square divided into four. Weight, 43-38 grains (2-75- 240) ^ : also the half of this. This district, as is well known, was a hereditary kingdom or appanage under the rule of the wealthy Athenian family of the Philaidae, Miltiades I, son of Cypselus, was the first ruler, about 550 b.c. : he founded a colony at Cardia, and cut off the Chersonese from the incursions of the Thracian barbarians by a wall, thus making it almost an island. The type of Athena has reference to the native city of Miltiades : the lion type probably belongs to Miletus, for somewhat earlier the Chersonese had been within the circle of Milesian iniiuence. It is, however, only the type of the coin which reminds us of Miletus. The weight of the stater, and the manner of its division, corresponds to the coinage of Chalcidice. We have seen that the smaller coin in that district must be a Corinthian drachm rather than an Attic tetrobol. It is therefore 1 Babelon, Traiie, ii. 1, p. 1228, PI. LVII, 15, 16. 200 EAELY COINS OF THEACE AND MACEDON probable that the conditions of trade were the same in Chalcidice and in the Chersonesus. On the map, the Ooriutho-Attic standard looks out of place among the Babylonic and Abderite weights of Southern Thrace. But the Chersonese of Thrace was on the high road from Athens, Aegina, and Corinth to the Pontus, whence those thickly populated cities obtained their supplies of dried fish, com, hides, timber, and other necessaries of life and materials for manufacture. It is natural that each city of Greece should have its special port of call at the entrance to the Pontus. Aegina appears to have had some connexion with Sinope. Megara was the mother city of Byzantium and Chalcedon, and doubtless kept up a connexion with them : neither of them struck coins until late in the fifth century. Cardia in the Thracian Chersonese would be the natural entrepot of Athens, as its ruler was an Athenian citizen. Sigeum was also a stronghold of Athens. The distant Panticapaeum in the Crimea appears like Sinope in its early issues of coins ■ to adhere to the Aeginetan standard.^ To sum up : the key to the coin-standards of Southern Thrace is to be found in the action and counter- action of the commercial influences radiating from Thasos on one side and Abdera on the other. Chalcidice stands apart, and with it goes the Thrasian Chersonese. The influence of the expeditions of Darius and Xerxes does not seem to have resulted in a change of standard, but it may be con- jectured in the issue of coins of unusually large denomina- tion. ^ Babelon, Traite^ ii, 1, p. 401. CHAPTER XI COINS OF SOUTH ITALY, 600-480 b.c. The earliest G-reek coins struck in Italy are those issued by several cities, of uniform flat fabric, bearing on one side as type the arms of the city, and on the'other side the same type reversed and incuse. The cities and types are as follows : Tarentum. Apollo kneeling; Taras on dolphin. (B. M. VII. 3, 4.) Metapontum. Ear of barley, (B. M. VII. 10.) Siris and Pyxus. Bull with head turned back. (B. M. VIII. 14.) Sybaris. Bull with head turned back. (B. M. VIII. 15.) Laiis. Man-headed bull looking back. (B. M. VII. 8.) Poseidonia. Poseidon thrusting with trident. (B. M. VII. 12.) Croton. Tripod. (B. M. VIII. 19.) Caulonia. Apollo with winged genius on arm, and stag before him. (B. M. VIII. 17; PL V. 1.) Ehegium. Man-headed bull, kneeling, Zancle in Sicily. Dolphin in harbour. Only a few years later we find at some cities a variety, the incuse device of the reverse becomes different from the type of the obverse. Thus at Tarentum we have as obverse type Apollo kneeling; as reverse type, Taras on dolphin. (PI. V. 2.) Later still, but before 480, we have two types in relief, Taras on dolphin ; hippocamp. (PI. V. 3.) At Metapontum we have as obverse, ear of barley ; as reverse, bucranium (sixths of stater only). At Croton we have as obverse, tripod ; as reverse, flying eagle. These coins are by no means of rude or primitive make, but, on the contrary, of careful and masterly work; and 202 COINS OP SOUTH ITALY, 600-480 B.a the types are some of the finest examples we possess of faUy-formed Greek archaic art. Thus it would seem that coinage was introduced into Italy fully developed; and many questions are suggested as to the occasion when it was introduced, the reasons for the peculiar fabric, the meaning of the uniformity, and the like. "We will consider in regard to this whole class of coins (1) date, (2) fabric and the reasons for it, (3) monetary standards. (1) The date of the earliest Grreek coins of Italy can be only approximately determined. Siris issued coins before its destruction by the people of Metapontum, Croton, and Sybaris ; but the date of this destruction is unknown to us, except that obviously it must precede the destruction of Sybaris. Fynes Clinton, on reasonable evidence, fixes the date of the foundation of Sybaris to 720 b.c, and its destruc- tion to 5 10 B. c. The coins of Sybaris show some development in style, and are found in abundance; their beginning therefore can scarcely be placed later than 550 B.C. The same date is suggested by the facts of the coinage of Zancle in Sicily. Zancle, with its close neighbour Khegium, forms a group apart, transitional between the coins of Italy and those of Sicily, at some periods more closely conforming to the Italian type of coin, at other periods to the Sicilian. Before 500 b. c. the Italian influences prevail, and the coinage at Zancle is of the peculiar fabric introduced in Italy, Sir A. Evans, discussing a find of coins at Zancle,^ points out that previous to 494 b.c there were several successive issues of coins there, passing from the types above mentioned to the type in relief on the reverse, a succession implying a period of at least half a century. Valuable evidence as to the date of the early incuse issues of Italy is furnished by the restrikings of coins at Metapontum. For some unknown reason that city appears to have been especially addicted to the custom of using the coins of other cities as blanks, whereon to impress her own types. Coins of this class are sometimes restruck on pieces 1 Kum. C%roM.,1896, p. 105. COINS OF SOUTH ITALY, 600-480 b.o. 203 )f Corinth which have a mill-sail incuse on the reverse PL V. 5), a class of money which precedes the introduc- )ion of the head of Athena, and must be dated as early IS 550 B.C. And it must be observed that this coin of \Ietapontum is not of the earliest flat fabric: this may, lowever, be the result of using a Corinthian coin as a blank. Metapontine incuse coins of the later and thicker class are restruck on pieces of Syracuse of the time of Hiero I (obverse, head of Persephone amid dolphins ; reverse, iiorseman) and on pieces of Gela of the same date (obverse, [lead of river-god ; reverse, horseman) and of Agrigentum.^ Thus it would seem that at Metapontum the issue of the incuse series of coins lasted more than half a century, until i70 B.C. or later. At some other cities it cannot have come iown to so late a date. At Ehegium and Zancle, for instance, it is superseded by coins with an ordinary type on both sides before the arrival of the Samian exiles about 494. As regards Tarentum Sir A. Evans writes ^ : * At Tarentum the issue of the incuse pieces must have been of but short iuration. From the evidence of finds there can be but little doubt that the first Tarentine coins of double relief, bhose, namely, which exhibit a wheel on one side, were in existence some years before the destruction of Sybaris in 510, and that the first issues of the succeeding class on which a hippocamp appears must have been more or Less contemporary with that event ' (PL V. 3). Evans adds in regard to other cities, ' In the Cittanova finds, buried it latest before the end of the sixth century, we find the relief coinage of Kroton, Kaulonia, and Laos already begin- aing.' At Sybaris down to the time of its destruction none but incuse coin was issued, if we except some obols which bave on the reverse the letters MY. Thus it would appear that the incuse coinage of South Italy begins about 550 b. c, continuing at most cities until the end of the century, and at Metapontum for thirty years later. ^ Aa to these restrikiugs see B. M, Cat. Italy^ pp. 239-40 ; Babelon, Traite, Li. 1, 1403-6, PI. LXVI. ^ Tke Horsemen of Tarev-tum, p. 2, where the evidence of finds is set forth. 204 COINS OF SOUTH ITALY, 600-480 b.c. (2) Tlie fabric and its meaning. As a matter of develop- ment, the prototype of the coins of Italy would seem to be the early coins of Corinth, having on the obverse an archaic Pegasus, and on the reverse an incuse maeander pattern or swastika. These latter belong to the first half of the sixth century. In fabric they are flat and spread, offering a remarkable contrast to the contemporary coins of Athens, Euboea, and Aegina ; beyond doubt they furnished in great part the currency of South Italy in the middle of the sixth century: some of the coins of Metapontum, as we have seen, were restruck on them ; and they are of the same weight (Euboic not Attic) as the earliest Italian coins. But the peculiar arrangement of placing on the reverse the same type as on the obverse, only incuse and retrograde, is the invention of some notable Greek of South Italy. Probably he was merely imitating the repousse bronze work which was at the time largely used for the decora- tion of the person, chests, tripods and the like,^ and which seems to have been distinctive of Argos and Corinth. The peculiar pattern, called a cable border, with which the type is encircled on the coins, is characteristic of this bronze work. A Corinthian bronze mould in the Ashmolean Museum^ presents us with a whole series of figures cut in it which might almost have served as the dies for coins : aU that would be necessary would be to make a punch to fit roughly into such die ; then a thin round blank would be placed between the two and stamped. It has been suggested as a reason for the introduction of the fabric that it would make forgery more difficult. But a little consideration will make us reject this notion. The fabric was usual in the case of decorative bronze plates : it was in fact more in use for bronze than for silver, and nothing would be easier than by this method to produce coins of bronze, and then to wash them with silver. A con- siderable number of the specimens in our museums are ^ See De Kidder, De eclypis aeneis. 2 Joum, Hell. Stud., xvi, p. 323, COINS OF SOUTH ITALY, 600-480 b.c. 205 bronze coins thus washed. Thus the fabric in fact offered unusual facilities to forgers. Some other reason must be sought for its introduction: at present I have none to suggest, except the above-mentioned commonness of repouss^ work. By degrees the coins of South Italy grow thicker and less spread. Then at some cities, as we have seen, comes a transitional stage, in which the incuse fabric is retained, but the reverse type is different from that of the obverse. At other cities the change of reverse type from incuse to relief takes place without this intermediate stage. Some writers have seen in the uniformity of the fabric of South Italian coins proofs of the existence of an alliance, not merely monetary but political ; and much has been written as to the efficacy of the working of Pythagoras and his followers in the formation of a close federation among Greek cities in Italy. This, however, is play of imagination. Pythagoras does appear to have founded something like an order, and through his followers he exercised great influence at Croton ; but his working was not in the direction of politics. The date of his migration to Italy, moreover, not earlier than 540 B.C., is too late to affect the earliest Italian coinage. That there were in early times frequent conventions of a monetary kind between Greek cities of Italy probably indicating political co-operation, we know from the inscriptions of extant coins. We have money struck in common by Croton and Sybaris, by Siris and Pjrxus, by Sybaris and Poseidonia, by Meta- pontum and Poseidonia, by Croton and Pandosia, by Croton and Temesa, by Croton and Zancle. We may with prob- ability conjecture that the occasions of these alliances were usually offered by the necessity to make head against the warlike tribes of the interior, Samnites and others, the same pressure which in later times caused the Greek cities to call in the Epirote Alexander, son of Neoptolemus. But the very existence of these more special alliances disproves the existence of any general federation of the Greek cities. Very probably the occasion of the issue was mere commercial 206 COINS OF SOUTH ITALY, 600-480 b.c. convenience, especially in the case where Croton and Zancle strike in conjunction. (3) In Southern Italy, during the period 550-480 b.c, Corinthian influence is predominant. The great majority of the Greek cities, Laiis, Terina, Caulonia, Croton, Sybaris, Metapontum, all in early times struck coins on a system, in which the stater weighed 128 grains (grm. 8-29) or somewhat less, and the chief lesser coin, the third of this, 42-40 grains (grm. 2-72-2-59). There can be no doubt that these lesser coins were reckoned as drachms : the proof of this is to be found in the marks of value on certain coins of Croton and Metapontum. Croton. Ohv. pPO (retrogr.). Tripod-lebes. Rev. 00. Fore-part of Pegasus flying 1. Weight, 12-7 grains (grm. 0-82). B. M. Cat, 348, 58. O Ohv. pp. Tripod-lebes; in field ivy leaf. Eev. O. Hare r. Weight, 10-2 grains (grm. 0*66) ; another, 11-9 grains (grm. 0-76). Ibid. 60-61, Metapontum. Ohv. 00. Ear of barley. Rev. 00. Barleycorn, incuse. Weight, 12-2 grains (grm. 0-80). B. M. Cat, 242, 44. These coins are clearly diobols, and being such must be of Corinthian standard. The hemidrachm of 20 grains, and the obol of %-7 grains occur at several of these cities. The difference between the system of Chalcidice and that of Greek Italy is that in the latter country not only the divisions but also the staters follow the Corinthian standard. The stater in South Italy is somewhat low in wd.ght, below the level even of the Euboic standard. It by no means rises to the level of the Sicilian coinages. The reason of this must be local, in the equation to the bronze litrae of Italy. It is noteworthy that whereas Sybaris stood, as Herodotus tells us, in the closest relations with Miletus, the coinage of Sybaris shows no trace of such connexion, but is uniform with that of the neighbouring cities. COINS OF SOUTH ITALY, 600-480 b.o. 207 In discussing the coins of Corinth, I have shown that bhere takes place at that city, about 550 B.C., a raising of the monetary standard, following the example of Athens, From 127 to 132 grains (grm. 8-22 to 8-55), that is, in effect, from Euboic to Attic weight. This change does not take place in Italy; but the lower standard of 127 grains or bhereabouts is retained, and in fact the coinage soon falls a,lmost everywhere to a lower level still. In regard to Tarentum, Sir A. Evans ^ observes that in the incuse coinage the silver stater alone was issued. In the earliest coinage with double relief, fractions were indeed struck, bat 'on a different system from that of the other cities. Whilst in the Achaean colonies the monetary unit was divided on the Corinthian system into thirds and sixths, the early Tarentine divisions are by halves and again by fifths, combining thus the Attic drachm and the Syracusan litra.' The Syracusan litra equated with the tenth of the Attic didrachm or Corinthian tridrachm, seems to have been current in South Italy as well as in Sicily, possibly as far north as Cumae, though later in Campania the heavier Eomano-Oscan libra was the standard.^ The types of the early litrae of Tarentum are, obverse, cockle- shell ; reverse, wheel. Weights 12-5-11 grains (grm. 0-8-0-7). There are two cities which we should expect to be among the earliest to strike coins, but they do not appear in the list above given. These are Cumae, founded from Euboea at a very early time; and Velia or Hyele, which was a Phocaean colony of the middle of the sixth century. It is certainly remarkable that Cumae, the great source of Grreek influence in Central Italy, should have struck no very early coins. Of those which have come down to us, the earliest, struck about 500 b. c, in the time of the tyrant Aristodemus, resemble the coins of Sicily rather than those of South Italy, They are as follows : 1. O&tJ. Head of Nymph, hair in archaic style. Bev. KYMAION ^ Horsemen of Tarentum ^ p. 11. 2 HaeberUn ; cf. HiU, Historical Roman CoinSj p. 5. 208 COINS OF SOUTH ITALY, 600-480 B.C. (retrograde). Mussel-shell; above it, drinking cup. Weight, 130 grains (grm. 842).' 2. Odv. Lion's scalp between two boars' heads. Bev, KYME. Mussel. Weight, 84 grains (gnn. 5-42).^ 3. O&iJ. Lion's scalp between two boars' heads. i?ev. KYMAION. Mussel. Weight, 62 grains (grm. 4-02).^ The weights of these coins are remarkable and suggestive. We have the Attic didrachm, or Corinthian tridrachm, the Attic octobol or Corinthian didrachm, and the Attic drachm or Corinthian drachm and a half. There thus appears at Cumae, as in Chalcidice and in South Italy generally, a wavering between Attic and Corinthian standards. The second coin cited appears, like coins of the same weight in Sicily,* to be intended for a Corinthian didrachm ; while the third is primarily Attic. The second coin connects Cumae closely with the Chalcidic cities of the straits of Messina, Ehegium, and Zancle, which also issued Corinthian didrachms at this time, and indicates that the line of its commerce passed directly by them. Later, about 480 e.g., Cumae adopted the so-called Campanian standard. An unique phenomenon in the coinage of Italy is the striking at Cumae, about 480 b. o., of certain small coins of gold: 1. Obv. Archaic female head wearing sphendone. Rev, KYME. Mussel-shell. Weight, 22 grains (grm. 1-43). Paris, 2. 0?w. Corinthian helmet. Rev. KYME. Mussel-shell. Weight, 5-5 grains (grm. 0-35). Brit. Mus. The authenticity of these coins has been disputed, but is maintained by the officials of the museums to which they respectively belong. If genuine, the first will be a diobol and the second a hemiobol of Attic weight. M. Babelon^ ^ Santangelo Coll. Naples : another example, much oxidized, 8-10 grm. See Samhon, Monn. Ant. de Vltalie, p. 152^ pi. II. 252 ; also Num. Chron.j 1896, p. 1. 2 Paris, Sambon, p. 150, no. 244. ^ Sambon, p. 150, no. 245, Berlin. * See next chapter. s T^-aiiej ii. 1, 1439. COINS OF SOUTH ITALY, 600-480 b.c. 209 )bserves that the secoud coin is of later date than the first : tie assigns it to about 470 b.c, while the first belongs to ibout 490 B.C. They present a perfectly unique phenomenon In the history of Italian coinage. Mr. Head ^ attempts to account for the striking of no. 2 by observing that, if gold be reckoned at fifteen times the value of silver, it would be the equivalent of the silver coins of the time which weigh 84 grains, and which he regards as Aeginetan irachms. But these silver coins appear to have been in fact Corinthian didrachms or Attic octobols. This equi- valence then (gold hemiobol = 8 silver obols) would give a relation between gold and silver of 16 to 1, which is higher than any ratio of which we have evidence. If, therefore, these gold coins are really antique, they must have been struck on some quite unusual occasion, when a supply of gold was available, under some such circum- stances as produced the gold coins of Agrigentum about 406 B.C., or those of Pisa near Elis about 364 b.c. A certain amount of confusion has arisen from the notion that the foundation of Cumae was a joint enterprise of the Chalcidians of Euboea and the Aeolians of Cyme in Asia Minor. But the participation of the latter rests only on a statement of Ephorus, who, being a native of Cyme, was anxious to give the city all the credit he could. Most modern writers think that if any Cyme had a share in the settling of Cumae it was the small town of Cyme in Euboea (a place the existence of which is not well attested). We must therefore regard Cumae as exclusively Euboean, and be still more surprised at the appearance there of gold coins, which were not ever issued in Euboea in early times. The earliest coins of Velia are not of Italian fabric, but resemble rather the coins of Asia Minor ; indeed it has been thought by some numismatists that they were struck in Asia, and brought to Velia by the colonists who came from Phocaea about 544 b.c. ^ Hist. Num., ed. 2, p, 36. 1957 P 210 COINS OF SOUTH ITALY, 600-480 b.c. 1. Ohv. Phoca or seal. Rev. Incuse square. Weight, 154 grains (grm. 1). 2. Obv. Fore-part of lion tearing the prey. Eev. Incuse square divided into four. Weight, 60-58 grains (grm. 3-88-3-75) ; division, 18 grains (grm. 1-16) or less : the half and smaller fractions of this were also struck. Coins of this class were found in numbers in the hoard discovered at Auriol near Marseille,' together with a hemi- obol of Aegina, and a large number of small coins bearing as types griffin, half winged horse, winged boar, lion's head, calf s head, boar's head, dog's head, ram's head, head of Heracles, female head, and other types. Of these, some are of barbarous work ; some are of excellent early fabric : nearly all have an incuse square on the reverse. The weights of these coins being irregular and puzzling, it is hard to draw inferences from the smaller ones, which may be of almost any standard. Of the larger coins — Types* Grams, Grammes. Half winged horse/ weigh ... . 43-42 2-78-2.78 Lion's head and head of Heracles, weigh . 42-41 2-73-2-65 Barbarous copies of these coins are of the same or slightly greater weight. Most numismatists have regarded the standard of these coins as being that of Phocaea.^ The standard of Phocaea both for electrum and silver coins is practically the Euboic, though the coins are a little below the Euboic standard, the drachm not usually exceeding 60 grains, and the hecte 40 grains. Mommsen, however, regarded the Phocaean standard imported into Italy as a form of the Phoenician. The standard on which the staters used at Yelia, and the small coins of the Auriol find, were struck seems to be almost identical with that used by the Achaean cities of South ^ See Babelon, Traite, ii. 1, p. 1571. ^ M. Babelon, TraiU, ii. 1, p. 1587, caUs this a hippocamp. It is the regular type of Lampsacus ; and in the B. M. Cat. it is rightly described as merely the fore-part of a winged horse, both wings showing, in archaic fashion. ^ See Babelon, l.c. COINS OF SOUTH ITALY, 600-480 b.o. 211 %lj, with a draciini of 42 grains, which I have above called )rinthian. And a Phocaean third or trite was nearly [uivalent to a Corinthian drachm. But there is an appre- able difference in weight between the coins of Velia which .cceed those above cited and the coins of the Achaean ties.^ The stater of the latter weighs up to 128 grains rm. 8-30), the stater of Velia only up to 118 grains (grm. 64). And this lighter standard is used at Cumae after SO, and at Poseidonia from the beginning in 550 b.c. iwards. The ordinary view, accepted by Head,^ is that the bocaean standard spread from Velia to Poseidonia and imae and afterwards to other cities, being in fact what later called the Campanian standard. The difficulty that the earliest coins of Velia and Cumae are not igulated by it; but only those after 480 B.C. But if le origin of the Campanian standard be doubtful, its dstence and prevalence is certain. In regard to Rhegium we shall have more to say in the Bxt chapter. ^ One coin of Velia, however, weiglis 126 grains (grm. 8*16) ; it is early, ntemporary with coins of the same weight struck at Cumae (see above). = Hist. Num., ed. 2, p, 36. p 2 CHAPTER XII COINS OF SICILY, 550-480 b.o. In the earliest coinages of the cities of Sicily, as in those of the Italian cities, we may trace the influence of the coinage of Corinth. The earliest of all appear to be the coins of Zanole of exactly the same fabric as those of the Italian cities, that is, with the type of the obverse incuse on the reverse, namely a dolphin within sickle-shaped harbour. These were pub- lished by Sir A. Evans ^ from a hoard found near Messina, He rightly observes that as there were two or three later series in the coinage before Zancle in 494 b. o. changed its name to Messana, the coins in question cannot be much later than the middle of the sixth century b. c, and must be contemporary with the Italian coins which they so closely resemble. Their weight is 90-79 grains (grm. 5'83-5'12). There are coins of this weight, not quite so early, at Himera and Naxos. Zancle. Ohv. DANKVE. Dolphin within sickle-shaped bar of harbour, Bev, Same type incuse ; or JRev. Dolphin incuse ; or Eev. Scallop-shell in relief, in the midst of an incuse pattern, (PL V. 6.) Weights, 90 grains (grm. 5-83), 16 grains (grm. 1-02), 11-5 grains (grm. 0-75). Himera. Ohv. HI. Cock. Eev. Flat incuse square, with eight compart- ments, four in relief. Weights, 90 grains (grm. 5-83) (B. M. IX. 27), 13-5 grains (grm. 0-87). I^axos. Ohv, Head of Dionysus with ivy wreath. Eev» N AX I ON. 1 Num. Gkron.t 1896, pi. VIII. 1, 2, p. 104. COINS OF SICILY, 550-480 b.c. 213 Bunch of grapes. WeightSj 90 grains (grm. 5-83) (B. M. IX. 31), 13 grains (grm. 0-87), 12 grains (grm. 0-78). Vith these coins we may class for weight the coin of Cumae bove cited, and the coins of Rhegium, — RECINON retro- ;rade : Bull with human head : Rev. Same type incuse. Veight, 87 grains (grm. 5-63). This coinage seems to have een imitated from that of Ehegium by the neighbouring lancle. The Ehegine coin is of the same fabric as prevails a other Italian cities, though the standard of weight is iififerent. The coins of Zancle are of the same weight and he same period, 550-500 b. c. The standard (90 grains) on which these coins are struck 3 remarkable. Head calls it Aeginetan. But historically t is improbable that the Aeginetan standard would find its f^ay to Sicily. It has been suggested that this standard aay have come to the Sicilian Naxos from the Aegean sland of that name, whence the Sicilian city was founded. 3ut in fabric the coins show the influence not of Aegina >ut of Corinth. And the standard makes its first appearance, lot at Naxos, but in the cities on either side of the straits tf Messina, E-hegium, and Zancle. The coins of Macedonian Chalcidice give us a hint. At )lynthus coins of 90 grains were issued which can be shown be Corinthian didrachms.^ And at other cities of Chalci- Lice we find Corinthian drachms and half-drachms. On his analogy we should naturally suppose the early coins of Ihegium and the Chalcidian cities of Sicily also to be of Dorinthian standard, in fact didrachms and diobols. It is lot, however, easy to explain why the curious weight of the lidrachm was chosen, while all the other cities of Italy ssued the Corinthian tridrachm of 130 grains, which was ilso (nearly) the Attic didrachm. These 90-grain coins would pass naturally as thirds of ihe Attic tetradrachm of 270 grains ; and early Attic tetra- Irachms were no doubt current in great quantities in Italy md Sicily at the time. But they were not contemporary ^ Above, Chap. X. 214 COINS OF SICILY, 550-480 b.c with the Sicilian tetradrachms of later style and Attic weight, as they ceased to be issued when the regular Sicilian coinage of Attic weight came into existence. It is a good rule, speaking generally, not to insist on the testimony of the small divisions of silver money as regards the standard employed, since they are far more irregular in weight than larger coins, and were probably little more than money of account, struck for local use. But sometimes it is necessary to make exceptions to the rule. Small coins were issued at the same time as the larger ones under con- sideration, and they must help us to decide whether the standard was really Aeginetan or Corinthian. If it were Aeginetan, they should be obols of the weight of 16 grains (grm. 1*03) or 15 grains at least. But among all the early coins of the class belonging to Naxos, Himera, and Zancle, published by M. Babelon, or appearing in the British Museum Catalogue, only one (of Zancle) weighs 16 grains ; the rest vary from 13-6 to 11 grains (grm. 0-88-0-72). They seem thus not to be Aeginetan obols nor Corinthian diobols, which would be of nearly the same weight, but litrae of Sicilian standard. This issue of the litra, or equivalent of the pound of bronze beside the drachm and its fractions, is common in Sicily in the fifth century : it is interesting to be able to trace it back into the sixth century. Curiously the litra, the normal weight of which is 13*5 grains, is no exact part of the Corinthian didrachm, but ^^ of it, being ^% of the tridrachm or Corinthian stater. There was thus evidently an attempt to conform the coinage to a variety of needs. The litra seems also to have been struck at Zancle under its new name of Messana about 490 b. c. : Ohv. lion's scalp ; Eev, MES ; weight, 14 grains (grm. 0-90).^ The earliest Sicilian tetradrachms of Attic weight are those of Syracuse, bearing the type of a chariot, but without the figure of Victory floating over it ; on the reverse is an incuse or a female head in an incuse. (PI. V. 9 ; B. M. IX. 34.) These coins were by Mr. Head given to the Greomori, magis- 1 Evans regards this as an Aeginetan obol, Num. Chron., 1896, p. 112. COINS OF SICILY, 550-480 b.c. 215 )rates who governed at Syracuse until about 500 b. c. : ^ some other writers have preferred to give them to the iemocracy which succeeded the expulsion of the Geomori. This last view is rendered improbable by the fact that we b.ave two successive issues of these tetradrachms, in one of which the reverse is occupied only by an incuse square, whereas in the other there is a female head also : it is iifl&cult to suppose that both of these issues were struck in the brief period which intervened between the expulsion of bhe Geomori and the conquest of Syracuse by Gelon, Tyrant of Gela. The coinage of Syracuse must have begun at least as early as 520 b. c. With Gelon comes the Victory which bovers over the chariot, as a result of the victory at Olympia in the chariot-race won by Gelon in 488 b. c. (PI. V. 10 ; B. M. IX. 35) : it appears not only on the coins of Syracuse but also on those of Gela and Leontini, which cities were under the rule of Gelon. (B. M. IX. 26, 28.) A little later the well-known decadrachms, the Damareteia (PI. V. 11 ; B. M. XVII. 33), give us a fixed point in chronology (479 B.C.) ; and the great superiority of the style of the Damareteia over the earlier coins of Gelon proves that art was in a rapidly progressive stage at the time, so that we need not put back the very earliest issues of Syracuse far into the sixth century. It is noteworthy that while the cities of the east coast of Sicily, Syracuse, Leontini, Catana, and Gela made the tetra- drachm of Attic standard their chief coin, the cities of the west, Selinus, Segesta, Agrigentum, Himera, struck instead the Attic didrachm or Corinthian tridrachm. The weight of this stater is considerably greater than that of the con- temporary coins of the cities of Magna Graecia, Never- theless we are probably justified in seeing here Corinthian influence, the cities being Doric. And we may fairly account for the inferiority in weight in the issues of the cities of South Italy as compared with those of Western Sicily by supposing that the Italian cities took as their model the ^ The time of their supersession is uncertain. 216 COINS OF SICILY, 550-480 b.c. earlj? Corinthian tridraclims of Euboic weight (130 grains, grm. 8*4r2)j while the Sicilian cities took as their model the later Corinthian tridrachms of Attic weight (135 grains, grm. 8-74). In the early coinage of Syracuse there is^ as in Magna G-raecia, an adaptation of the silver coinage of Greek type to the value of the litra or pound of bronze which was probably the standard of value among the native inhabitants of Sicily, as well as in South Italy. A litra in silver was issued at Syracuse ; it is distinguished from the obol not only by its greater weight but by the type. The type of the obol is the sepia ; that of the litra is the wheel. The silver litra is of the weight of 13-5 grains (grm. 0-87). If the weight of the litra in bronze was 3,375 grains (grm. 218-6),^ this gives a proportion between the values of silver and bronze of 250 to 1. But here we come to a considerable difficulty, Haeberlin ^ has maintained that in the third century b. c. the propor- tional value of silver to bronze was 120 to 1, and the majority of archaeologists agree with him. And we have already seen (Chap. V) that such a proportion well suits the facts of the early Aeginetan coinage. But it is scarcely possible that silver should have been in Sicily twice as valuable in proportion to bronze as in Greece and Italy. The question is a vexed one, and I cannot here attempt its solution: it is important rather in connexion with the heavy bronze issues of Eome in the third century than in connexion with earlier Greek coinage. The Corinthian stater (the SeKaXirpos a-TUT-qp) was equiva- lent to ten pounds of bronze, and the Syracusan tetradrachm to twenty. We have already seen that the Tarentines also issued a litra in silver with the type of a wheel. Another fixed date in the early coinage of Sicily is fiir- ^ This is the weight generaUy accepted for the litra. See Head, Coinage of Syracuse, p. 12. It is just half the weight of the Attic mina ; but it is hard to say whether this proves derivation or merely adaptation. ^ Systematik des alt. rom. Miin&icesens, 1905. Compare Hill, Historical Roman CoinSj p. 30. COINS OF SICILY, 550-480 b.c. 217 lished us by the change of name of the city Zancle, which ook the name Messana soon after 494 b.c. The earliest oins bearing that name are — Ohv, Lion's head facing. Eev. MESSENION. Calf's head (Attic tetradrachm). {PL V. 8 ; B. M. IX. 30.) Obv, Lion's head facing. JRev. MES in incuse circle (Htra). These coins bear the types of Samos, and there can be no easonable doubt that their occasion was the arrival in Jicily of Samian fugitives, after the collapse of the Ionian evolt. As regards the history of these fugitives, their connexion with Anaxilaus, and their final settlement, there >re many historic difficulties ^ ; but the broad fact that jancle took a new name, and issued coins with Samian ypes and of Attic weight on their arrival, seems to be )eyond dispute. Valuable historical evidence is furnished )y a small hoard of coins ^ found at Messana and containing ome twenty archaic tetradrachms of Athens, four tetra- Irachms of Acanthus in Macedonia, coins of Ehegium and ilessene with the above-mentioned types, and some coins of Lttic weight (PI. V. 7) bearing the thoroughly Samian types tf a lion's scalp on one side and the prow of a galley on the )ther, but without inscription. It has been suggested that )y these coins we seem to be able to trace the course of the Samian immigrants. They started bearing with them, as it vould seem, coins with their native types but specially struck »n the Attic standard ; they tarried at Acanthus, possibly Jso at Athens ; and the E-hegine and Messanian coins of he hoard show the result of their arrival in Sicily. These >re the chief landmarks in the coinage of Sicily before the ime of the Persian wars, * Discussed by Mr. C. H. Dodd in Juurn. Hell. Stud., xxviii, p. 56. * ZHtschr. f. Numismatik, iii. 135, v. 103. Of. also Babelon, Traitej ii. 1, . 1489. CHAPTER XIII COINS OF CYEENE, 630-480 b. c. The archaic coinage of Gyrene is remarkably varied and abundant.^ The richness of the country, and the trade in wool and silphium which Oyrene carried on with Q-reece and with Egypt, will fally account for this. The coinage must have begun soon after the foundation of the city about 630 B. c, and become abundant in the prosperous reign of Battus the Fortunate, about the middle of the sixth century. Coins of Cyrene were in the remarkable find at Myt-Eahineh^ in Egypt, a hoard of coins from several parts of the Greek world. Arcesilas III, king about 528 b. c, had to fly from his kingdom to Samos, whence he returned with an army of Samians to re-establish his power. It has been held that at this time the remarkable tetradrachm in the British Museiim was issued — Ohv. Lion's head in profile ; silphium plant and seed. Eev. Eagle's head, holding serpent in beak. Weight, 266 grains (grm. 17-23). If we could insist on this date, it would be a valuable asset to us. But, unfortunately, it is anything but certain- The lion's head in profile and the eagle's head remind us of the types of Lindus and lalysus in Rhodes. The lion's head in profile has been set down as a Samian type (which at the time it is not) ; and it has been assumed (without warrant) that Ehodians as well as Samians took part in the expedi- tion which replaced Arcesilas on the throne. But when it is recognized that there is no trace of Samian influence on the coin, and that Arcesilas had no connexion with Rhodes,^ ^ See Babelon, TraiUj ii. 1, pp. 1335-64 ; also a paper by Mr, E. S. G. Robinson in Num. Chron.y 1915, p. 53. 2 Longp§rier in Rev. Num.j 1861, pi, XVIII. See below ^ Hdt. iv. 163. COINS OF GYRENE, 630-480 b.o. 219 i-he occasion of the striking of the coin becomes quite uncer- bain. Its style points rather to the end of the sixth century than to 528 b. c. Probably, however, the coin was struck at 3yrene. A very noteworthy fact is that, from the firsts Cyrenaean 3oins are issued on a standard of which the full weight is as much as 17-23 grammes, 266 grains : M. Babelon calls this bhe Euboic standard, but the Euboic standard, as we have seen, does not rise above 260 grains. The standard at Gyrene LS the same as the Attic, according to which the tetradrachm weighs up to 270 grains (grm. 17-50). But the Attic standard did not come into use at Athens until the time of Peisistratus, and the earliest coins of Gyrene are of so archaic a character that they must be given to the beginning of the sixth cen- tury. Nor does there appear any reason why the people of Gyrene should have adopted the Attic standard. It was not in use in the islands of the Aegean and of the Asiatic coast, with which Gyrene, as we know from the history of Arcesilas III, was in closest relations. It is clear that we have here an interesting historic problem. It would seem that the people of Gyrene and those of Athens independently adopted the standard, the former as early as 600 b. c, the latter half a century later. "We are taken some distance towards the solution of it by the facts of the find at Myt-Eahineh,^ which may have been a silversmith's hoard, consisting partly of bars of silver, partly of very archaic Greek coins, none apparently later than 550 b. o. Many of these coins were broken. Amongst them were coins of the Thracian coast (Lete, Maroneia) and of the coast of Asia Minor (Ephesus, Ghios, Naxos, Gos). It is noteworthy that there were no coins of Athens of the Athena type ; and since the early tetradrachms of Athens have been found in numbers in Egypt, this seems to furnish a proof that they were not yet circulated at the time of the burial of the hoard. Goins of Gorinth were present, one weighing 129-5 grains (grm. 840), the other weighing 137-5 grains (grm. 8-90) ; but M. Longpdrier observes that * Revue Numism.f 1861, p. 425, pi. XVIII. Article by Longp^rier, 220 COINS OF CYEENE, 630-480 b.c. the latter was considerably oxidized and had gained in weight. We may therefore assume that these coins were of the ordinary early Corinthian standard of 130 grains. Coins of Cyrene also were present, but so much broken up that their original weight could not be ascertained ; but they doubtless followed the ordinary standard of Cyrene. It seems clear, first, that the standard of Cyrene was not that of Corinth (or the Euboic) ; and second, that coins of Cyrene were well known in Egypt at a very early time. In fact, the geographical position of the countries is such that there must always have been communication between them. History confirms this inference ; we read of inter- ference by the kings of Egypt in the affairs of Cyrene from the days of Apries and Amasis at the beginning of the sixth century to those of the Ptolemies. We may, therefore, fairly look to Egypt for the source of the standard of Cyrene ; and we find it at once. The Jcedet ^ of Egypt seems to have been of various weights at different times and in different parts of the country. A large number of weights attributed to this standard were found at Nau- cratis, and have been published by Prof. Petrie.^ They give a unit of 136-8-153 grains (grm. 8-85-9-91). On the next page Prof. Petrie gives a list of weights also from Naucratis of Attic drachm standard giving 127-80-148-8 grains (grm. 8-27-9*63) for the didrachm. As all these weights are un- inscribed, there is difficulty in determining to which series they really belong ; but supposing Petrie to be right in his attributions, it is evident that the Attic didrachm is equiva- lent to a light kedet weight. Petrie shows ^ that the kedet at Heliopolis in Egypt was of a somewhat low standard, of 139 grains (grm. 9-0). There is, he observes, a well-known weight inscribed ' 5 Kat of Heliopolis *, which gives this standard, and it is confirmed by other weights found in the locality. Thus we come still nearer to the ordinary Attic weight. Heliopolis was one of the cities of Egypt most readily ^ This word is spelt in a great variety of ways. ^ KaukratiSj i. pp. 75-6. Compare EncycL Bnt , ed, 11, xxviii, 485. 3 Jbid.^ p. 84. COINS OF GYRENE, 630-480 b.o. 221 accessible to the Greeks, lying in the south of the Delta, and t was to Heliopolis that Herodotus and Plato repaired for nformationfrom the learned priests of the temple of theSun- jod. The kedet of Heliopolis is of almost exactly the weight )f the standard of Gyrene. There can be little doubt but ihat the people of Gyrene adopted the weight not later than ;he days of Apries and Amasis, when the relations between Egypt and Gyrene were intimate. The latter king made a iurable peace with Battus of Gyrene, and even married I lady of his family. The adoption of the same standard at Athens was somewhat later. We have, however, traces of its use at Samos and elsewhere for electrum coins, as early IS at Gyrene (Ghap. I). Goncurrently with the money struck on this standard at Cyrene, we find, towards the end of the sixth century, coins weighing approximately 52 and 26 grains (grm. 3-36 and l-68).^ These can be nothing but drachms and hemidrachms of the Phoenician (or Milesian) standard. The drachms must have borne some relation to the tetradrachms of the ordinary standard, and it is natural to suppose that that relation would be 1 to 5. We should thus have a decimal and a duodecimal coinage concurrently at Gyrene. It is noteworthy that Mr. Head takes these coins as drachms of the Phoenician, and M. Babelon as pentoboli of the Attic standard.^ Situated between Egypt and Garthage, both of which used the Phoenician standard for silver, Gyrene must have come to terms with it ; while for trade with Sicily, with Athens, and with Gorinth, and the places within the spheres of their influence, the Attic standard would be most useful. The issue of money at the other cities of Gyrenaica, Barce, and Euesperides, does not begin so early as at Gyrene ; but it begins in the sixth century. It follows the same standards. The monetary types of Gyrene are mostly derived from the silphium plant, which was in all the Mediterranean world regarded as a most valuable medicine, and which grew in the district of Gyrene. * Num. Chron.j 1915, p. 61. ^ Head, Hist Num.,ed. 2, p. 867. Babelon, Traitej li. 1, p. 1347. CHAPTER XIV COINS OF THE ATHENIAN EMPIEE I. Athens, Silver. The ordinary silver coinage of Athens from 480 to 400 B.C. is almost unvaried. By the former date a liead of Athena and an owl of fixed and conventional archaic type had been adopted for the coin. The olive-wreath which adorns the helmet of the goddess seems to have been adopted during the glow of triumph after Marathon. At the end of the century there were certain issues of gold coins, of which we shall speak later. But the .great mass of the coinage was in silver. The Athenians obtained silver in abundance from the mines of Laurium and those of Thrace, and it was part of Athenian policy to circulate the coins as widely as possible, and to make them the standard currency of the Aegean. Silver was to Athens what gold was to Pei^ia, the backbone of the finance of the state, and, together of course with the tribute of the allies, the source whence came the plentiful wealth which Athens used for great building-works at home and for expeditions abroad. The early silver coins of Athens are found on many shores, in Egypt, in Italy, in Sicily, in Greece and Asia. There is a well-known passage in the Frogs of Aristophanes in which their vogue is described.^ Aristophanes speaks of the Athe- nian staters as not alloyed, as the most beautifal of coins, the only ones rightly struck, and ringing truly, accepted among Greeks and barbarians everywhere. The poet is somewhat carried away by patriotic fervour. The coins are indeed of pure metal, but their beauty is to say the least somewhat antiquated, and their striking careless. If we * Frogst line 730. ATHENS, SILVEE 223 'ant to see what dies bearing the head of Athena could be roduced by Athenian artists in the fifth century, we must irn to the money of the Athenian colony of Thurium, 'here most beautiful heads of the goddess make their ppearance. Several writers have dwelt on the artistic ifluence exercised in Italy and Sicily by the die-cutters of hurium.^ This is, however, a subject on which we cannot ere dwell : it is more in place in speaking of the coins f Italy. Why the Athenians should in this case have taken a line ) much opposed to all their artistic instincts it is not ard to see. The reason was commercial convenience. It 1 a familiar fact to all students of the history of coins that 'hen a particular type of money has taken root, and gained wide commercial vogue, it becomes stereotyped and no )nger varies. Thus the coins bearing the name and types f Alexander the Great were widely current in Q-reece and .sia until the middle of the second century. The staters of yzicus retained the archaic incuse on the reverse until ley ceased to be issued. Among ourselves the retention F Pistrucci's type of G-eorge and the Dragon for the reverse F the sovereign is in part at least the result of a similar mservatism. But other Greek cities, such as Corinth and icyon, while they kept to their early types, modified the iyle of their coins in response to the growth of art. It might well seem that nothing could be easier than to )py the Athenian silver of the fifth century. It bore no lagistrates' names and had no subsidiary devices, and it as rudely struck. Probably, however, the mere archaism F the types made them hard to copy in an age of astonish- ig vitality in art. And it is certain that the Athenians ould keep a sharp eye on all attempts at forgery. Imita- ons of the money were, as I have already shown, abundant Dwn to 480 B. c. From that time until 400 they are larcely to be found. In the time of the Second Empire, about 393 b. c, the * Poole in Num. Gkron., 1883 ; Furtwangler, Masterpieces, p. 104 ; Evans, m. Ckron,j 1912, p. 21, and elsewhere. 324 COINS OF THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE Athenians modified the types of their coins. The money struck between that year and the date of Alexander betrays, as Mr. Head observes,^ an * endeavour on the part of the engraver to cast off the trammels of archaism, which is manifested chiefly in the more correct treatment of the eye of the goddess, which is henceforth shown in profile'. The dies, however, are executed in a careless way, and so ill adapted to the blanks used that often both of the types are only partly to be found on the coins. This coinage seems to have been continued until the days of Alexander, or later. Perhaps some of the worst examples may be money struck in military camps or in other cities. In the last years of the Empire, when in great need, the Athenians did begin a coinage both in gold and in bronze. Of this we shall speak later. They also used money of electrum for dealings with Asia. But in Greece and the Aegean, and to the west in Italy and Sicily, it is only silver coin which comes in. The Athenians issued coins of all sizes and all denominations, slightly varying the types to indicate value. TV • J.- Noof drac ms B. M. Cat. Reverse-type Weight Denonunation Grains Gi 1. Decadrachm . . 10 PI. III. 1 Owl facing : olive twig 675 43 2. Tetradrachm . . . 4 P1.^II. 2-8 Owl to r. : „ 270 17 3. Didrachm . . 2 PI. IV. 4 jj jj 135 8 4. Drachm . . . . 1 PI. IV. 5, 6 ij ii 67-5 4 5. Triobol . . . . 1/2 PI. IV, 7, 8 Owl facing : two olive twigs 33-7 2 6. Biobol . - 1/3 PL IV. 9 Two owls : olive twig 22-5 1 7. „ 1/3 PI. V. 16 Two owls with one head 22-5 1 8. Trihemiobol . . 1/4 PI. IV. 10 Owl facing : olive twig 16-8 1 9. Obol 1/6 PI. IV. 13 Owl to r. : ,, 11*2 10. „ 1/6 PI. V. 17 Four crescents 11-2 11. Tritartemorion . . 1/8 PL V. 18 Three crescents 8-4 12. Hemiobol . . . . 1/12 PL IV. 12, 13 Owl to r. : olive twig 5-6 13. Trihemitartemorion 1/16 PL V. 20 Galathos 4*2 14. Tetartemorion . . 1/24 PL V. 21 Crescent 2-8 15. Hemitetartemorion 1/48 PL V. 22 Owl facing : two olive twigs 1-4 These coins are probably not all of the same time. In the B.M. Cat.;, as will be seen from the references given above, Mr. Head assigns coins 1-6, 8, 9, 12 to a period before ^ B. M. CkU. Attica, p. xxiii, pi. V. ATHENS, SILVER 225 JO B.C. : coins 7, 10, 11, 13-15 to a period after that date, i is difficult to judge of the style of the head of Athena, hich is our only means of assigning period, on coins so nail. But in general I should be willing to accept 'r. Head's assignment of date. The didrachm is of extreme ^rity, and, as M. Babelon observes,^ was only struck about 50 B. c. The reason for this procedure is unknown. The orinthian staters would fill the gap ; but considering the Dstility between Athens and Corinth there is not likely to ive been an understanding between the two cities as to the 36 of their respective coins. Some confusion has been introduced into the silver coin- ^e of Athens by mixing up those coins which bear a head ■ Athena of the fixed type, wearing Attic helmet adorned ith olive-wreath, with some pieces of distinctly later style, L which the goddess wears a helmet without olive-wreath id of another character, and even with coins of the fourth sntury in which she wears a helmet of Corinthian form. dese coins may be thus described : On obverse, Head of Athena, in helmet without olive-leaves. Tetrobol: Rev. Two owls: 45 grains (grm. 2-91) {B, M. Cat, PL V. 12). Triohol : Bev. Owl facing: 33-5 grains (grm. 2-18) {B, M, Gat, PL V. 15). The former of these coins fits in with the Corinthian stem : the tetrobol being the equivalent of the Corinthian achm. This gives us a clue : the coins may well belong to e time of the Corinthian alliance of Athens 394 b. c. Later ere is a^Pentobol, on obverse Head of Athena, in Corinthian Imet : on rev. Owl to r. with wings open ; in front, an iphora: weight, 56-2 grains (grm. 3-64) (B.M. Cat, PL V. ). This coin is certainly later than the middle of the irth century. The careful discrimination of denominations is character- ic alike of the love of the Athenians for their silver coins the yXavKes A avpLcatVay, of the year 424 B.C.) and )y Demosthenes,^ who speaks of a sum of 300 Phocaic 1 J, H. S,, 1914, p. 277. 2 p, 914, C, I. A., i. 196j 649, 660. * Upds Boturdy, 1019. 236 COINS OF THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE staters as procured at Mytilene. The text of a remarkable convention between Phocaea and Mytilene for the common issue of electrum, dating from about the end of the fifth century, was published by Sir C. Newton.^ The two cities were in alternate years to undertake the minting of the coins; and if the mint-master debases the coin beyond a certain point, the penalty of death is assigned. It is remarkable that so important a detail should be decided, not by the city, but by a single official. (3) Turning from the literary and inscriptional evidence to that of the coins themselves, we have much material to deal with. And first of Cyzicus. Every one accustomed to study the coins of the ancient world is astonished at the abundance, the variety, and the artistic beauty of the Cyzicene staters^ (PI. VI. 2). 172 different types were mentioned by Mr. Greenwell in 1887; and more are now known. The inscriptional and literary evidence makes it clear that the staters of Cyzicus, together with the darics, constituted the main gold coinage of the Greek world from the time of Thucydides to that of Demosthenes. Yet Cyzicus does not seem to have been a great or wealthy city. It belonged to the Satrapy of which the chief resided at Dascylium. It had great natural advantageSj^being built on a peninsula, united with the mainland of Mysia only by a narrow neck of land,^ and having two good harbours. But we are told by Thucydides (viii. 107) that as late as 411 b.g. the city was unfortified, and was occupied almost without resistance by the Athenian fleet. It seems to have been in the Roman age that it grew, and covered much ground. Why a city comparatively unimportant should have possessed so remarkable a privi- lege presents an interesting historic problem. In my ^ Eoy. Soc, Lit.j viii. 549. Michel, Recueil, No. 8. ^ Num. Chron.f 1887 : a more complete account by von Frifcze, Nomismaj Part VII. 5 Originally it seems to have been an island, but the passage between it and the mainland was silted up by the time of Alexander the Great, who cut a fresh canal across the isthmus. Plans of the site are given in Jown. SeU. Stud., 1902, pi. XI ; 1904, pi. VI. ELECTEUM OF ASIA MINOR 237 pinion the secret must be tlie patronage of Athens, which as at the height of its power in the time of Gimon, and own to the disaster in Sicily. Some of the types of le staters of Cyzicus, the Tjrrannicides Harmodius and .ristogeiton, Cecrops, Ge holding the young Erichthonius, riptolemus in his winged car, are quite Attic. One, lie young Heracles strangling serpents, commemorates le victory of Conon over the Spartans in 394 b.c, and innot have been struck much later than that year. As regards the dates of the Cyzicene coins, numismatic uthorities are not altogether agreed. Mr. Greenwellj on tte evidence of style, gives them to the period 500-360 b.c. Ir. Head in 1876 was disposed to think that their issue Qased early in the fourth century, French and German umismatists ^ had, on the other hand, brought the latest f them down to the time of Alexander the Great (331). n the Historia Numorum Mr. Head accepts the date 00-350. And in the British Museum Catalogue of ^ysia the latest date is fixed at 350, the cessation of the Jyzicenes being regarded as the result of the great issues f gold coin by Philip of Macedon. One of the latest of the staters of Cyzicus is a coin pub- ished by Millingen,^ bearing the inscription EAEYOEPIA, p'hich has been regarded as a reference to Alexander's ictory at the Granicus. It is, however, more than doubt- iil whether the people of Cyzicus, who had already enjoyed reedom, would look on the ' Macedonian conquest in this ight. Mr. Head suggests that the reference is rather to he victory of Conon at Cnidus in 394 b.c, and he finds Lothing in the style of the coin to conflict with the apposition.^ But a far more suitable occasion for the •oast of freedom is suggested by the assertion of Marquardt* ^ F. Lenormant, in Revue Numismatiqiie, 1864, 1867 ; Brandis, p. 177. ^ Anc. Greek Coins, pi. V. 11. ■■' Head, in Num. Chron., 1876, p. 292. * Kysikos und sein Gebiet, p. 65. 238 COINS OF THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE that the people of Cyzicus expelled the Persian garrison in 365, twenty-two years after the peace of Antalcidas. Marquardt's ancient authorities ^ only say that Timotheus liberated Cyzicus when besieged ; but the inference of Marquardt that until the city had expelled the Persians it could hardly have been besieged by them seems a reasonable one. It was after this time that Cyzicus pos- sessed an important arsenal, and two hundred ship-sheds. As the Cyzicenes repulsed Memnon, the Rhodian general of Darius, they seem to have preserved their autonomy until the time of Alexander. As the Cyzicene staters were a common currency till beyond the middle of the fourth century, there does not appear to be any reason why we should suppose that their issue ceased before Alexander's time, or at all events before the taking of Athens by Philip. The fifth-century electrum staters of Lampsacus, the obverses of which bear the type of half a winged horse (PI. VI. 1), are far rarer than those of Cyzicus, and belong to a briefer period. What that period was seems to be decided alike by the style of the coins, and by the fact that several of them were found with a number of Cyzicene staters which are neither archaic nor late in style.^ We have seen that Lampsacene staters are mentioned in Attic inscriptions from 447 B.C. on, and this date admirably suits the extant examples of the coinage. The small hectae or sixths issued by Mytilene and Phocaea in conjunction, in accordance with the above- mentioned treaty, the text of which has come down to us, are extant in great abundance. There is but one stater of Mytilene known, and as yet none of Phocaea. We have, however, seen that staters and hectae of Phocaea are fre- quently mentioned in Attic inscriptions. Some of the hectae of Phocaea are distinctly archaic in style. M. Babelon ^ does not hesitate to attribute them ^ Diodorus, xv, 80 ; Cornelius Nepos, TimotheuSj 1. ^ This find is published in the Numismatic Chroniclej 1876, p. 277. ^ Revue Niimismatigue, 1895, p. 12. ELECTEUM OF ASIA MINOR 239 b a time before the Persian "War. Mr. Head gives them to lie end of the sixth century.^ But the weakness of the ity at that time is shown by the fact that it contributed nly three ships to the Ionian fleet. Most of the inhabitants ad abandoned the city to sail to the west. It is unlikely liat at such a time it would begin an issue of electrum oins. I should therefore regard them as issued just after 80 B.C. And Mr. Wroth gives the corresponding coins f Lesbos to 480-350 b.c, in the B, M. Cat. Troas, Sc. The only existing electrum stater of Chios of a period iter than the Persian wars is at Berlin (B. T. VIII. 9). ts fabric is like that of the Cyzicene staters, and the type, iie Sphinx, is enclosed in a vine-wreath, just like that a the already mentioned staters of Lampsacus. There can e little doubt that it is contemporary with these latter, ating from the time of the Peloponnesian War.^ Such are our data. What are the historic results to be rawn from them ? It seems abundantly clear that at some date not long iter 480 b. c. three or four of the cities of the coast resumed leir issues of electrum. The chief of these cities were yzicus, Mytilene, and Phocaea; Lampsacus and Chios lining them about the middle of the fifth century. It impossible to tell with certainty when the issues of yzicus, Lesbos, and Phocaea began, since we have only te evidence of style to go by. But the incuse reverses ' the earliest examples are distinctly later than those of le group of coins which I have given to 500-494 b.c. lie incuses of Cyzicus and Phocaea are of mill-sail type ; Lose of Lesbos are in the form of a second type. Thus le examination of the coins themselves confirms the view hich is in itself far the most probable, that these issues ' electrum were not sanctioned by Persia, but were begun ^ Cat loniaj p. xxii. • I leave this paragraph as I published it in 1913 : it is satisfactory to find it Mr. Mavrogordato {Num. Chron.j 1915, p. 367) accepts this date. 240 COINS OF THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE at the time after the battles of Plataea and Mycale, when Greek fleets sailed the Aegean, and the power of Persia was being driven steadily westward by the arms of Athens. They are a sign of the Ionic independence of Persia which had been lost for half a century, except during the stormy years of the Ionian revolt. It would be natural to expect that in the early years of the fourth century, when the mutual hostilities of Sparta and Athens had allowed the Persian power to reassert itself on the shores of the Aegean, and especially after the peace of Antalcidas had acknowledged the suzerainty of the Persian king over the Ionian cities, the electrum issues of Cyzicus and the other cities would come to an end. This appears, from the evidence of the coins and of the orations of Demosthenes, not to have been the case. For some reason or other the Great King allowed the invasion of his prerogative of issuing gold coin to go on. "Why he did so we cannot with certainty say. We must, however, remember that though the power of Persia seemed to be .increasing in the early part of the fourth century it was less centralized. The Satraps of Asia Minor were often in revolt, and maintained something like independence. And the long reign of Artaxerxes Mnemon, 405-359 B.C., was not one in which the privileges of royalty were strongly asserted. The electrum issues seem to have persisted at Cyzicus until the appearance of the gold coins of Alexander the Great, Mr. Head has suggested as a reason for their ceasing the abundant issues of gold coins by Philip II of Macedon. This, however, appears to be a less likely occasion. Philip had little authority on the Asiatic side of the Bosporus ; and one does not see why the cities of Asia should forgo their own commercial advantage in order to further the circulation of his money. It seems likely that the popularity of the gold Philippi would rather decrease the volume of the issue of electrum than bring it to an end. ELECTRUM OF ASIA MINOR 241 "We have next to consider how the Cyzicene stater was lated in value to other current coins. No doubt in Greece, in the modern world, there would usually be an agio, and e rate of exchange would fluctuate accordingly as gold, ectrum or silver was in greater demand in the market. at there would probably be a normal equivalence. This Mr. "Woodward has tried to fix by means of Attic scriptions ; ^ but unfortunately these are so imperfect in •eservation that they do not give him the means to solve .6 problem with certainty. He shows, however, that sctrum staters of Cyzicus were used at Athens in 418-414 c. in payment to strategi. The ratio to the Attic drachm fixed approximately to 24 to 1 by possible restorations of lc inscriptions. It is almost certain that the Cyzicene and the daric were garded as equivalent. This I have tried to show else- here, by three or four lines of argument.'^ Mercenaries in sia were sometimes paid a daric a month, and sometimes Cyzicene a month. The soldiers of Cyrus the younger ceived a daric a month, which pay, in consideration of the rious nature of his expedition, he increased to a daric and half.^ Later on, the same troops are promised by Timasion Cyzicene a month ; ^ and Seuthes of Thrace promises them .e same pay.^ And the equivalence is confirmed by analysis, fair average proportion of gold and silver in a Cyzicene ' 254 grains is 117 grains of gold and 137 of silver, the tter being equal to 10 more grains of gold. Thus the hole coin is about of the value of 127 grains of gold, and \7 grains is just the weight of the daric, which is almost ire gold. Further, it is noteworthy that the silver coins 'Cyzicus, dating from 400 B.C., are struck on the Phoenician andard of about 232 grains : of these pieces 15 at the rate ' 1 : 13§ are the equivalent of two darics. The system of iver is clearly adapted to a currency of darics ; but we ust also in reason believe that it was also adapted to a 1 J. H. S., 1914, p. 278. 2 2V«m. Chron., 1887, p. 185. 3 Anah. i. 3. 21. * Anab. v. 6. 23. ** Anab. vii. 3. 10. 1967 R 242 COINS OF THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE currency of electrum staters ; that is, that the daric and the electrum stater were equivalent. The daric, we know, was equivalent to 20 Persian sigU or shekels ; and as the value of the Persian siglos was in Xenophon's time regarded in Asia as equal to 7^ Attic obols, or 1 J Attic drachms,^ the daric must have been there equivalent to 25 Attic silver drachms. We have, it is true, another statement in Hesychius, that the Persian siglos was equivalent to 8 Attic obols, and therefore the daric to 26| Attic drachms; and this value may have held in some places ; but the statement of Xenophon, based on his per- sonal experience in Asia, is to be preferred. With regard to the value of the Cyzicene in Attic silver, we have a number of conflicting statements. It is probable that 24-25 drachms was the ordinary or standard value. But in the works of the great orators, whose testimony is apt to be warped by the interests of their clients, there is considerable divergency. Very instructive is the oration against Phormio by Demosthenes. The question raised in it is, whether Phormio has or has not paid to one Lampis in Bosporus a debt of 2,600 Attic drachms, Phormio declares that he has paid it with 120 Cyzicene staters, to which Demosthenes replies that this is on the face of the thing absurd, since a Cyzicene stater is worth 28 drachms, and so 120 staters are worth 3,360 drachms, and not 2,600. Thus Phormio reckoned the value of a Cyzicene at 21 1 Attic drachms, and Demosthenes at 28. We have no means of deciding between them ; but if we regard the two valua- tions as representing the extreme fluctuations of value, 25 drachms is just midway between them. All these dis- tinct lines of reasoning seem to point to a normal or ideal equivalence of the daric and the Cyzicene. The value in currency of the hectae of Phocaea is not easy to fix definitely. They weigh about 40 grains (grm. 2-60) and their pale colour suggests that they contain but a small proportion of gold, a suspicion which analysis has ^ Anab. i. 5. 6. ELECTEUM OF ASIA MINOR 243 nfirmed. J. Hammer has submitted the composition of 6 hectae of Phocaea and Mytilene to a careful examina- Dn.^ The result is to show that they are regular and liform in mixture. They contain 40 per cent, of gold, ! of silver, and 8 of copper ; they are thus rather less than ilf of pure gold in value. This would give us 16 grains ■ gold and 21 grains of silver for the hecte. If then gold ere to silver as 14 to 1, we should have a value of grm. i-87, 245 grains of silver; if of 13 to 1 of grm. 14*83, 19 grains of silver ; if of 12 to 1 of grm. 13-80, 213 grains ' silver. A natural supposition would be that they passed the equivalent of a Cyzicene silver tetradrachm (232 •ains) ; but the only mention of them in literature scarcely infirms this equivalence. Crates, the Athenian comic poet, quoted by Julius Pollux^ as saying in his Lamia that half-hecte of gold was equivalent to eight obols (of silver), ae would naturally suppose that Crates was speaking of fctic obols; in which case he would equate the hecte ' gold (electrum) with 16 obols, 2| drachms, 180 grains ' silver (11-66 grm.). As Hesychius gives the value of Persian silver siglos or shekel as eight Attic obols, the icte would seem to have been equivalent to two shekels, le difficulty is that this fixes the value of electrum so sry low. at only four and a half times the value of silver ; id we are accustomed to higher exchange values for ectrum. III. The Islands. In the Introduction to the British Museum Catalogue Coins of the Aegean Islands, Mr. Wroth observes,^ ' The oubles of the Persian Wars, and the long period during bich the Aegean Islands were in more or less complete bjection to Athens, seem to have been unfavourable to e appearance of currencies in the islands, and coins ' Zeitf. Num. 26, p, 47. ' Onomasticon^ ix. 62. The half-hect6 mentioned must be of Mytilene or of zicus. * p. xliv. R 2 244 COINS OF THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE belonging to the fifth century, and, in a less degree, to the earlier part of the fourth, are rare.' But the rarity or abundance of such coins is less to our present purpose than the concession or withholding by the Athenians of the right to strike money at all. As a general rule the issue of coins by Aegean Islands, which had been a marked feature of the sixth century,^ entirely ceases at the Persian wars. Dr. E. "Weil has, however, published an important paper, in the Zeitschrift fur Numismatik for 1910, in which he tries to show that at first Athens did not interfere much with the island issues ; but that as her hold on members of the Confederacy tightened, one island after another ceased to issue money ; but a contributing cause was the impoverishment of the island world in the fifth century. The large island of Naxos certainly issued no coins for a long time after the island was conquered by the Athenians in 470 B.C. and a colony settled there. "We must briefly consider the island coinages which persisted into the fifth century. Notable among them is the money of Peparethus, dealt with by Mr. "Wroth.^ Mr. "Wroth thinks that the most striking specimens belong to the beginning of the fifth century; he adds, 'Between circ, 470 and 400 b.c. there is a broad gap in the coinage of Peparethus '. More important, and coming down to a later time, is the coinage of Melos. Melos is said to have been peopled by Minyae from Lemnos and Imbros; but for practical pur- poses it was Dorian. Already, in the sixth century, Melos struck coins on a different standard from that of most of the other islands of the Aegean, the stater weighing about 224 grains (grm. 14*50). Certain coins of the Santorin find (p. 122) are not of Aeginetan but of this Phoenician weight. Their types are — head and tail offish, head of boar, head of satyr with pointed ear : in each case the reverse bears an incuse square without definite divisions. These coins can hardly be assigned to cities by their types ; and they are ' See especially Num. Chron.y 1884, PI. XII, p. 269. 2 Journ. EeU. Stud., 1907. THE ISLANDS 245 minscribed. But some of them at all events may belong to > group of islands which use from the first the Phoenician tandard : the southern Cyclades, including Melos Thera .nd Carpathos. Though the coins of these places are mostly ater than the find of Santorin, they begin in the sixth cen- ury. Among the earliest issues are the following : Idelos. Obv. MAAI (archaic). Ewer. Bev, Incuse square, divided into four by two diagonals. Weight, 223 grains (grm. 1445). (B. T. LXII. 8, 9.) Poseidion in Carpathos. 01)v. Two dolphins passing one another within a linear square. Rev* Incuse square divided by a bar into two oblongs. Weight, 217-210 grains (grm. 14.06-13-60). (B. T. XIX, 8-10.) [f one looks at the map of the Aegean,^ the facts may almost }e said to ' leap to the eyes '. Melos belongs to a line of Dorian islands running across the sea from Laconia to Caria : Melos, Thera, Astypalaea, Carpathos, Rhodes. The cities ol Poseidion in Carpathos, and lalysus and Lindus in Rhodes, ise the same standard ; whereas Cos, and Camirus in Rhodes, like Cnidus and the cities of the mainland of 3aria, use the Aeginetan standard. There was at Melos I tradition of a Phoenician colony from Byblus; and it s likely that the monetary standard of this kindred group )f cities was in origin Phoenician. Some of the letters of ihe Melian alphabet are also strikingly like those of Phoenicia. The Laconian settlement was very early ; but t does not seem to have brought with it the Pheidonian veights; whereas the islands to the north of Melos— Pares, S"axos, Siphnos, and the rest — strike staters of Aeginetan veight freely in the sixth century, Melos, Carpathos, and Rhodes adhere to the Phoenician standard. In this con- lexion it is important to observe that the finds in Rhodes belonging to the archaic period contain many objects of Phoenician character. ^ Kiepert's Furmae Orbis antiqui PI. XII. 246 COINS OF THE ATHENIAN EMPIEE This coinage was continued at Melos into the fift century. Recent finds show that it was abundant am marked with a great variety of types on the reverse, th obverse being occupied by the pomegranate, inscription rendering the attribution certain (Pl. VI. 3, 4). Amouj the reverse types we may note a triquetra, a wheel, a flowei three dolphins, a crescent, a ram*s head, a helmeted head, &c. This is the only important coinage of the Aegean in th< time of the Delian League. Its existence helps . us b understand the bitter feelings towards the Melians in thi minds of the people of Athens, which led to the massacn of 416 B.C. Until 425 B.C., the year of the deepest humilia tion of Sparta and the greatest triumph of Athens, Meloi does not figure in the Athenian tribute lists, but in th( list of increased payments, rd^is 6pov^ of that year Melo: is assessed at 15 talents, the same as Andros and Naxos Whether this tribute was ever actually paid we cannot tell But Thucydides tells us that the demand made to the Melians in 427 that they should accede to the League o: Delos was rejected by the islanders, and that Nicias failec in his attempt to coerce them, though he sailed to Meloi with a fleet of 60 triremes and ravaged it. Thucydidei adds that in fact the Melians had never been allies o: Athens. The importance of their issues of coins showi that the island was wealthy and prosperous. Unfortunately we cannot venture to decide whether these issues ceasec in 425 or 416. After the fall of Athens, a remnant of the Melians wen restored to their island by Lysander. They recommencec a coinage on the Ohian or Rhodian standard, which in the early years of the fourth century was rapidly making way. The group of islands to the south of Delos, comprising Paros and Siphnos, seems to have passed through simila: vicissitudes. Paros and Siphnos continued into the fiftl century their early coinage of Aeginetan weight, Thi coinage may have lasted until 450 b.c, up to which timi 1 See Hist Num., ed. 2, p. 486 ; lieo. Num., 1908, pp. 301 and foil, and 1909 TraiU, ii. 3, PI. CCXLI-II. THE ISLANDS 247 le three islands do not appear in the Attic tribute lists, iter that year they pay heavy tribute, and cease to strike )ins until the end of the fifth century, when Naxos and aros resume the issue of money on the Chian standard, f the three islands, Siphnos is nearest to Attica, and ence we are not surprised to find there more traces of 10 influence of Athenian commerce. The stater in the irly fifth century is of Aeginetic weight (186-4 grains) ?1, VI. 5), but it is divided into three drachms of Attic ;andard, 60-61 grains (grm. 3.88-3-95). (See Chap. XVIII.) Coming next to the islands close to Attica we find, as '6 should expect, clear traces of the Athenian monopoly, .egina became tributary to Athens in 456 b.c. ;^ and it 1 probable that after that date the coinage of Aegina aases, though M, Babelon attributes some small coins Irachms and obols) to a later date. At any rate we must 3gard the coinage as coming to an end in 431 b.c, when \ie island was finally conquered and the people ejected. Lfter the conquest of Athens by Lysander, the inhabitants f Aegina were reinstated, and resumed their coinage on tie old standard. In the island of Euboea, Athenian dominance makes clear breach in the coinage. Mr. Head observes that fter the Persian wars the coinage of Euboea undergoes tiree changes: (1) the coins become thinner, and flatter; I) reverse types appear; (3) inscriptions come in. Such oins are issued at Chalcis (types, flying eagle with serpent 1 beak ; wheel) (B. T. XXXI. 1-6) ; ^ at Eretria (types, cow 3ratching itself; and sepia) (B. T . XXXII. 1-6) ; and at 'ar^J'stus (types, cow suckling calf; and cock) (B. T. ^XXII. 14-15). How long these issues lasted we cannot e sure; but they would certainly cease in 445 B.C., when lie island was conquered by Pericles. After the Sicilian isaster in 411 b.o., Euboea recovered her autonomy. 1 Hist. Num., ed. 2, p. 397 ; cf. Rev. Num., 1913, p. 470. ^ Cat Central Qreece, p. Iv. 248 COINS OF THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE IV. Ionia and Cabia. As regards the cessation of coinage in the cities of Asia, ,our evidence is of course negative. "We know that we have no coins of certain cities at given periods ; but at any time a fresh find may furnish us with the missing coins. Also, it is not easy, in the absence of definite evidence, to assign an exact date to the issues of many of the cities of Asia Minor. The facts, however, appear to be these : The three great islands of the Ionian coast, Chios, Samos, and Lesbos, which were admitted to the Delian League on terms of equality with Athens, seem to have issued coins almost uninter- ruptedly during the fifth century; but with differences. We will begin with Samos, the history of which island is well known to us.^ After the suppression of the Ionian Revolt, during which Samos had issued electrum staters, the city struck an abundant coinage in silver on a standard used also at Ephesus and other Ionian cities, which I call the standard of Miletus, and which is generally regarded as a light variety of the Phoenician standard. The stater or tetradrachm weighs about 204 grains (grm. 13«22). It is noteworthy that three Attic drachms would be almost equivalent, 202-5 grains (grm. 13*12). The results at Samos of the revolt and the Athenian conquest of 439 b. o. are very apparent. For a short time the Milesian standard is abandoned for the Attic, tetradrachms and drachms of Attic weight being issued. The style of these coins is different from, and superior to, that of the Samian issues, so that the die was probably made by an Athenian artist.'^ Afterwards^ when the coinage of Milesian weight is resumed, the olive- branch of Athens regularly takes its place on the coin behind the half-bull, thus testifying to Athenian supremacy.^ The Samians, however, were not expelled, nor were their lands given to Athenian settlers : they were only compelled ^ I have written a treatise on Samos and its coinage : Samos and Samian Coins, Macmillan, 1882. (Reprint from the Numismatic Chronicle.) 2 Samos and Samian Coins, PI. II, 1, 2. ' Ibid.y Pis. II, III. IONIA AND CAEIA 249 surrender their fleet and raze their fortifications : they l1 remained, at least in name, allies rather than subjects. is satisfactory to find an instance of clemency after con- 3st by Athens, and in fact after conquest long and pain- ly delayed, to set against the well-known examples of benian harshness in the cases of Mytilene and Melos. e reason of the difference may be the nearne3s in blood ■jween Athens and Samos. The metrological relief from Samos, in the Ashmolean iseum,^ is also an interesting monument of the Athenian iquest. It records the measures of the foot and the horn used at Samos at just the period in question, and 3se measures are, as Michaelis has proved, the Attic. is fact is very interesting, as we have already seen from 3 decrees that Athens was anxious to impose her weights d measiires on the subject states : the relief confirms this, ing evidently a standard set up by authority. And it oves that the policy of Athens was fixed at least as early 439 B. 0. What happened at Samos between 439 and the end of e century is not easily to be made out. Doubtless the ;henians set up a democracy in the island; and since 3 read in Thucydides ^ of Samian exiles at Anaea on the ast of Asia opposite Samos, who in the earlier years of e Peloponnesian AVar sided with the Spartans, we may sure that these exiles were of the aristocratic party, it curiously, when the island again emerges into the jht of history in 412 B.C., we are told by Thucydides at the party in power was the aristocratic, that of the mori or landowners. Against these, in 412, the demos volted, and being victorious, with the help of some bhenian ships, was accepted by Athens as an equal ally, lucydides's^ phrase is 'AOrjvaioiv re i(TLif avrovo^iav fiera vra c&y tSe^atois tjSt] >//•?/ 0icra/ze^o)f, to. Xoiira SicpKovt/ ttji/ »Xii/. This implies that whereas, until 412, the rule at imos had been aristocratic, and the Athenians had kept 1 J. H, S.f iv. 335 (Michaelis). 2 iv. 76. 8 viii. 21. 250 COINS OF THE ATHENIAN EMPIEE the island in dependence, after that date they felt sure of it and allowed it full liberty. But on what occasion did the aristocratic party gain the upper hand? and why did Athens allow them to do so ? The coins from 439 onwards fall into two classes: first, the rare coins of Attic weight (PL VI. 6) ; second, the coins of Samian weight, bearing an olive-twig as the mark of Athenian supremacy. These are usually marked in the field with a letter of the alphabet, the earliest being B and the latest H (PI. VI. 7). If these letters mark suc- cessive years, they imply a space of fourteen yqars. We may suppose that Athens prohibited coinage, save on the Attic standard, for some years after 439; but that the aristocratic party, coming into power about 428, at the time, we may suppose, of the revolt of Lesbos, issued coins for fourteen years or more on the old Samian standard, but retaining the olive-branch as a mark of loyalty. A remarkable and quite exceptional silver tetradrachm of Athens (B. T. CLXXXVII. 7) has in the field of the obverse a bull's head. It has been reasonably supposed that this coin records some conjunction between Athens and Samos, of which island the bull's head is a frequent type. The coin seems to be in style too late for the time of the Athenian conquest : it seems more reasonable, with Koehler, to assign it to the time of Alcibiades, when the Athenian fleet had its head- quarters at Samos. The silver coinage of the island of Chios is fairly con- tinuous from 480 b.c. to the time of Alexander,^ for Chios was never, like Samos and Lesbos,, completely conquered by Athens. The type was a sphinx and an amphora, above which are grapes (PI. VI. 8) : in these we may find an allusion to the wine of Chios, which has always been celebrated. The stater or tetradrachm weighed 240 grains (grm. 15'55) and the more usual didrachm 120 grains (grm. "t'll). This is clearly the old standard of Phocaea, used for 1 See Mavrogordato in ^mj». Chron,, 1916, p. 364. IONIA AND CAEIA 251 gold and electrum from a very early time. I shall have to dwell on the importance of the Chian standard in the fifth century, an importance which hitherto no one has recognized. At the time of the Ionian Revolt the silver stater was divided into six, and coins of about 40 grains (grm. 2*60) were struck.^ Later the more truly Hellenic division by four came in, and drachms of 60 grains (grm, 3-90) or less made their appearance. Such a collision between the customs of dividing by 3 and multiples, and dividing by multiples of 2, meets us elsewhere, in Chalcidice of Macedonia and in South. Italy. There it seems to result from a collision of Attic and Corinthian influences. At Chios, however, we should probably regard the trinal division as the old Asiatic custom, and the dual division as the result of the rapidly growing Athenian influence of the fifth century. Fortunately for us, the Chian staters are mentioned both by Thucydides and Xenophon in a way which gives us valuable information, though this testimony has been usually misunderstood. At the end of the Peloponnesian war, the Spartan admiral Mindarus, sailing from Chios, in 411 B.C., procured as pay for each of his men three Chian fortieths, rpeh Teaa-apaKoaTas Xia^.^ Since the tetradrachms of Chios, reckoned at 240 grains, were exactly one-fortieth of the Aeginetan mina of 9,600 grains, and as it was quite natural for the sailors of Peloponnese to look at them in relation to the standard to which they were accustomed, this statement exactly tits in with our knowledge. What each sailor received was clearly three Chian silver tetradrachms.^ Xenophon,^ speaking of a time a little later, 406 B.C., narrates that Callicratidas, the Spartan admiral, procured for each of his sailors from Chios a pentadrachmia, Reading this statement in close relation with the last, we may conclude that each soldier received two Chian tetradrachms, which together were the exact equiva- ' J. H. S., 1911, p. 158; 1913, p. 105. ' Thuc. viii. 101. ^ Hultsch rightly identified these fortieths : Metrologie, p. 554, * Hellm. i. 6. 12. 252 COINS OF THE ATHENIAN EMPIEE lent of five Aeginetan drachms of 96 grains. M. Babelon ^ and Mr. Head^ are, I think, mistaken in supposing that the Chian coin is equated by Xenophon with five 'south Ionian * drachms of 48 grains, a species of coin which I do not recognize. Xenophon, it is to be observed, avoids the word TtePTaSpaxiiov, which would imply that he was speak- ing of coins each singly of the value of five drachms, and uses the vaguer term nci/TaSpaxfiicCi which need not bear that meaning. If, however, we prefer to regard the neura- Spaxiita as a coin, the Chian silver stater of the time is nearly equivalent to five drachms of Corinth, which are of about the same weight as Aeginetan hemidrachms. The view of M. Six, who regarded the Chian pentadrachms as electrum coins, has not persuaded numismatists; nor are there electrum staters of Chios of this period. From such testimony we see that the Chians in the regulation of their coinage had regard, not only to the old Phocaean standard, but also to that of Aegina. The Chian drachm was regarded as five-eighths of the value of an Aeginetan drachm ; the evidence that this was the accepted valuation is conclusive. Here again we have a numis- matic and indeed a political fact of the greatest importance. The Aeginetan standard had been before the Persian wars dominant in the Aegean ; but the growing predominance of Athens, and her determination that her dependent allies should use her measures, weights, and coins, had swept it aside. But with the Chian revolt of 412 b.c, and the appearance of Laconian fleets in the Aegean, the balance of power was altered. We learn from Thucydides viii with what a tempest of despair and rage the Athenians heard of the revolt of Chios and her allies. They at once repealed the law which punished with death any one who proposed to encroach on the reserve of 1,000 talents set aside to be used only in case of dire necessity. It was the beginning of the end. It was at that time that Chios evidently made an effort to come to terms with the 1 Babelon, Traite^ ii. 2, p. 1134. ' Head, Hist. Num., ed. 2, p. 600. IONIA AND OARIA 253 Aeginetan standard, which was still of universal use in Greece south of the Isthmus and west of Attica. The fortunes of Lesbos were more varied. The Lesbians, like the people of Samos and Chios, did not pay tribute to Athens, but contributed ships to the navy. Athens could have no claim to proscribe their coinage, though she doubtless had a convention with them in regard to the hectae of electrum. But in 428 b.c. Mytilene and the other cities, except Methymna, revolted against Athens. Every reader of Thucydides will remember how after a siege the people of Mytilene were obliged to surrender ; and how the inhabitants of Lesbos by a very narrow margin escaped a general massacre. As it was, a thousand of the most distinguished inhabitants were put to death, and the lands of all the cities except Methymna were divided among Athenian proprietors. I say proprietors rather than settlers^ because it is doubtful how many Athenians really settled in the island and how many were absentee landlords. "We next turn to the extant coinage of Lesbos. The earlier coins were of base metal, billon, struck on the standard of Phocaea (above, p. 177). About 480 b.c. begins the issue of hectae of electrum, with a few staters, by the mints of Mytilene and Phocaea in common, of which I have already spoken. It lasted, according to Mr. Head and other authorities, until about 350 b.c To the period shortly after 480 b.c I would assign the remarkable coin of Methymna, already mentioned (p. 173), with the types of the boar and the head of Athena. This coin must have been struck on the occasion of some alliance or understanding with Athens, with which city Methymna always remained on good terms. We cannot of course assign to the coins a date so exact that we can tell whether the events of 429-427 b.c, so disastrous for the people of Mytilene, caused an interrup- tion of these issues. M. Babelon ^ observes that it is from 1 Traite, ii. 2, p. 1191. 254 COINS OF THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE about 400 onwards that they become most abundant. The hectae struck at Phocaea bear the mint mark of the seal (phoca), and it has been observed first by Mr. Wroth ^ that the obverse types of the Lesbian sixths are almost invariably turned to the right, while the types of the Phocaean sixths face to the left. Towards the middle of the fifth century a few silver coins make their appearance at Mytilene and Methymna : Mytilene. Ohv. Head of Apollo, laureate. Eev, MYTIAHNAON. Head of Sappho, in incuse. Weight, 3-94 grm. (61 grains). (B. T. CLXII. 8.) Ohv, Head of Sappho ornyniph, three-quarter face. Bev. MYTI. Lion's head in incuse. Weight, 0*96 grm. (15 grains). (B. T. CLXII. 4.) Ohv. Head of Apollo, laureate. Bev, MYTI, Head of bull in incuse. Weight, 1-97 grm. (31 grains). (B. T. CLXIL 2.) Methymna. Ohv, Head of Athena. Bev, MA0YMNAION. Lyre on a square field in excuse. Weight, 643 grm. (99 grains). (B. T. CLXn. 30). Ohv. Head of Athena. Bev. M A®, Kantharos in incuse. Weight, 3-18 grm. (49 grains). (B. T. CLXII. 31.) Ohv, Head of Athena. Bev. MA. Lion's face in incuse. Weight, 1-57 grm. (24-grains). (B. T. CLXII. 28.) It is clear that these two neighbouring cities struck on different standards; and this is readily to be understood. Methymna was democratically governed, and in close connexion with Athens ; Mytilene was an aristocracy some- times hostile to Athens. The standard in use at Mytilene is clearly the old Phocaean standard, still in use at Chios, Cyzicus, and elsewhere. JFhe standard in use at Methymna is of doubtful origin. Babelon calls it the Samian, with the weight of which it certainly nearly agrees. ' Samos, colonie Athenienne,' he writes, " etait en rapports constants avec Methymn^.' ^ This explanation is not altogether satis- 1 B. M. Cat, Troasj 9 XP^^^^ eKOTTTou. The inscription dates from between 385 and 375 B.C. Mr. Woodward supposes that the dies had been used for the first issue of gold coin in 407, But this interpretation will not stand, as the xpyaol must be staters of gold, not drachms, which might be \pvaia^ but could not be xpvaoL This proves that an issue of staters or didrachms must have taken place before 375 b. c.^ It is in some measure a confirmation of these views that Conon, when he died in Cyprus in 389 B.C., bequeathed to Athena at Athens and Apollo at Delphi a sum of 5,000 staters.^ As the nature of the staters is not mentioned, it may be disputed of what kind they were. M. T. Eeinach ^ thinks that they were Lampsacene or Daric staters; but it seems far more probable that they were of the new Athenian issues. M. Keinach shows the stater mentioned to have been worth 24-22 silver drachms ; there can, I think, be little doubt that 24 drachms was at the time the normal value. This dating is satisfactory and removes difficulties. The first issue of small denominations was a money of necessity struck at the time of deepest need. The second issue is of another character, more plentiful and varied, and deliberately intended for currency. The monopoly of the Attic silver having departed, and its place in the commerce of the Aegean being taken by the darics and the staters of Cyzicus, there was no longer any reason to abstain from issuing gold, in competition with these. The first abundant issue of gold coin by Athens comes naturally at a time when the great victory of Conon at Xpvaos (or ros xp^f^ovs) is conjectural ; but it seems to be fairly certain, as the number of letters fills a gap. ^ Mr. Woodward {I. c), while allowing the force of my remarks as to the use of the word xp^^oTj yet thinks that a dedication was much more likely in the case of dies used at a time of necessity and then thrown aside. If it be so, yet I think my argument more weighty than a mere probability. ^ Lysias, De bonis Aristophanis, t;. 39. ^ VHist. par les Monnaies p. 50. GOLD AT ATHENS 295 Jnidus had. laid the foundation for a new period of expan- }ion and empire. The staters became the models on which B^ere framed the issues of Thebes and Olynthus and many cities in Asia, of Tarentum in the west, and Cyrene in the south. This subject I further discuss in my account of 3he gold coinage of Asia. X. Bronze at Athens. As regards the date of the earliest issues of bronze coins at Athens we have definite information. The Scholiast on Ajristophanes' Frogs (1. 730) says that bronze was first struck in the archonship of Callias (406 B.C.). And in the Ecclesiazusae, Aristophanes narrates how they were demonetized in 393 B.C. The town-crier announced (1. 821) that they were no longer to be current: dj/eKpay' 6 Krjpv^ fiTj ^iyjEaOai firjSiya ^a\KOvv to Xolttov^ dpyvpa> yap ^(^pd^fieOa. It seems that the unfortunates, who at that moment pos- sessed the bronze coin, had to submit to the loss. The coins were thus current only for thirteen years. Clearly they were a money of necessity, struck at the time of Athens' deepest need, and withdrawn after the victory of Conon at Cnidus, when the gold staters began to be struck. According to Mr. Earle Fox ^ they were only the following : Ohv. Head of Athena to left of fine style, in close fitting helmet. Eev. A0H. Owl facing, wings closed, standing on a grain of corn, between two olive-branches {B. M, Cat, PI. VI. 5). Also a smaller coin, on which the olive-branches are wanting. The unusual character of the head of Athena and the H in the inscription seem to me to be in conflict with the ascription of these coins to so early a date. 1 Num. Chron.^ 1905, p. 3, PI. I, 296 COINS OF THE ATHENIAN EMPIEE I am disposed to regard as the coins mentioned by Aristophanes the following : 1. Ohv. Head of Athena, helmet bound with olive. Bev. AO. Two owls within olive-wreath (B, M. Gat, VI. 2). 2. Ohv, Similar head. Bev. AGE. Two owls with one head : olive spray on either side (B, M. Cat, VI. 6). The close resemblance of No. 1 to the silver tetrobols and of No. 2 to the silver diobols appears to show that these bronze coins were issued at a time of stress to take the place of the silver. On the use of bronze coins, as money of necessity, in the place of silver of the same types, light is thrown by an interesting inscription of Thebes of the second century b. c.^ This inscription shows that bronze coins of the same size and types as the silver drachms of the same period were issued at Thebes as legal tender, but in fact passed at 25 per cent, discount. The hipparch was, however, obliged to pay his soldiers in silver, which he had to buy at a premium. Later in the fourth century there was no doubt a regular issue of bronze money. Julius Pollux ^ mentions bronze coins as in use in the time of Philemon, that is, the age of Alexander. They seem to have varied in value from three-quarters of an obol (six chalci) to the single chalcus. The fact that Aristophon, a poet of the Middle Comedy, living about the middle of the fourth century, speaks of a five chalcus piece,^ seems to show that the issue of regular bronze money began in the time of the second Athenian Empire. Another view has recently been set forth with much learning by Mr. Svoronos.^ He maintains that the only bronze coin issued at Athens in the fifth century was the KoWv^os, a small piece introduced by Demetrius surnamed 6 XaX/co? about 430 b.c. Such small pieces of bronze have 1 Hermes, 1874, p. 431 ; C. J. vii. 2426. ^ Onom, ix. 65. 3 pdlux, L c. ^ Journal intern. cVarcheologie numisrnatique, 1922, p. 123, BRONZE AT ATHENS 297 long been known at Athens ; Mr. Svoronos publishes a long list. I am by no means convinced by his arguments, but I have not space to discuss them. I adhere to the usual view that these pieces were not currency, but tesserae. Bronze coins had before this been issued in many Greek cities, notably in those of Sicily. It was natural that their use should spread eastward from Italy and Sicily where in early times bronze was the standard of value, as was silver in Greece and gold in Asia. CHAPTER XV SILVER OF ASIA, 400-330 b.c. § 1. Spread of the Chian Standard. In treating of the coinage of the Athenian Empire we have seen how the Chian standard of weight for coins spread from city to city, during the period after the disastrous Athenian expedition against Syracuse. After the taking of Athens by Lysander in 404 b. c, that spread became more marked. The tetradrachm of Chios, it will be remembered, weighed about 240 grains (grm. 15-55) and the didrachm 120 grains (grm. 7-^1). The substitution of the Chian standard for that of Athens at any city would seem to mark a revolt against the influence of Athens. This course of matters is not surprising. The Aeginetan standard which was in use in victorious Peloponnesus had no longer any currency outside Greece proper, nor was there in Peloponnesus any important commercial city, if we except Corinth, which city had a standard of its own. We can therefore understand why the Aeginetan standard did not at this time spread to Asia. We may also observe that the Chian standard worked in easily with those of Aegina and Persia. It has been shown by documentary evidence,^ statements of Thueydides and Xenophon, that at the end of the fifth century the admirals of Sparta procured from Chios money for payment of their sailors, and that in such payments the tetradrachm of Chios was reckoned as equivalent to a fortieth of the Aeginetan mina (240 grains x 40 = 9,600 grains). There was also an easy modus vivendi between the Chian standard and that of Persia in the equation of the Chian drachm (56-60 grains, 1 Above, Chap. XIV. SPEEAD OF THE CHIAN STANDAED 299 grm. 3-62-3-88) with the Persian tetrobol, or two-thirds of a drachm (56-58 grains, grm. 3-62-3-75). At many cities there were issued coins of about 56 grains (grm. 3-62) which served as either of these denominations. But perhaps the event which most of all contributed to the spread of the Chian standard was its adoption by the rising commercial city of Ehodus. Attention has often been paid by numismatists to the rapid rise of Ehodes, and the vogue of its standard. Mr. Head,^ however, rightly saw that the Ehodian standard was in fact that of Chios. "When about 408 B.C. the ancient cities of the island of Ehodes, Lindus, Camirus, and lalysus, combined to found the new city of Ehodus, the new foundation rose almost immediately to a great height of prosperity, and for centuries was a dominant factor in the commerce of the Aegean Sea. For a few years after the foundation Ehodus used the Attic standard, as was not wonderful, considering that until the fatal battle of Aegospotami Athens was very powerful on the coast of Asia Minor, and the Attic weight was used in the neighbouring island of Cos. These pieces of Attic standard are, however, very rare, and probably the issue of them ceased with the fall of Athens in 404. Ehodus then adopted the Chian standard, and, as we have already observed, helped greatly in its extension apiong the islands and cities of Asia and Thrace. The smaller islands on the Carian coast, Calymna and Megista, followed suit. Ephesus also took to the Chian weight before the end of the fifth century. In tracing the spread of the Chian or Ehodian standard in the early fourth century, we may best begin with one of those fixed points which are of inestimable value to the historian of coinage, M. Waddington first set forth the view of the establish- ment in Asia of a defensive league of cities, after the victory of the Athenian admiral Conon at Cnidus in 394 B.C. Some recent historians have preferred the date 387, which seems 1 Hist Num., etl. 2, pp. 600, 604. 300 SILVER OF ASIA, 400-330 b.c. to me far less probable ; that is rather the time of the end than of the beginning of the League. The cities known to have belonged to the league are Samos, Rhodus, Ephesus, lasus, Cnidus, and Byzantium.^ These cities issued an almost uniform coinage, of which the peculiarity is that each of the cities belonging to the alliance, while placing on one side of the coin its own device, places on the other the type of young Heracles strangling the serpents. This type is usually accompanied by the legend ?YN, which probably stands for aw^ayjLKov, a word which is found on the coins issued by the federated cities of Sicily in the time of Timoleon. Only at Rhodes is this legend wanting. Samos. 1. Obv. SA. Lion's scalp. Rev, £YN. Young Heracles and serpents. Weights, 263 grains (grni. 17) ; 173-178 grains (grm. 1120-11.55). (PI. VIII. 7.) Rhodus. 2. Ohv, PO. Rose. Rev. Young Heracles and serpents. Weight, 175 grains (grm. 11-35). (B. T. CXLVII. 5.) Ephesus. 3. Obv, £0. Bee. Rev, SYN. Young Heracles and serpents. Weight, 172-177 grains (grm. 11.12-1144). (B. T. CLII. 23; B. M. XIX. 29.) lasus. 4. Obv. I A. Head of Apollo. Rev, €YN. Young Heracles and serpents. Weight, 166 grains (grm. 10-73). (B. T. CXLVI. 25.) Cnidus. 5. Obv. KNIAinN. Head of Aphrodite: prow. R&v. tVN. Young Heracles and serpents. Weight, 165-167 grains (grm. 10.67-10.83). (B. T. CXLV. 20.) Byzantium. 6. Obv. BY. Cow on Dolphin. Rev, ?YN. Young Heracles and serpents. Weight, 174 grains (grm. 11-30). ^ Byzantium, however, was not liberated by the Athenians until 389 e.c. Zeit.f. Numism.j xxv. 207. SPEEAD OF THE CHIAN STANDARD 301 The first coin in tliis list, that of Samos, weighing 263 grains, is restruck on a tetradrachm of Athens, which looks as if the allied cities hesitated at first what standard they should adopt ; but they soon decided on that of Chios. Other cities adopt the type, but not the weight, nor the inscription SYN, Such are Lampsacus, Cyzicus, and even the distant Croton and Zacynthus. The type seems to be taken from the coinage of Thebes, where an infant Heracles strangling the serpents appears on the formation of an anti-Spartan alliance between Thebes, Athens, Corinth, and Argos in 395 b.c.^ The political bearing of the type is indeed obvious ; Heracles was the hero of Thebes, and his victory over the serpents is an emblem of the success for which the newly-arisen power of Thebes hoped in its struggle with the overmastering power of Sparta. Xeno- phon and Diodorus tell us that after the victory of Conon at Cnidus most of the cities of Asia and the islands threw off the Spartan yoke. The coins enable us to be sure that an actual alliance was concluded between some of the cities. To what standard these coins belong is an interesting question. Mr. Head ^ has suggested that they are tridrachms of Chian or E,hodian standard, and it is to be observed that Cnidus issued at the same time what can scarcely, be other than Ehodian drachms — Ohv. Forepart of lion ; Rev, Head of Aphrodite Euploia (weight, grm. 3-62-3-74 ; 56-58 grains). But why the allied cities should have issued tridrachms instead of tetradrachms, when the tetradrachm was the ordinary Ehodian coin, and was coming in at many points of the Ionian coast, has not been explained. It is to be observed that precisely the same combination of tridrachms of 170-180 grains and drachms of 56-58 grains had been usual in one island, Zacynthus, ever since coins were first struck there, early in the fifth century B.C., and Zacynthus adopted the type of Heracles and the serpents when it was introduced in Asia. In fact, the treatment of the subject on Zacynthian coins is closer to that usual in Asia than to that 1 See Grote, Chap. 74. 2 So also Six, and Holm, Griech. Qesch. iii. 55. 302 SILVER OF ASIA, 400-330 b.c. used at Thebes. Such is the fact, but we are inclined to regard the coincidence as fortuitous, for the weight of the tridrachms could not have been adopted in order to conform to a standard used in distant Zacynthus. No doubt these E-hodian tridrachms were also regarded as didrachms of Persian standard ; and a hint is given that the allied cities were probably not without reliance upon Persian support against Sparta. I have above pointed out that this League of the fourth century may fairly be regarded as an echo or temporary revival of the old Ionian League of 500 B.C., which was broken up after the battle of Lade. At Athens at this time a relation of twelve to one existed between the value of gold and that of silver. If we suppose the same ratio to have held in Asia, the gold didrachm or stater of 133 grains (grm. 8-60) would be equivalent to 1,596 grains of silver (grm. 103*4), somewhat less than ten pieces of 170 grains (grm. 11-0). But if the old Asiatic relation of thirteen and a third to one still persisted, the gold didrachm would be equivalent to 1,800 grains of silver or rather more than ten of the new silver staters. And that it did persist we have good reason for thinking, since the weights of the Persian daric and siglos seem in some places to have persisted to the end of the Persian Empire, and one daric remained equal to twenty sigli. If this view be sound we have some interesting equivalences. It seems that the Chian or Rhodian drachm was regarded as the thirtieth part, alike of the daric and of the rare gold staters of the Greek cities, which thus were regarded as equivalent, though the daric is some three grains or a fifth of a gramme lighter.^ And the Aeginetan mina of silver, which was, as we have seen, equal to 160 Rhodian drachms, would be equivalent to 5-1 Persian darics. Of course, these mutual values are all approximate and liable to vary in one direction or another according to the rate of exchange or agio \ but they are not without importance. ' Hai'pocration definitely states this equivalence, s. v. Aapeuc6s, SPREAD OF THE CHIAN STANDARD 303 We can trace the adoption of the Chian or Ehodian standard for coin northwards along the coast of Asia. Its progress seems to be largely due to its acceptance by the powerful Satraps of Caria, Hecatomnus and Mausolus. As we can date the coins of these dynasts, the information which they give us is precise. Hecatomnus, whose rule lasted from 395 to 377 b.c, struck coins of two different classes : 1. Ohv. Zeus Stratius standing, holding the bipennis. Bev, EKATOM. Lion to r. Weight, 221-234 grains (grm. 14.32-1517). (PI. VIII. 8.) 2. Obv. EKA. Lion's head and paw. Eev, Starlike flower. Weight, 191-5 and 65 grains (grm. 12-40 and 4-20-4-25). (B. T. LXXXIX. 17.) The capital of Hecatomnus was Mylasa, and it is probable that he there struck No. 1 , the types of which combine the worship of the Carian Zeus, Osogo, with the lion, not specially connected with him, but rather with the Apollo of Miletus. Coin No. 2 was doubtless issued at Miletus. We have no historic record that Hecatomnus was ruler of Miletus ; but if we consider the geographical situation of Mylasa, which lay in the high lands behind Miletus, we shall regard an extension of the power of this Satrap of Caria down to the coast as probable. Mausolus removed the seat of his power to Halicarnassus. His rule and influence were more widely extended than his father's, including not only Miletus, but also the island of E-hodes, which was in the power of his oligarchic partisans.^ The coins of Mausolus are of the same two classes as those of Hecatomnus : 1. Ohv. Head of Apollo facing, laureate. Hev. MAYSSnAAO. Zeus Stratius standing, with bipennis. Weights, 228-249 grains (grm. 14.75-16-13) ; 50-57 grains (grm. 3-21-3-72). (PL VIII. 9.) 2. Ohv, MA. Lion's head and paw. Eev. Starlike flower. Weight, 196-202 grains (grm. 12-68-13-07). (B, T. XC. 1.) ^ Demosthenes, De Ehod. Lib., pp. 191, 198. 304 SILVEE OF ASIA, 400-330 b. c. We will begin with considering the coins of class 1 of both rulers. Between the money of this class issued by Hecatomnus and that issued by Mausolus there is not only a change of type, but a distinct raising of the standard. In both these particulars we may trace the influence of Rhodes. The full-face head of Apollo on coins of Mausolus- is a clear imitation of the Ehodian type. And the weight also is raised to conform to the Ehodian standard. Hecatomnus seems to have adhered to the (Phoenician or Milesian) standard used at Miletus. Mausolus, having moved his capital to the sea-coast opposite Cos, and entering fully into the sphere of Ehodian commerce, naturally raised the standard so that his coins should pass with those of that commercial city. The sets of coins No. 2 under the two rulers bear the recognized types of Miletus, and were almost certainly struck in that city. Their weights are interesting and sug- gestive. The larger denomination, under both Hecatomnus and Mausolus, seems to be a tetradrachm of the old Milesian standard, which was used at Samos and Ephesus in the fifth century, but was there abandoned for the Chian or E-hodian late in the fifth or early in the fourth century. This would seem to be an example of the vitality of local coin standards, which often persist in an almost inexplicable way. Under Hecatomnus the third of this piece was also struck, weighing 65 grains (4-20 grm.). This must have passed as an Attic drachm, and we are reminded that, before this, hemidrachms and diobols of the Attic standard had been current at Miletus,^ locally issued as fractions of the Athenian tetradrachms, which doubtless made up the main currency. In 366 the people of Cos imitated those of Ehodes in forming a fresh city which they built at the eastern end of the island, and in migrating thither.^ All the coins issued at this new capital are of Ehodian weight, which therefore was adopted at Cos in the lifetime of Mausolus, 1 Chap. XIV, p. 267. 2 Diodorus, xv. 76. SPREAD OF THE CHIAN STANDARD 305 iuite as early as this it was accepted at Cnidus, where we lave very fine tetradrachms, bearing on the obverse the lead of Aphrodite. Previously, as we have seen, Cnidus :ept to the standard of Aegina, as Cos had adhered to that )f Athens. At Samos the Rhodian (or Chian) standard must have bund admission quite near the beginning of the fourth isntury. For we have a long series of coins struck in bccordance with it, tetradrachms, drachms, hemidrachms md diobols, before the Samians were conquered and jxpelled from their island by the Athenians in 365 b. c. At Ephesus the introduction of the Chian standard must lave taken place earlier (PL VIII, 10). Mr. Head in his vork on the coinage of Ephesus puts it at 415. But the 3oins of Ephesus are very hard to date, as we have only ^he style of the bee and the incuse square to go by. If we could be sure of the date 415, it would be a valuable Pact, showing that Ephesus at that time fell away from the Athenian alliance. It is almost certain that Ephesus a-ccepted the standard before Rhodes did, and before the 3nd of the fifth century (see p. 257). "We possess also a tetradrachm of Chian standard struck it Smyrna about the middle of the fourth century. Ohv. Head of Apollo, laureate. Bev. SMYPNAIUN. Lyre in concave field. Weight, 232 grains (grm. 15-03).^ Phis coin seems to prove that, though we hear nothing of Smyrna between the destruction of the city by Alyattes und its rebuilding by Antigonus and Lysimachus, yet it 9xisted in the interval. A tetradrachm of Cnidus of the same standard was found by Grell on the site of the city. Obv, Head of Aphrodite. JRev. Fore-part ,of lion in incuse square, EOBHAOS. Weight, 233 grains (grm. 15-09).2 (PI. VIII. 11.) 1 Hist. Num., ed. 2, p.. 592 ; cf. Corolla Nu7nism., PI. XV. 6, p. 299. M. Six thinks that the coin was minted at Colophon. Babelon omits it. 2 B. M. Cat. Caria, p. 87. iar»7 X 306 SILVEE OF ASIA, 400-330 b.c. To the time of Mausolus, if we may judge from the style belong some interesting coins of Miletus. Ohv. Head of Apollo, facing. Bev, EfAl AYMONIEPH. Lion looking back at star. Weight, 27 grains (grm. 1-70-1 -76). This is evidently a sacred coin struck on the occasion of a festival at the Didymaean temple. The word ieprj is puzzling; but as the coin is evidently a hemidrachm of the Ehodian standard, we may supply rifitSpaxfitai which seems a not impossible form, though TjfiiSpax/J-oy would be more usual. At Erythrae the Chian standard came in early in the fourth century. (Tetradrachm and drachm.) Ohv. Head of young Heracles. Bev, Club and bow in case. These coins are given by M. Babelon^ to the period of Alexander. But the character of the head of Heracles seems to me to indicate an earlier date, and the parallel coins of Samos and Ephesus date from the first half of the fourth century. At Colophon, early in the fourth century, we have tetradrachms, drachms, hemidrachms, and diobols of Chian weight : Ohv, Head of Apollo, laureate. Rev, Lyre, and name of magis- trate. Weights, 200 grains (grm. 12*93), much used ; 54-51 grains (grm. 3.50-3-30) ; 16 grains (grm. 1-03). (B. T. CLIII. 6-26.) Ohv. Same type. Bev, Tripod, and name of magistrate. Weight, 24 grains (grm. 1*55). Hemidrachm. Passing farther to the north, we find the same monetary standard in use in the Troad and the Hellespont. We begin with Byzantium and Calchedon, cities which in the ordinary numismatic arrangement stand far apart, one being in Europe and the other in Asia, but which have a common history and were closely connected together, divided only by the narrow Bosporus. These cities in the fifth century used the Persian standard,^ but they exchange it for that of Chios on the occasion of the formation of the 1 Traitey ii. 2, p. 1045. 2 Above, Chap. XIV, p. 268. SPREAD OF THE CHIAN STANDARD 307 league of Cnidus. Byzantium begins with tridrachms in 94 B.C., but soon goes on to tetradrachms. tyzantium, 411-394 b. c. Ohv. BY. Cow on dolphin. Bev. Mill-sail incuse. Weight, 80-84 grains (grm. 5.18-5.44). (PI. VIII. 12.) ifter 889 b. c. Obv, BY. Cow on dolphin. Eev. Incuse square. Weights, 229-232 grains (grm. 14'84-^15-03) (PI. VIII. 13); 50-54 grains (grm. 3-24-3-50) ; 35-38 grains (grm. 2-26- 2-46). Hemidrachm (Persian). Obv. BY. Fore-part of cow. Eev. Incuse square. Weight, 22-26 grains (grm. 1-42-1.68). Hemidrachm (Chian). :alchedon, 411-394 b.c. Ohv. KAAX. Cow on ear of corn. i?e^?. Mill-sail incuse. Weights, 81-2 grains (grm. 5-24-5-31) ; 35-40 grains (grm. 2-26- 2-58); 16-18 grains (grm. 1-05-1.17). (B. T. CLXXXI. 14-22.) ^fter 394B.C. Ohv. KAAX. Cow on ear of corn. Eev. Incuse square. Weight, 228-235 grains (grm. 14.75-15-23) ; 52-58 grains (grm. 3.40-3-79). (B. T. CLXXXI. 23-26.) Ohv. KAA. Fore-part of cow. Eew. Three ears of corn. Weight, 28 grains (grm. 1-83). Hemidrachm. (B. T. CLXXXII. 5-7.) Mesembria, a colony of Megara, on the west shore of the Cuxine, issues about 380 b.c. coins of Chian weight, Ohv. Crested helmet. Eev. META(MESSA) ANOESTHPIOS. Kadiate wheel. Weights, 239 grains (grm. 15*48) ; 19 grains (grm. 1*23). ?he magistrate's name is written at length, as on con- emporary coins of Samos and Ephesus. That the Persian standard should have made its way m the Bosporus when Athens declined is quite natural, t rules until 394 b.c. And at Byzantium at all events, fter that date, Persian drachms and hemidrachms circulate oncurrently with Rhodian denominations. X 2 308 SILVER OF ASIA, 400-330 b.c. Byzantium and Calchedon are closely connected in their history. Both were early colonies of Megara. Mesembria was founded by them ; and at the time of the Persian invasion their inhabitants took refuge in that city. The tetradrachm of Mesembria is cited by Mr. Head, and was in the Hirsch sale.^ We can scarcely give it to an earlier period than about 400 b. c. The H in the name of Anthesterios shows a somewhat late date ; the name seems to be Attic, and was probably that of a local tyrant. The same change of standard takes place at Abydos. This city as well as Assos and Cyzicus issues money on the Ehodian standard early in the fourth century. Abydos. Obv. Laureate head of Apollo. Bev. A BY. Eagle. Weight, 228-232 grains (grm. 14-79-15). (B. T, CLXVIII. 3.) Assos. Obv, Helmeted head of Athena. Bev. ACTION. Archaic statue of Athena. Weight, 231 grains (grm. 14*95). Paris. (CLXIII. 28.) M. Babelon ^ gives the coin of Assos, on grounds of style, to 430-411 B.C. But a copy on coins of an archaic statue is scarcely possible in the fifth century. The style of the head of Athena is much like that of the head of Heracles at Cos already cited. An abundant and important series of silver coins was issued in the fourth century at Cyzicus. This has been discussed in great detail by Dr. von Fritze,^ and his views as to chronology are carefully worked out. Ohv. SXITEIPA. Head of Cora, corn-crowned and veiled. Bev, KYII or KYIIKHNHN. Lion's head: beneath, tunny. Average weight, 229 grains (grm. 14-83) ; 72 grains (grm. 4-68) ; 48 grains (grm. 3-10). (PI. VIII. 14.) These coins Dr. von Fritze divides into two sets. The earlier group, put together on grounds of style, he gives 1 Hist. Num., ed. 2, p. 278; Eirsch Sale Cat, PI. VIII. 2 Traiie, ii. 2, 1269. s ^omisma, Heft IX (1914). SPREAD OF THE CHIAN STANDARD 309 ) the period 405-363 B.C., when Cyzicus was sometimes nder Spartan, and sometimes under Athenian influence, le raises the question whether the second Athenian domi- ation was as fatal to the issue of an autonomous coinage a the subject cities as had been the first, at all events in bs later years. But in any case, as the rule of Athens over be city was quite transient, we cannot expect to identify races of it on the coins. The second group von Pritze would give to the period '62 down to the days of the kingdom of Seleucus, when he seated Apollo comes in on the coins in the place of the Lon's head. I agree with the writer as to the time of commencement if this coinage. The adoption of the Chian standard could carcely have taken place before the Athenian expedition -gainst Syracuse, and may have first occurred after the fall )f Athens. But I cannot think that the beautiful coins vith the seated Apollo were contemporary with the early aoney of the Seleucidae, and think rather that the expedi- ion of Alexander here put an end to the autonomous ioinage. Von Fritze's second group, therefore, should be riven to 362-330. The division of the stater into thirds LS well as into four drachms is noteworthy, and may, )erhaps, be accounted for by the custom long established .t Cyzicus of dividing the electrum staters by three. These hirds, according to von Fritze, are issued only about LOO B.C. It is a testimony to the force of Rhodian or Chian lommerce that the Chian standard early in the fourth lentury comes into the coinages of some cities which had )een very conservative of their own weight. Thus we lave — Peos in Ionia. Obv. Griffin seated. Bev. Name of city and magistrate on the bars of an incuse square. Weight, 55 grains (grm. 3-56). (B. T. CLIV. U.) Decs had been very tenacious of the Aeginetan standard. 310 SILVEE OF ASIA, 400-330 b.c. Tenedos. Ohv. Janiform male and female head. Bev. TENEAION. Double axe. Weight, 218-226 grains (grm. 14- 10-14.61) ; 50-56 grains (grm. 3-24-3-62). (B. T. CLXVI. 22-24; B. M. XVIII. 20, 21.) The earliest coins of Tenedos follow the Phocaean standard. The coinage appears to cease during the time of the Athenian domination, and to be resumed on a slightly reduced scale, probably the Chian standard, in the later fifth or early fourth century. To the east of Caria the Chian standard scarcely penetrates. Cilicia was fully in the power of the Great King ; and the Persian Satraps who, as we shall see, minted there freely, naturally adhered to the Persian weight. But in the island of Cyprus we find some influence of the Chian weight. The great Evagoras I strikes his larger silver pieces on the Persian standard : Obv, Head of Heracles. Bev. Goat lying. Weight, 171 grains (grm. 11-10); but he seems, perhaps later in his reign, to have issued drachms of Ehodian weight : Ohv. Heracles seated. Bev, Goat lying to r. Weight, 51-48 grains (grm. 3-30-3-11). His successor, Evagoras II, strikes didrachms on the same scale : Ohv, Bust of Athena. Bev, Bust of Aphrodite. Weight, 109- 104 grains (grm. 7- 10-6-73). (B. T. CXXVIII. 10.) There are also didrachms of Ehodian weight conjecturally attributed to Amathus,^ which weigh 103 to 96 grains (grm. 6-67-6-22). The relations of the silver of the Kings of Salamis to the gold coins which they issued will be considered in the next chapter. - There are certain staters of Ehodian weight struck by Persian satraps : Obv, King, half-kneeling, holding spear and bow. Be^. Rough incuse. ' B. M. Cat. CypruSj p. xxiii. SPEEAD OF THE CHIAN STANDAED 311 Sometimes these coins bear the name Pythagores ; but who he may have been is uncertain : Obv. King, half-kneeling, drawing bow. Bev, Satrap galloping, wielding spear. These staters were probably struck in some city of south- western Asia Minor, as the Ehodian standard does not carry so far as Cilicia. Some specimens, however, bear (perhaps) Phoenician characters ; and Head is disposed to regard them as money issued by some Persian commandant at a Phoenician mint.^ Metrologically this is very unlikely. § 2. Attic Standard, Early in the fourth century, in consequence of the misfortunes of Athens, the monetary standard of that city was recessive. In 394 b.c, however, after the victory of Conon at Cnidus, Attic power revived. We shall see in the next chapter how the gold coinage of staters, which appears then to have begun at Athens, was copied in several cities of Asia. In one city there seems to have been a con- temporary coinage of silver on the Attic standard. That one city was Clazomenae. I have above observed that the special clause in the treaty of Antalcidas, which places Clazomenae under the Persian Empire, precludes us from giving the beautiful gold coins of Clazomenae to a time after 387 b.c. To the time 394-387 b.c then belong also the silver staters of Attic weight : Obv. Head of Apollo facing. Bev, KAA or KAAIO with magistrate's name. Swan. Weight, 250-262 grains (grm. 16-20-16'96) ; 55-63 grains (grm. 3-56-4.08). (B.T, CLV. 22, 23 ; B. M. XIX. 25, 26.) M. Babelon gives these coins to the time after 374 b.c; but M. Babelon does not think that the Persian king prohibited the issue of gold in Greek cities. 1 Hist. Num., ed. 2, p. 831, 312 SILVER OF ASIA, 400-330 b.c. § 3. The Persian Region. The standard of Chios did not spread to the east of Caria.^ On the south coast of Asia Minor the Persian power was firmly established; and the Persian monetary standard, which followed the flag, had long been dominant. In a few cities of the Ionian coast the Persian standard comes in, apparently towards the middle of the fourth century. At the same time that Cius issued gold staters ^ the city also struck drachms of Persian weight, 80-83 grains (grm. 5-20-5-33). Apparently contemporary are the coins of My tilene : Ohv, Head of Apollo. Bev. MYTI. Lyre. Weight, 161-168 grains (grm. 1045-10-90). (B. T. CLXII. 17, 18.) M. Babelon gives these coins to 350-300 b.c, which time their style well suits. At about the same time Lampsacus struck coins weighing 39-40 grains (grm. 2-52-2-58). They seem to be Persian hemidrachms. Obv. Janiform beardless head. Eev, A AM. Head of Athena. (B. T. CLXXII. 10.) M. Babelon calls these coins tetrobols, apparently of the Chian standard; and of course they may very well have passed as such. Contemporary are the coins of Parium of the same weight. Seeing that the Persian standard was adopted at this time by Abdera and the kings of Macedon, it is not strange to find it in use exceptionally among the cities of North Ionia and the Propontis. These coins are exceptional. But in the cities of the Pamphylian and Cilician coasts the Persian standard was normal. Phaselis, which paid tribute to Athens, seems to have intermitted coinage after 465 b.c But the mints of Aspendus, Side, and Selge were active in the fifth and fourth centuries. Between Side in Pamphylia and Holmi in Cilicia in the fourth century, and probably earlier, there 1 Except to Salamis in Cyprus. ^ Discussed in the next chapter. THE PEESIAN EEGION 313 nust liave existed some monetary convention, indicated by an identity of type, the subsidiary symbol (a dolphin on the coins of Holmi and a pomegranate on those of Side) being distinctive of the two places,^ Mr. Head's dates for the beginnings of coinage on the Persian standard in cities of Cilicia are as follows : Celen- deris, Soli, Tarsus, 450 B.C.; Mallus, 425 B.C.; Nagidus, 420 B.C.; Issus, 400 b. c. These dates, being based only on slight varieties of style, are not to be insisted upon. But we may fairly say that towards the end of the fifth century several of the more important cities of Cilicia were freely striking coins. There was nothing to prevent them ; as the Persian king freely allowed the striking of silver by the G-reek cities, and the arm of Athens could not reach so far. With regard to the issues of coins by Persian Satraps in Cilicia, I largely follow M. Babelon, who has made a special study of them. He is in most cases responsible for the dates in the following paragraphs, which are only approxi- mate.^ In 386-384 b.c. the Satrap of Sardes, Tiribazus, was placed at the head of the expedition organized against Evagoras, the revolted king of Salamis in Cyprus. In order to pay the mercenaries, and to buy munitions of war, he issued an abundant coinage in the cities of Cilicia. This coinage bears his name in Aramaic characters (PI. IX. 1) : the types are, Ormuzd, Baal of Tarsus, Heracles ; and sometimes what appears to be an idealized portrait of himself. We can identify with certainty the mint of Issus, from the inscrip- tion I SCI K ON, and with great probability the mints of Mallus (MAP), Soli (SO), Tarsus (T). All these coins are of full Persian weight, 164-159 grains (grm. 10.65-10-30). Pharnabazus, the well-known Satrap of Dascylium, also struck fleet-money in Cilicia. The date of it can scarcely be fixed with certainty, as on three occasions he might well have issued it. In 398-394 b.c. he received from Artaxerxes Mnemon five hundred talents for the equipment of a fleet ^ B. M, Cat. Lycia, p. Ixxxi. ^ Perses Ackemmides. Aliso Traile, ii. 2. 314 SILVER OF ASIA, 400-330 B.C. to co-operate with the Athenian Conon.^ Later, in 391- 389 B.C., he prepared in concert with Abrocomas and Tithraustes an expedition against Egypt, then in revolt. And again, in 379-374 b.c, he equipped a fleet in conjunc- tion with Datames, who succeeded him. It is probable that we laust assign to the last of these periods the coins bearing the name of Pharnabazus, and struck at Nagidus, Tarsus, and elsewhere in Cilicia.^ The most curious type of them is a full-face female head, evidently copied from the Arethusa of the coins of Syracuse of the end of the fifth century (PL IX. 2), The weight of these pieces is 165-155 grains (grm. 10-70-10-0), the full Persian weight. Divisions weighing 52-50 grains (grm. 3-37-3.25) and 13-11 grains (grm. 0-87-0-66) are evidently thirds of stater (tetrobols) and obols respectively. Datames, 378-372 b.c, and Mazaeus, 361-334 B.C., con- tinued this Cilician coinage, on the occasions when they had to raise troops or equip fleets. Thus we cannot be surprised that all the cities of the south of Asia Minor retained the Persian standard, Aspendus, Etenna, Side, Selge, Celenderis, Issus, Mallus, Nagidus, Soli, Tarsus. So did the cities of Cyprus, Citium, Marium, Paphos, and Salamis; all save, perhaps, Amathus. Mazaeus occupies an important place in the coinage of Asia in the fourth century.^ M. Babelon divides his coins as follows : 1. Struck in Cilicia, 361-334 b.c. 2. Struck when he was Satrap of the Transeuphratic country and Cilicia, 351-334. 3. Struck when he governed Sidon, after 359. 4. Struck in Syria and Babylon, when he governed for Darius, 334-331. 5. Struck at Babylon, when he was Governor for Alexander, 331-328. Coins of Class 5 are of the Attic standard : they still bear the Cilician types of Baal of Tarsus and the lion. There 1 Diodorus, xiv. 39. 2 Babelon, Traitej ii. 2, p. 394. 3 Babelon, Traiiey ii. 2, p. 443. THE PEESIAN EEGION 315 are also barbarous imitations of the coins of Athens and others which bear the name of Mazaeus. It is remarkable that a man who occupies so small a place in history should be so dominant in relation to issues of coins. Certain coins issued by Satraps or Dynasts, in north-west Asia Minor, appear to follow the Persian weight. The descendants of Damaratus, the exiled Spartan king, had a small principality which included the strong city of Perga- mon. As the coins of Teuthrania and Pergamon, about 400 B.C., bear as type heads clad in the Persian tiara, it is probable that they were issued under rulers of this dynasty. And the name of Grorgion, another ruler of G-reek extrac- tion, is to be found on the contemporary coins of Gambrium in Mysia.^ All these rulers issued the Persian third of a stater (grm. 3-38, grains 52) or half of this, which we may fairly call a Persian diobol, 35-23 grains (grm l-60-l'50).^ This is evidently a small coinage suited to go with the regal money of Persia. As these towns were not on the sea, they probably entered but little into the circle of Greek commerce. There is another notable series of coins, apparently issued by Persian Satraps, or under their influence, which seems to combine the Chian (Ehodian) standard, used for the larger coins, with the Persian standard, the influence of which is to be traced in the lower denominations. The mints of these coins cannot be with certainty determined : but they are not Cilician ; probably they were struck in the cities of north-west Asia Minor on some occasions when the influence of Persia was exceptionally strong. The following are attributed by M. Babelon to Tissa- phemes ; but as they do not bear his name, the assignment is uncertain. Obv. Head of a Satrap in Persian tiara. Eev. BA^IAEHC, The king advancing, holding bow and javelin : galley in 1 Babelon, Traitdj ii. 2, p. 94. ^ These would, however, serve as Rhodian drachms and hemidrachma. 316 SILVER OF ASIA, 400-330 b.c. field. Weight, 230 grains (grm. 14-90). Khodian tetra- drachm. (PI. IX. 4.) Do. Bev, BACI and the king, but no galley. Weight, 51 grains (grm. 3.30). Rhodian drachm? Do. Bev, BA. The king, but no galley. Weight, 29 grains (grm. 1-85). Rhodian hemidrachm. The place of issue of this money is uncertain; Babelon fixes on Caria (lasus), Six on Aspendus. ^The coins can scarcely be earlier than the foundation of Ehodus, or even than the adoption of the Rhodian weight by Hecatomnus of Caria. The interesting point is that the two lesser denominations may just as well, or better, be considered as Persian tetrobols and diobols. Orontes (362 b.c.) struck coins at Lampsacus bearing his name and his portrait: these were Persian tetrobols of 48 grains (grm. 3-13). He also issued coins at Clazomenae of the weight of 43 grains (grm. 2-78), which may possibly have been Persian hemidrachms. The very beautiful coin — Obv, Head of a Satrap in Persian tiara. Bev. BASIA. Lyre, Weight, 282 grains (grm. 15). (PI. IX. 5.) is attributed by M. Babelon to Orontes, and to the mint of Colophon, As we have already seen, Persian influence was strong at Colophon ; but it is exceptional that money bearing the portrait of a Satrap should be struck in a Greek city. Some (Jreek cities, it is true, Lampsacus, Phocaea, and others, issue coins bearing the portraits of Persians. These, however, mostly appear on gold or electrum money, which was a sort of international coinage, and very eclectic in its types : so that I should prefer to see in such cases a mere compliment paid to some neighbouring grandee, who was very probably elected to some magistracy in honorary fashion, as Antiochus IV of Syria was at Athens. There is a silver coin issued at Cyzicus by Pharnabazus and bearing his name : Ohv. APNABA. Head of Satrap in tiara. Bev. Prow and dolphins : beneath, tunny. Weight, 229 grains (grm. 12-84). (B. T. CVIII. 1.) THE PERSIAN REGION 317 Here, again, since the weight conforms to that used by the people of Cy^icus after 400 b. c. (the Rhodian), I should be disposed to see a merely honorary intention. There are Persian tetrobols, weight 45-38 grains (grm. 2-88-2-50), issued by Spithridates at Lampsacus : Ohv. Head of Persian Satrap in tiara. Bev. CPIOPI. Foi'e- part of Pegasus. (B. T. LXXXIX. 1-2.) Spithridates was Satrap of Sardis at the time of the Macedonian invasion. The silver coinage of Cjrprus, in the fifth and fourth centuries, runs on somewhat exceptional lines. The coins, excepting a few struck at Salamis and mentioned above, are all minted on the Persian standard ; but the stater or didrachm is not divided by two into drachms : the denominations struck are the third or tetrobol, the sixth, and the twelfth.^ I cannot here consider in detail the issues of the various cities, a subject still obscure, in spite of the admirable labours of M. Six, M. Eabelon, and Mr. Hill.^ In Mr. Hill's catalogue all that can be regarded as established in regard to it is set forth with excellent judgement. § 4. PONTUS. The drachms issued by Persian Satraps at Sinope conform to the standard, originally Aeginetan and always somewhat above the normal Persian weight, of the autonomous coins struck in that mint. Issued by Datam.es, about 370 b.c. : Ohv. Head of the Nymph Sinope. Eev. AATAMA. Eagle on dolphin. Weight, 93-91 grains (grm. 6-06-5-89). (B. T. ex. 1.) Issued by Abrocomas, about 360 b. c. : Same types with name of Abrocomas. Weight, 89-76 grains (grm. 5-72-4-90). (B. T. CX. 4.) ^ B. M. Cat. CijpruSj p. xxiii. ^ Six, Revrie Numism., 1883 ; Babelon, Xes Perses Achemenides, 1893 ; Hill, B. M, Cat. Cyprusi 1904 ; Babelon, Traite, ii. 2, pp. 691-842. 318 SILVER OF ASIA, 400-330 b.c. Issued by Ariarathes, after 350 b.c. : Same types with name of Ariarathes. Weight, 91-67 grains (grm. 5.87-4-38). The name of Ariarathes also occurs on coins of Graziura in Pontus: Ohv. Baal of Gaziura. Bev. Griffin devouring stag. Weight, 84-75 grains (grm. 5'42-4'87). (B. T. CXI. 9.) At Panticapaeum, in the fourth century, we find Persian didrachms, weighing 182 grains (grm. 11-79), as well as coins weighing 52 grains (grm. 3-36). And this latter weight, 55-52 grains, is usual for the rather common coins of Cromna and Sesamus in the fourth century. We find this denomination of coin also in Cilicia and Mysia in the fourth century, and in Phoenicia. It seems to have been a Persian tetrobol (normal weight 56 grains ; grm. 3*62) or a Rhodian drachm (normal weight 55-60 grains; grm. 3-56-3-88). It may be said that if the Persian standard were adopted for money in the district of Pontus by Sinope, Panticapaeum, and other cities, it would not be consistent to strike drachms of 94 grains and tetrobols of 56 grains at the same time ; the latter should weigh 62 grains. But in fact the drachms of Sinope in the fourth century are very irregular in their weight, and seldom rise above 90 grains. The fractions also, being intended only for local circulation, were not obliged to reach the same standard as the drachms which had a wider circulation. And thus it is a general rule in the coins of (jrreece that the staters are heavier in proportion than the divisions. The coinage of the Pontic Heracleia in Bithynia is abundant, and very important. As the city from 345 b.c. was governed by tyrants, who placed their names on the coins, we can date some of its issues within narrow limits. The coinage begins early in the fourth century. The following seems to precede the time of the above-mentioned rulers : Obv. Head of bearded Heracles. Eev. HPAKAEIA. Rushing bull. (B. T. CLXXXIII.) PONTUS 319 An earlier issue weighs 74-76 grains (grm. 4* 79-4-92) : a later issae is more than ten grains lighter. Later than these coins we have : Ohv. Head of young Heracles, slightly bearded, i^ew. HPAKAEIA. Head of the city turieted. Weight, 171-181 gi*ains (grm. 1105-11*72). There are also drachms of both these classes, the weight of which varies from 60 to 84 grains (grm. 3-88-5-44), and smaller divisions. The letters K and ?, which are to be found on some of the smaller coins of the second type, may be the initials of the Tyrants Clearchus and Satyrus, who ruled 364-345 B.C. The Tyrants Timotheus and Dionysius, who succeeded about 345 B.C., write their names on the coins at length : Ohv, Head of young Dionysus, ivy-crowned, with thyrsus. Rev. TIMO0EOY AIONYSIOY. Heracles erecting trophy.. Weight, 149-151 grains (grm. 9-65-9-80). Also the quarter (half-drachm). The weights of the coins of Heracleia are very varied : they seem to fall gradually during the fourth century, but not in any regular way ; and the staters keep their weight better than the smaller divisions. We must suppose that these divisions were in use only for local trade. The staters must have passed for two of the drachms of Sinope or Amisus. It has been observed, in a previous chapter (XIV), that this striking irregularity in weight is a feature of all the issues of the Pontic cities. Istrus, a Milesian colony near the mouths of the Danube, began about 400 b. c. to issue coins of the same weight as those of Sinope.^ Ohv, Two young male heads, one erect, one inverted. Rev. Eagle on dolphin. Inscr. ItTPIH. Weight, 109-73 grains (grm. 7-02-4-72). According to Dr. Pick, all the coins of the earlier half of the fourth century exceed 100 grains in weight, and belong ^ B. Pick, Die antiken Miinzen von Nord-Grieckenlandj i, p. 177. 320 SILVER OF ASIA, 400-330 b.c. to the Phoenician standard, which standard the people about 350 b.c. give up for that of Aegina. There is, how- ever, no satisfactory proof of any change of standard, and some quite late coins of the city are among the heaviest. We have in fact the same curious phenomena here as at Sinope : under this latter city we discuss them (Chap. XIV). The Propontine region, with the neighbouring shores of the Euxine and the Aegean, is the most important of all districts in the history of Greek commerce, and in the matter of the clashing of Europe and Asia, of Greece and Persia. It may be well, therefore, to recapitulate the monetary history of the district in the successive periods of Greek history. In the dawn of history, in the seventh and sixth centuries, the Ionic Miletus appears to have been dominant in the region of the Euxine. Many of the cities of the Propontis, .such as Abydos, Cyzicus, Lampsacus, Parium ; and cities of the Euxine, such as Sinope, Amisus, Panticapaeum, were regarded as Milesian colonies, though other Ionian cities such as Phocaea and Erythrae were said to have bad a hand in them. The only serious rivals of the lonians in the seventh century were the people of Megara, who founded, first Calchedon, then Byzantium, then the Pontic Heracleia. So far as I know, finds of the electrum coins of Ionia have not been made in the Euxine district. In the sixth century, long before the fall of Miletus, some of the cities of the Euxine began to issue silver coins ; the most notable of them being Sinope on the northern coast of Asia Minor, and Panticapaeum in the Tauric Chersonese. These cities follow the Aeginetan standard, though at Sinope the drachm sometimes rises as high as 100 grains. We know that the commerce of Aegina stretched to the Euxine, as Herodotus gives us the precious information that in the time of Xerxes Aeginetan ships laden with corn passed through the Straits. The Pontic cities adhere to this standard with greater tenacity than do most districts, but their adoption of it is quite according to precedent. We have seen (Chap. IX) how in Asia almost invariably the PONTUS 321 introduction of silver currency brings with it the use of the Aeginetan standard, however ill it may agree with the standards already in use. About the time of the Persian wars, several cities of the Propontis, Abydos, Antandros, Astacus, and Lampsacus, issued drachms of Persian weight. This may well have taken place at the time of the passing of the Persian armies. There are three crossings from Asia to Europe — (1) across the Bosporus, from Calchedon to Byzantium ; (2) across the Hellespont, from Lampsacus to Callipolis ; (3) across the Hellespont, from Abydos to Sestos. The first of these ways was taken by Darius in his expedition against the Scythians ; the third by Xerxes. The above-mentioned coins of Persian weight were all, it will be observed, issued on the Asiatic side. The opposite shore of the Hellespont, the Thracian Chersonesus, struck, as we have seen, at that time on the Attic standard, no doubt in consequence of the influence of Miltiades. In the time of the Athenian Empire, there can be no doubt but that the Athenian silver money, with the electrum of Cyzicus, Lampsacus, Phocaea, and Mytilene, constituted the bulk of the currency. But small coins for local circula- tion were struck on the Persian standard at Byzantium, at Cardia in the Thracian Chersonese, and on the Asiatic side at Astacus, Abydos, and Dardanus. There were small coins on the Chian standard before 450 b. c. at Parium and Assos ; and after 450 at Calchedon, Antandros, G-argara, Lamponeia, Neandria, and Proconnesus. Scepsis, in the fifth century, issued didrachms on the Chian standard. Selymbria, on the Thracian shore of the Propontis, seems to have gone over from the Persian standard to the Attic about 450 e.g. Sinope and other Pontic cities continued their issues, but the weight had a tendency to fall from the standard of Aegina to that of Persia. Early in the fourth century, Byzantium and Calchedon fully adopt the Chian standard, issuing an abundant coinage. The Persian Satraps who strike coins at Sinope adhere, no doubt for commercial reasons, to the Aeginetan standard. 322 SILVER OF ASIA, 400-330 b.c. But at Gaziura they use the Persian weight. At other cities, such as Cromna and Sesamus, coins are struck of about 56 grains, either Rhodian drachms or Persian tetro- bols. The important Pontic Heracleia also at this time uses the Persian standard. Small silver coins were issued by the Sindi, a tribe who dwelt to the east of the Palus Maeotis, at their port of Sinde. § 5. Theace and Macedon. The Ehodian or Ohian standard spread rapidly to the North in the later fifth and early fourth centuries. We have already seen it at Byzantium and Calchedon. Of the cities of the Thracian coast, Aenus seems to have adopted it before 400 b.c, the tetradrachms reaching a maximum of 240 grains (grm. 15-55). Thasos at the same time strikes very beautiful coins, already mentioned : Oho, Head of bearded Dionysus wearing ivy-wreath. Eev. OACION. Heracles shooting. (PI. VII. 7.) These also rise to 236 grains (grm. 15-30), and the didrachm and drachm are struck as well as the tetradrachm. The cities of Chalcidice, notably Acanthus and Olynthus, at the same time go over to the standard of Abdera, which at this time is nearly the same as that of Chios, as does Amphipolis at the mouth of the Strymon. These changes one naturally associates with the changed political con- ditions which followed the expedition of Brasidas.^ We will follow the safe plan of beginning with the known, or at all events the ascertainable. The Kings of Macedon place their names on their coins, and their dates are approximately known ; their coins then will serve as a clue for fixing the dates of coins of cities. With Archelaus, 413-399 B.C., the money of the Macedonian Kingdom ceased to be regulated by the old Abderite standard : in place of that we find, not the so-called Baby Ionic standard of Thasos, which at this time is scarcely to be distinguished from ^ See above, Chap. XIV. THEACE AND MACEDON 323 the Attic, but the Persian standard. The staters of Archelaus are : 1. Ohv. Horseman. Eev. APXEAAO. Fore-part of goat. Weight, 160 grains (grm. 10-36). 2. Ohv. Young male head (Apollo or Ares). Eev, Same inscr. Horse standing, with loose rein. Same weight. (PI. VII. 10.) He also issued diobols, obols, and hemiobols of Persian standard. The successors of Archelaus, Aeropus, 396-392 B.C., and Pausanias, 390-389 e.g., issued staters of the same types as No. 2, together with smaller denominations. Under Amyntas III, 389-369 B.C., and Perdiccas III, 364-359 B.C., the type of the horse is retained, but the head of Heracles displaces that of Apollo on the obverse ; the weight remains the same. This brings us to the reign of Philip II, 359-336 B.C. (Chap. XXI). It appears that in all their issues of money, the Kings of Macedon, who had little commerce to provide for, accepted the lead of the commercial Greek cities of the coast in their monetary issues : among these cities the most important was Abdera. It was from Abdera that Alexander I borrowed his monetary standard. At the time of the fall of Athens, late in the fifth century, the people of Abdera adopted the Persian standard. This is an interesting fact, but by no means inexplicable. With the fall of Athens the Athenian monetary system, imposed on the Athenian allies, fell also. And at the time the power of Persia was rapidly increasing. The generals of Sparta trusted largely to Persian subsidies. Great issues of money, consisting of didrachms of Persian weight, for supporting naval warfare, began to be made by the Satraps of the Great King, at first with the usual Persian types, later, in the fourth century, with their own names. Thus there can be no doubt that the staters of Archelaus and his successors were intended to pass as the equivalent of two sigli or the tenth of a daric. Y 2 324 SILVER OF ASIA, 400-330 B.C. Other cities of Thrace followed the lead of Abdera, notably Maroneia, which issued during the first half of the fourth century abundant coins weighing about 175 grains (grm. 11-33). Aenus, however, took another course and, like Byzantium and Thasos, accepted the rapidly spreading Chian standard. It is to be observed that Aenus is the furthest to the East of the cities of the Thracian coast. The coinage of Philip of Macedon did not bring to an end the coinage of the kings who reigned in Paeonia, to the north of Macedon. We have a considerable coinage issued by Lycceius, who ruled about 359-340 B.C. Ohv. Head of Apollo.^ Eev. AYKKEIOY. Heracles strangling lion. Weight, 214-188 grains (grm. 13-86-12-18). His successor Patraiis issued money with another type. Ohv. Head of Apollo. Eev. PATPAOY. Horseman spearing foe. Weight, 200-188 grains (grm. 12-96-12-18). The Kings of Paeonia notably depart from Macedonian precedents in their types: the Heracles type suggests Tarentum and Heracleia in Italy ; the horseman type sug- gests Thessaly : but we are not justified in drawing any inference as regards the course of trade. The weight is regarded by Mr. Head as a degradation of the standard of Philip II of Macedon, 224 grains (grm. 14-51); but it seems scarcely possible that these coins can have passed as equivalent to those of Philip. On the other hand, it is a familiar fact that the barbarous imitations of standard coinages rapidly decline in weight. The Paeonian coins were in turn imitated by barbarous neighbours on the north and west. The conquest by Philip, as a rule, marks the end of the autonomous coinage of the cities of Thrace and Macedon. Abdera, Aenus, Maroneia, and the island of Thasos cease their issues about 350 b.o. One city, however, Philippi, ^ One of the staters of Lycceius has on the obverse the legend AEPfjQ- NAIOS : this seems to be an epithet of ApoUo, and it shows that the Derrones were near his dominions. THEACE AND MAOEDON 325 was allowed then to begin an autonomous coinage, striking gold staters, and silver coins, from the tetradrachm down- wards, on the standards of Philip. They bear as types the head of Heracles and the Tripod. Coins struck about 350 e.g. at Orthagoreia offer us a problem : Ohv. Head of Artemis. Eev. OPGAPOPEHN. Macedonian helmet surmounted by star. Weight, 168 grains (grm. 10-88) : also the quarter of this. Orthagoreia is by one ancient authority stated to be a variant name of Stageira ; but Pliny ^ says that it was an older name of Maroneia. The former of these state- ments is unsatisfactory, for it is extremely improbable that a city of Chalcidice, where Stageira was situated, would in the fourth century use the Persian standard. On the other hand, that standard is used at Maroneia : if that city about the middle of the fourth century took the name of Orthagoreia, it might have been allowed to make a temporary issue of coins. The complexity and irregularity of the coin standards in use in Asia for silver in the fourth century appears on examination to be less than might appear at first sight. The Chian standard during the first years of the century rapidly makes its way, and is all but universally adopted, from Caria in the south to Byzantium and Aenus in the north, along the western shore of Asia Minor. The standard adopted by the people of Chalcidice, and from them by Philip of Macedon, is somewhat lighter than that of Chios, but not very different. It is either the old standard of Abdera, or may perhaps be an adaptation to the weight of the gold (Chap. XXI). The Attic standard is found only at Clazomenae, the Aeginetan only in the Pontic region. 1 IV. 11, 18. 326 SILVER OF ASIA, 400-330 b.c. The Persian standard is altogether dominant to the east of Caria, and aggressive farther to the west. In some cities of the west coast of Asia Minor, and at Byzantium, it works in with the Chian. In Abdera it triumphs, and from Abdera passes to the Kings of Macedon, Archelaus and his successors until Philip. Even in Pontus the old-established standard of Aegina is modified and lowered by Persian influence. CHAPTEE XVI GOLD OF ASIA MINOR, &c. § 1. 407-394 B.C. I DO not propose in this chapter to treat of the issues of electrum coins at Cyzicus, Lampsacus, Mytilene, and Phocaea, as I have already dealt with those issues in Chapter XIV, which treats of the coinage of the Athenian Empire. But there were important issues of pure gold in Asia and Thrace. The earlier gold coins of Athens, which were contem- porary with similar issues of gold by the cities of Sicily, when pressed by the Carthaginian invasion, seem to have been imitated by several cities of Thrace, of Cyprus, and other districts. These cities did not issue any higher denomination than the drachm : whereas in the period succeeding 394 b.c, and especially in the years between 394 and the peace of Antalcidas, 387 b.c, gold staters or didrachms make their appearance in several cities from Panticapaeum in the north to Cyprus and Cyrene in the south. It is not claimed that all gold coins of smaller denomina- tions belong to the period 407-394 B.C.: many of them belong to the middle of the fourth century. The claim is that in nearly all cases the issues of small gold coins are suggested by the Athenian issues of 407 B.C.; and that in nearly, if not quite, all cases the issues of gold staters are an echo of the Athenian striking of gold didrachms in 394. And this contention seems to be borne out by a considera- tion of the dates of the kings and dynasts who struck coins in the fourth century. Evidently the coins struck by kings can be more closely dated than those which bear the names of cities only. 328 GOLD OF ASIA MINOR, &c. "We have the following approximate dates : Evagoras I of Salamis in Cyprus, 411-373 ; Nicocles, 371-361 ; Evagoras II, 361^351; Pnytagoras, 351-333; Nicocreon, 331-310; Mele- kiathon of Gitium in Cyprus, 391-361 ; Pumiathon, 361-312; Pixodarus of Caria, 340-334 ; Philip II of Macedon, 359-336. Of these rulers, Evagoras I issued the half-drachm (314 grains, grm. 2-02) and smaller divisions; Nicocles two- thirds of the drachm (42-5 grains, grm. 2-75) ; Evagoras II, Pnytagoras, and Nicocreon didrachms or staters. Mele- kiathon and Pumiathon struck the drachm ; Pixodarus the drachm ; Philip of Macedon issued didrachms in abundance. All of these were of Attic standard. This list proves at least that, as we approach the middle of the fourth century, staters tend to take the place of smaller coins in gold. In his Catalogue of the Coins of Cyprus^^ Mr. Hill observes that Evagoras I in his coinage probably preserves the traditional relation of gold to silver at 13-| to 1, so that his half-drachm in gold would be equivalent to 2^ of his silver staters. The smaller denominations struck by Evagoras are in Mr. Hill's opinion tenths and twentieths of the stater of gold. This would be a novelty in coinage, as elsewhere the smaller gold coins follow the divisions into drachms and obols ; and I am not sure that Mr. Hill is right, but his view has much in its favour. The kings of Cyprus seem to stand in a separate class. Evagoras I was a ruler of great power and audacity, who by force of arms asserted his independence of the Great King, and was never subdued, but at last made a compact with him ' as a king with a king '. That this high-spirited monarch should have broken through the tradition, and issued gold coins on his own account, need not surprise us, nor that his standard should be rather that of the Athenian gold money than that of the daric. It is more remarkable that all his successors on the throne of Salamis should have continued the issues down to the time of Alexander the Great, and that the rival Phoenician kings of Citium should p. cm. 407-394 B.C. 329 have followed their example. Brandis suggests ^ that this must have been the result of special favour of the Persian king. In any case Cyprus is quite exceptional in thus coining gold all through the fourth century. It is to be observed that the powerful Mausolus of Caria, who was almost an independent sovereign, issued no gold coin, though he struck abundant silver : only his successor Pixodarus at a later time, when the Persian Empire was obviously breaking up, struck a few small gold coins. We take next the issues of small gold coins by some of the cities of Thrace and Macedon, on the Attic standard. Aenus. Obv. Head of Hermes. Bev. A I N 1 N . Terminal figure of Hermes on throne. Weight, 32 grains (grm. 2*10), (PL VIII. 1.) Maroneia. Obv. Head of bearded Dionysus. Eev. MAPHNITEnN. Vine. Weight, 62 grains (grm. 4-01). Obv. Prancing horse. Eev. Same inscr. Vine. Weight, 48 grains (grm. 3-11). Thasos. Obv, Head of Dionysus, bearded or young. Eev. OACION. Bearded Heracles kneeling, shooting with bow. Weight, 60 grains (grm. 3-88) ; 43 grains (grm. 2-78). Amphipolis. Obv. Young male head bound with taenia. Eev. AMinOAI- TEaN. Torch. Weight, 63 grains (grm. 4-08). The above coins are all rare, and seem to have been experi- mental. These cities, while striking gold on the Attic system of weight, did not use that system for silver. But the mass of the currency in all the region at the time consisted of the silver coins of Athens. It seems, therefore, most likely that the gold coins were issued in reference to these rather than in reference to the autonomous silver coins of the ^ Milnz-j Mass- und Qewichiswesm^ p. 256, 330 GOLD OF ASIA MINOR, &c. cities of Thrace. No doubt some terms would have to be made with the latter ; and this would have been easy if on the coast of Thrace the old Asiatic relation of the two metals, 13§ to 1, had persisted. Then a gold drachm of Attic weight would have been eq^uivalent to five silver didrachms of Persian weight, or about fifteen Rhodian drachms. But it is far more likely that the Athenian proportion of 12 to 1 was accepted in Thrace, and that the gold coins were left to make their own terms with the contemporary civic issues. With these coins of Thrace go small coins of Teos in Ionia, the mother-city of Abdera.^ Ohv. Grrififin seated. Eev, Circular incuse, divided by a cross, on the limbs of which is inscribed THI and magistrate's name. Weight, 28*7 grains (grm. 1*85) ; 14-6 grains (grm. 0-94). The weight of these coins is a difficulty. They are light for Attic triobols and trihemiobols : they are nearer to the weight of Aeginetan diobols and obols. And as Teos clings with great tenacity, almost alone among Ionian cities, to the Aeginetan weight for silver coins, at all events down to 394 (Head) or even later (Babelon), we may well suppose that, like Thebes, the city adopted it also for small pieces in gold. The gold or electrum coins of Thebes, and other cities of Greece proper, are considered in Chapter XVIII. § 2. 394-330 B.C. The striking of gold staters or didrachms at Abydos, Rhodes, Lampsacus, and other cities was later ; and what suggested them was probably not the Athenian money of necessity of 407, but the abundant issue of Athenian staters after 395. Mr. Wroth had already assigned the staters of Lampsacus to the time after 394, because one of the earliest of them bears the type of young Heracles ' Hist Num.j ed. 2, p. 595, Babelon omits these coins, and their genuine- ness is not above suspicion. 394-330 B.C. 331 rangling the serpents, the well-known device of the nidian League.^ There are also small gold or electrum nns of Thebes, which can be dated to this time, bearing le same type. It seems almost certain that the coins of Lampsacus, .bydos, and Clazomenae must all have been issued at the ime period. But if we turn to the British Miisemii 'atalogue we shall find considerable variety in their dating, 'hich stands as follows : Lampsacus, 394-350 ; Abydos, 11-387; Clazomenae, 387-300. This loose and incon- stent dating has arisen from the fact that numismatists ave considered each city separately — on its own merits, ) to say — and have not taken up the general question 'hy the cities in question should have struck gold at all, ad why if they struck gold they should have minted it a that particular standard. In fact, they have made the listake of detaching numismatics from the broad flow of istory. Cyzicus in the fourth century continues her electrum isues. But Lampsacus with the century begins to issue lose very beautiful gold staters which have reached s in great variety (Pl. VIII. 2, 3). The type of their averse is always the fore-part of a winged horse ; but n the obverse are various types. Some of these types sem to have no special meaning,^ but to be mere imita- ons of well-known coins or works of art. But a few 3nvey more exact information. On one coin is the head f a Persian satrap : unfortunately he cannot be with any 3rtainty identified. M. Babelon, following M. Six, takes im to be Orontes, and thinks that the coin belongs to le time, about 360 B.C., when Orontes was in revolt against ae Great King. This identification, however, is very oubtful. Considering the imitative character of the coins, le appearance of the head of a Persian noble, very possibly ^ Cat. Mysia, p. xxv. 2 A list of thirty-one types in B. M. Cat. Mysia, pp. xxi-xxv. In the mrnal internat d^Arch. wnnism., v, p. 1, Miss Agnes Baldwin increases the umber to thirty-seven. It has since been still further increased. 332 GOLD OF ASIA MINOR, &a copied from some silver satrapal coinage, cannot surprise us. A head of Pan on one coin is copied from the gold of Panticapaeum. Another interesting copy is a head of Athena, imitated from the silver money of Athens. The type of young Heracles strangling serpents is copied from the silver issued by the allied cities of Asia after the victory of Conon. We have seen that Lampsacus issued staters of electrum for a short period towards the middle of the fifth century. Why she should have resumed coinage about 394 b. c. we cannot of course tell without a more exact knowledge than we possess of the history of the city. But we must not forget the celebrity of the wine of the district, nor the position of the city on the Propontis near the stations of the Athenian and Spartan fleets, which might produce a need for a coinage.^ It is natural to think that the number of types on these staters (more than thirty-seven) indicates a considerable duration of the period during which they were struck. We should naturally suppose that the type would be changed once a year. And it is unlikely that we have recovered more than (at most) half of the varieties issued. In this case, if the coinage began about 394, it would have lasted down to the time of Alexander. This hypothesis of an annual change of type is not, however, a certainty. Mr. Head has made it probable that the type of the later coins of Athens was changed every year. But of the Cyzicene staters of electrum more than 170 types are actually known, and their issue can scarcely have lasted more than 150 years : at Cyzicus then there must have been more frequent changes. In any case it seems impossible to confine the varied staters of Lampsacus to the period before the Peace of Antalcidas : they must have gone on later. The gold coins of Abydos are somewhat early in character : they seem to have been contemporary with the earliest of 1 Mention of eighty-four gold staters of Lampsacus as contributed by the Byzantians to the cost of the war of the Boeotians with Phocis, 355-346 e.g. Dittenberger, SylL^ ed. 2, 120, 10. 394-330 B.C. 333 le Lampsacene staters. One bears the types of Victory aying a ram, and a standing eagle (Brit. Museum). The gold coins of Ehodes (B. M. XX. 37) do not belong [lite to the earliest issues of the city (409 B.C.). In the '. M. Cat. they are placed after 400 b. c. They are oubtless contemporary with the coins already mentioned, heir issue makes certain some easy and conventional elation between gold coins of Attic and silver coins o± !,hodian standard. It is a suggestive fact that Lampsacus and Abydos, as 'ell as Cyzicus and Cius (of the coins of which last city shall speak presently), are all on the Propontis in the irect line of the chief Athenian trade-route, that which )d to the Black Sea. It would seem that the strength f Athens in this quarter, together with the influx of gold :om Colchis and Scythia, produced abnormal conditions as 3gards the issue of gold coins. It is necessary to consider the relations of these Greek ities to the Persian satraps in their neighbourhood. Llmost in the midst of them was situated Dascyleium, the ead-quarters of the Persian satrapy of Mysia. Xenophon ^ escribes the city as a luxurious residence. ' Here \he says, was the palace of Pharnabazus with many villages round -J, great and rich in resources: wild beasts for hunting bounded in the parks and the country round — a river .owed by full of fish of all sorts ; and there were also bundant birds for such as had skill in fowling/ The escription would be attractive to many an Englishman a India. The view generally accepted by numismatists^ is that he Persian satraps did not as such issue coins, but used he darics and sigli of the Empire. But on the occasion f military expeditions they sometimes issued silver coin t the Greek cities which they made their head- quarters. ^hus Tiribazus, satrap of "Western Armenia, struck silver loney in some of the cities of Cilicia, Issus, and Mallus, ^ Eellen. iv. 1, 15. ^ Babelon, Perses Achemenides, Introd., p. xxiii. 334 GOLD OF ASIA MINOR, &o. on the occasion of the war with Evagoras.^ Datames also issued silver coins in Cilicia at the time of an expedition against Egypt, about 378 b.c.^ Tissaphemes issued silver coins, which are supposed to have been struck at the mint of Aspendus ^ ; and other examples are cited in the last chapter. Among the satraps who had head-quarters at Dascyleium, Pharnabazus, when in command of the Persian fleet, issued silver coins in Cilicia. He also seems on some unknown occasion to have issued silver coins at Cyzicus,* which we have already cited. Mr. Head is of opinion that a gold coin was also struck by Pharnabazus at Cyzicus ; it is the following ^ : Ohv. Persian king as an archer, kneeling. Eev. Prow of ship to left. Weight, 127-5 grains (grm. 8-25). M. Babelon, however, attributes the coin to Darius III of Persia, and to some mint in Caria. M. Six gives ifc to Salmacis, and the time of Alexander the Great.*^ It is, in fact, of uncertain origin; and the reasons for attributing it to Pharnabazus are not strong enough to induce us to make this coin the one solitary gold issue by any Persian satrap. The continued loyalty of Pharnabazus to his master would make it very unlikely that he alone would infringe the royal prerogative. It would seem then that so far as our evidence, which is certainly very fragmentary, goes, the satraps of Mysia had little to do with the issues of coins on the coast of the Propontis. No doubt they must have had frequent relations with these Greek cities. But if we adhere to the view that it was only on the occasion of military expeditions that the Persian satraps struck coins, we shall be slow in attributing to their influence coins so evidently commercial as the gold money of Lampsacus and Abydos. The available evidence, ^ Babelon, Perses AchemenideSj Introd., p. xxix. 2 Ibid., p. xxxix. ^ j^^d., p. xxxii. ^ Babelon, Perses, p. 23, PI. IV, 5. It is the presence of the tunny on the coins which makes the attribution to Cyzicus probable. e Ibid., p. 15, PI. II, 22. 6 Num. GkTon., 1890, p. 245. 394-330 B.C. 335 len, seems to indicate that it was rather the influence f Athens than that of the Persian satraps of Mysia which ave rise to the gold coins of the shore of the Propontis in le early fourth century. I may briefly summarize the historic situation as follows. b is very difficult to trace in detail the history of the Greek [ties of the Propontis during the period 412-311 B.C., that }, between the Athenian disaster in Sicily and the rise of tie Greek kingdom of Syria. They passed with bewildering ipidity from Athenian to Lacedaemonian hegemony and ack again. Sometimes they seem to have had Persian arrison^ and to have been subject to the king, sometimes [ley were in the hands of revolted satraps, sometimes they ppear to have enjoyed almost complete independence. 'he facts are only to be occasionally gathered from slight eferences in surviving history. We are able, however, to iscern three periods in the history of Asia Minor at this ime — (1) : 412-387. The constant hostilities between Sparta nd Athens, of which the coast of Asia Minor was the ock-pit, caused constant commotion in the cities, until y the Peace of Antalcidas they were recognized by the rreeks as the property of the Great King. ('2) : 387-334. Inder the incompetent rule of Artaxerxes Mnemon, there ;^ere perpetual revolts of satraps in Asia Minor, and of hese satraps some achieved an almost unqualified indepen- ence. We know that they depended largely upon the .elp of Greek mercenaries ; but in regard to their relations the Greek cities we have scarcely any information. (3) : 3'i-311. From the landing of Alexander to the establish- lent of the Seleucid dominion there v/as a time of great nrest, the military occupation of the .country by the lacedonians not precluding the autonomy of the cities. t is to the first of these periods, even apart from the 3stimony of artistic style, that we should naturally ttribute the origin of the gold coins of Lampsacus and Lbydos. It is very improbable that any Greek cities would fter the Peace of Antalcidas begin such issues. But the vidence seems to show that as Cyzicus continued her 336 GOLD OF ASIA MINOR, &a electrum issues down through the fourth century, so Lampsacus continued issues in gold. The reasons of this very exceptional privilege, which the Great King must at least have tolerated, can only be matter of conjecture. Passing from the Propontis to the Ionian coast, we have to speak of the very exceptional issue of gold coins by Clazomenae. The coin of Clazomenae— types, Facing head of Apollo and swan (PI. VIII. 4) — is remarkable for its peculiar weight (grains 87-8; grm. 5-70). It is not a stater of the Attic standard, but exactly two-thirds of a stater. Clazomenae is almost alone among the cities of Asia at thi^ period in using the Attic standard for silver. If the relation of value between gold and silver as accepted at Clazomenae was twelve to one, then this gold coin would be worth four of the tetradrachms of Attic standard, alike the tetra- drachms of Clazomenae and those of Athens herself; this seems a natural relation. The gold of Clazomenae is very beautiful, bearing a full-face head of Apollo which may be compared with the head of the Sun-god on the coins of Rhodes, or that of Arethusa on the coins of Syracuse. The British Museum Catalogue gives for it the date 387-300 B.C., a wide date, which shows that Mr. Head did not feel sure of its exact time. But we must not overlook the remarkable fact^that in the text of the king's peace, or the treaty of Antalcidas, as given by Xenophon, the Persian king expressly reserves to himself, besides the cities of the mainland, the islands of Clazomenae and Cyprus. To couple thus together the little island on which Clazomenae was built, and the great land of Cyprus, seems very strange ; and it is to be observed that mention is not made of Cyzicus and other cities built on islands close to the coast. But since Clazomenae came definitely under Persian rule in 387, it would seem far more probable that the city struck its gold just before, and not after, that date. In the style of the coin there is nothing conflicting with this supposition ; indeed the full-face head of a deity is as a coin type quite usual in the early years of the fourth century. 394-330 B.C. 337 The ordinary opinion of numismatists in regard to the fold staters of Asiatic cities is that they were issued as ivals to the daxic. As M. Babelon puts it, ' L'or des Grecs, ur le terrain commercial et economique, vient declarer la juerre a Tor des Perses ; la lampsac^ne est cree'e pour lutter lontre la darique.' ^ And on this ground numismatists have ried to explain the fact that these gold pieces are heavier han the daric. They suppose that this extra weight was ntroduced purposely in order to force them into circulation. iVhat the cities would gain by such a course no one has sxplained. When Grermany introduced its new gold loinage, it made the standard not heavier but somewhat ighter than that of the English sovereign, and the German raders have greatly profited, by assuming the English overeign and their own twenty-mark piece to be equivalent. Athens used the same standard for her gold coins which he had long used for silver. And the reason seems obvious. -f the gold and silver coins had the same weight, then, vhatever proportion in value gold had to silver, at that ■ate the gold and silver coins would exchange. That is say, wherever the silver money of Athens was used as he regular medium of exchange, gold minted on the same tandard would pass with ease and convenience. But we know from the well-known lines of the Frogs,^ ^s well as from the testimony of finds, that about the year [<00 B.C., even after the fall of Athens, Athenian silver was he regular currency of the shores of the Aegean, as well ,s largely current as far as Sicily and Egypt: received, ^s Aristophanes says, everywhere alike by Greeks and )arbarians. It seems then that the readiest way of explaining the adoption of the Attic standard for gold by the cities of ^sia is to suppose that it was not minted in rivalry of the iarics, but with direct reference to the monetary issues of Lthens. Athens set the fashion as regards both metal and tandard, and several cities of Asia followed it. ^ Perses Achemenides, p. Ixxiii. 2 720 and foil, 1057 Z 338 GOLD OF ASIA MINOR, &c. There are in existence gold coins bearing the types of Ephesus,^ which, if genuine, -would be contemporary with those of Lampsacus and Abydos. They are the stater, drachm, and diobol, having on the obverse the type of the bee and the name of the city, and on the reverse a quartered incuse. If they be genuine they will belong to 394-387. But their genuineness has been called in question, and it is unsafe to base any argument upon them. The gold staters of Cius in Bithynia (PI. "VIII. 5) are certainly of later date than those of Lampsacus and Abydos. Their style is considerably later than that of the coins of Chalcidice and of Philip of Macedon; it more nearly resembles that of the money of Pixodarus of Caria (340-334 B.C.). All the known examples come from the two Sidon hoards,^ which consist of coins dating from the middle to the end of the fourth century. Perhaps the issue of these coins was allowed by Philip or Alexander for some reason which is lost to us, as for services in con- nexion with the shipment to Asia, since Cius was a landing- place for Phrygia. A parallel may perhaps be found in the issue of gold staters at Philippi in Macedon, apparently by special licence of Philip 11. Contemporary with these gold coins of Cius are small silver coins with the same types, weighing 81-83 grains (5-20-5-33 grm.), that is to say, drachms of Persian standard. Another remarkable gold stater, probably from the Sidon finds, bears on the obverse a head of young Heracles, and on the reverse a Palladium.'"* This is no doubt a coin of Pergamon ; a third of a stater with the same reverse, but with the head of Athena on the obverse, is also known,* M. Six is probably right ^ in assigning these coins to the period when Heracles, the young son of Alexander, and his mother Barsine established themselves at Pergamon, after ^ Head, Coinage o/Epkesus, p. 22. In the Hist Num. they are omitted. 2 Eevue Numism.j 1865, 8 (Waddington). 3 Eevue Numism., 1865, PI. I, 8. * B. M. Cat. Mysia, p. 110, No. 4. 6 Numism. Chron., 1890, p. 200. 394-330 B.C. 339 the death of Alexander. It is to be noted that the coin in the Sidon finds which has been most worn, and so had probably been longest in circulation, is a stater of Panticapaeum, issued about 390 b. c. In order to justify us for thus fixing the dates of the coins of Lampsacus, and other Greek cities of the coast, and the circumstances under which they were issued, it will be well to consider some of the contemporaneous gold issues in Greece proper, and the Islands of the Aegean. The gold coins of Panticapaeum, in the Tauric Chersonese, stand by themselves (B. M. XXI. 1, 2). They are of very fine fourth-century work, types Head of Pan and Griffin, and weigh as much as 140 grains (grm. 9-07). The high weight may be the result of an abundance of gold on the spot, to which the modern excavations in the Crimea have borne ample testimony. The contemporary silver coins, bearing as types the head of a satyr, and a bull's head, are didrachms of Persian weight, 182 grains (grm. 11-80), ten of which probably passed as equivalent to the gold stater. The city of Olynthus in Chalcidice issued gold didrachms of Attic standard in the flourishing time of the Chalcidian League. Ohv. Head of Apollo. Eev. XAAKIAEHN. Lyre: names of magistrates. (PI. VIII. 6.) It seems to have been from Olynthus that Philip of Macedon derived his coin standards, both for gold and silver. His issues are treated in Chap. XXI, where the exchange value between gold and silver in the fourth century is also considered. CHAPTER XVII COINS OF PHOENICIA AND AFRICA, 480-330 b.c. § 1. Phoenicia. A NEW and important feature of the period with which we are dealing is the earliest appearance of coins of the cities of Phoenicia. Strange as it may seem, until the middle of the fifth century, the wealthy trading cities of Tyre, Sidon, and Aradus had no coinage of their own. In like manner the great city of Carthage had no coins until nearly the end of the fifth century. Yet Phoenicians and Carthaginians alike must have been perfectly familiar with Greek coins, which circulated in great quantities in the sixth century. And Cyprus, which was half Phoenician, issued money in all the great cities early in the fifth century or before that. Such facts show that we should be mistaken if we supposed either Phoenicians or Greeks to be animated by the keen business spirit, the result of many decades of unbridled competition, which is the ruling factor in modem commercial life. The occasion of the first issues of money in Phoenicia may have been the collapse of the Athenian Empire. In another chapter I adduce evidence of the determined, and somewhat shameless, way in which Athens insisted on her coins being made the standard of value and the staple of the circulation throughout her empire, and more especially in the islands of the Aegean. The owls of Athens had a wide vogue, and when after the Lamian war they ceased to be produced, imitations took their place inland from Phoenicia. It is reasonable to suppose that at an earlier time, when Athens had been captured by Lysander, and the Persian Satraps began to issue abundant coins in the PHOENICIA 341 cities of Cilicia, the maritime towns of Phoenicia began also to feel more keenly the need of a coinage. It is, however, the opinion of the best authorities on the coins of Phoenicia, that the fall of Athens was rather the occasion of a greater plenty in the issue of Phoenician coins than of their first inception. M. Babelon, following M. Eouvier, gives the first issue of coins at Sidon to 475 B.C., Mr. G. F. Hill makes coinage begin at Tyre about 450.^ The style of some of the coins, which have on their reverse modified incuses, would seem to justify these, or even earlier, attribu- tions. But when one passes away from Greek territory style ceases to be a trustworthy index of date ; and certainly the style of coins in Phoenicia is much more archaic than is that of contemporary issues in Greek cities. It is a suggestive fact that the early coinage of Aradus, in North Syria, is of a different class from the coinages of the cities of Southern Phoenicia. The city of Aradus, built on an island two or three miles from the coast, began a little before 400 b. c. to issue coin. The ordinary types are — 1. Ohv. Phoenician letters (Ex Arado). Phoenician fish-god, holding dolphin in each hand. Eev. Galley with dolphin or sea-horse beneath. "Weight, 50-47 grains (grm. 3-25- 3-05) ; 25 grains (grm. 1-68). (B. T. CXVI.) 2. Ohv, Same letters. Torso of fish-god. Eev. Prow with dolphin beneath. Weight, 11 grains (grm. 0-68). One coin is published by Babelon, of the types of No. 1, but weighing 166 grains (grm. 10-77). This is very impor- tant, as it makes it clear that the standard is really the Persian, the sa.me as that used in Cyprus and by the Satraps in Cilicia. We have already seen that the Persian stater was often in practice divided into three pieces, which may best be called tetrobols, and which seem to have circulated somewhat above their real value as Chian or Ehodian drachms. We must not press the fact that the coin No. 2 would seem from its type to be the half of some unit, for ■ B. M. Cat. Phoenicia, p. cxxiii. 342 COINS OF PHOENICIA AND AFRICA the torso of the fish-god may be onl}^ a substitute for his head, which would well suit the obol. Early in the fourth century the obverse type is changed ; we have a bearded laureate head, possibly of Mel-Karth, in the place of the fish-god (PI. IX. 6). But the denomina- tions, stater, tetrobol, and obol, still go on at the same weight. The stater sometimes reaches the weight of 165 grains (grm. 10-68), the tetrobol 52 grains (grm. 3-35), and the obol 13 grains (grm. 0-86). There is one exceptional stater^ which reaches the weight of 258 grains (grm. 1670), and thus appears to follow the Attic standard. It is possible that this coin may date from the time of Alexander. It is indeed quite archaic in style ; but in a Phoenician coin this is not a conclusive indication. I have placed these two series of coins in the order which seems to me undoubtedly the true one, as it does to Mr. Hill.^ M. Eouvier and M. Six had transposed them, placing the series with the bearded head first. To assign more exact dates, under these conditions, would be too bold. What is clear is that the coinage of Aradus is under the influence of the Persian Satraps of Cilicia. The other cities of Phoenicia used the (so-called) Phoe- nician standard. Grebal (Byblus) is the next city of Phoenicia, issuing coins before the age of Alexander, to which we come in moving southwards. The earliest coin appears to be the follow- ing : Ohv. Galley, containing warriors ; beneath, hippocamp. Eev, Vulture standing on body of ram (incuse). Weight, 214-6 grains (grm. 13-89), Athens (B. T. CXVII) ; 58.3 grains (grm. 345), Brit. Mus. M. Babelon ^ sees in the reverse tjipQ a possible allusion to the overthrow of Evagoras I of Cyprus, on whose coins a ram figures: this, however, is very doubtful. The coin must be given to the first half of the fourth century. 1 Babelon, Traitdj ii. 2, p. 521, No. 832. 2 B, M. Cat. Phoenicia^ p. xviii. ^ Perses Achem., p. clxvi. PHOENICIA 343 Next we have the money of a succession of kings, Elpaal, Azbaal, Ainel, of whom only the last can be dated ; he was a contemporary of Alexander, if we may regard him as the same as the Enylus of Arrian.^ He was succeeded, as Mr. Hill has shown,^ by Adramelek. We may put the full weight of the stater of Byblus at 220 grains (grm. 14-25), and of the quarter stater or Phoenician drachm at 55 grains (grm. 3-58) or less. Smaller coins also occur, notably the trihemiobol of 13 grains (grm. 0-86). There must have been some simple scheme of relations of value between the coins of Byblus and those of Aradus. The drachm of Byblus would naturally be equated with the tetrobol of Aradus, and the trihemiobol of Byblus with the obol of Aradus. The initial dates of the great coinages of Sidon and Tyre are in dispute. Nor have we any means of determining them, except by a consideration of style, which in cities which were not Greek is apt to mislead. The coins of Sidon which bear the names of kings who may be with some probability identified, belong to the fourth century; but coins having a much earlier appearance are known (PL IX. 7). M. Babelon makes the series of Sidon begin about 475 B.C., that of Tyre about 470 b.c. Mr. Head places the coins about half a century later. Until more definite data are procured, by the discovery of restrikings, or the com- position of hoards, it will not be safe to base arguments upon the supposed dates of the early Sidonian coins. There is, however, one important line of connexion, if it can be established, between Sidon and Salamis in Cyprus, in the time of Evagoras II, king of the latter city. M. Babelon has tried to show ^ that this king after being defeated in Cyprus was awarded the kingship of Sidon by the Persian king Artaxerxes Ochus for the period 349-346, and there struck coins of the usual Sidonian types.* These coins are of a comparatively late style ; and they might fairly be used as an argument that the series of Sidon must ^ Anab. ii. 20, 1. 2 jg^ jj^^ qq^^^ Phoenicia^ p. Ixvi. 3 TraiUy ii. 2, p. 590. * Compare B. M. Cat. Phoenicia, p. 151. 344 COINS OF PHOENICIA AND AFRICA have begun a century earlier. For an attempt to assign other coins to known kings of Sidon I must refer to the above-mentioned work of M. Babelon. At a period which M. Babelon places at 362 e.g., the end of the reign of Strato (Abdastoret) II, the weight of the coins falls decidedly. The earlier series weigh : Two shekels ^ (4 drachms) Shekel .... Half shekel . Quarter shekel Sixteenth of shekel Grains, Grammes. 440 28.32 220 14.16 110 7-08 55 3-54 14 0-88 Grains. Grammes. 400 25-76 200 12-88 100 6-44 50 3-22 125 0-80 Coins of the later series weigh Two shekels . Shekel . Half shekel . Quarter shekel Sixteenth of shekel Mr. Hill makes the suggestion,^ which is by no means improbable, that this fall of the standard may have been due to a fall in the comparative value of gold, a fall which was in fact in progress in the Aegean region at the time. Taking the weights as above (Mr. Hill places them some- what higher, but betakes exceptional coins as the standard), we have the following equations : 440 grains of silver at 13J to 1 are equivalent to 33 grains (grm. 2-14) of gold; 400 grains of silver at 12 to 1 are equivalent also to 33 grains of gold. As the Phoenician silver standard was originally based on the relation of the bar or stater of silver to the bar or stater of gold, and as gold seems to have been the measure of value in Phoenicia, these equations are very probable. If we accept them, four of the double shekels would be equivalent roughly to the daric or the Athenian 1 Babelon, TraiUj ii. 2, p. 547. Babelon calls the drachm the shekel; Hill the didi'iichm. 2 B. M. Cat, Phoenicia^ p. cii. PHOENICIA 345 gold stater. They would better fit in with the Athenian gold stater of 135 grains (in fact it seldom exceeds 133 grains) than with the daric of 130-128 grains; but no doubt the daric was the governing coin in Syria at the time. There is, however, some difficulty in seeing how a fall in the relation of gold to silver could take place in Phoenicia, while the Persian Empire went on striking gold and silver at the traditional rates. Mr. Hill also observes that six drachms, in the Athenian silver coinage, would weigh very nearly the same as two shekels of the reduced standard. The beginning of the coinage of Tyre is assigned by Mr. Hiir to 450 B.C.; by M. Babelon to 470. The deno- minations are : Grains. Grammes. Shekel (didrachm). (PL IX. 8) . . 214 13-90 Quarter shekel ...... 54 8-48 Twenty-fourth of shekel .... 11-10 -70-60 The owl which figures prominently on the early coins may well be derived from the owl coins of Athens, at the time in the zenith of their fame ; but the rest of the types are very markedly Egyptian in character. With the conquest by Alexander the issue of autonomous coins by the cities of Phoenicia comes to an end ; but certain classes of imitative coins, copies of Asiatic or Greek prototypes, for a time go on. (See Chap. XXI.) While Aradus and Gebal, in the north of Phoenicia, are clearly within the circle of Persian influence. Tyre and Sidon use the old Phoenician standard. As to the exact history and antiquity of this standard we are imperfectly informed. Brandis maintained, with considerable proba- bility, that it corresponded as a silver standard with the ordinary Babylonic gold standard. I have above ^ set forth the equation^ 260 grains of gold (grm. 16-84), at the rate of 13| to 1, are equivalent to 3,458 grains of silver, or 15 shekels of 230 grains (grm. 14*90). This silver unit of 230 grains ' B. M. Cat. Phoenicia^ p. cxxvi. ^ Chap. I. 346 COINS OF PHOENICIA AND AFEICA stands midway between the Phocaean or Cliian unit, which is somewhat heavier, and the Milesian unit, which is some- what lighter. We have evidence of its use in Phoenicia in quite early times. The numismatic evidence fully confirms its antiquity. It was, for example, in use in the islands of Melos, Carpathos, and Rhodes in the sixth century, and the results of excavation at Cameirus in Rhodes show that this was an early course of Phoenician commerce. Whether the standard of Miletus and Ephesus was derived from it is doubtful. Its adoption at Abdera in the sixth century is a striking fact.^ It is almost certain that when so conservative peoples as those of Tyre and Sidon issued coins they would strike them on an ancient standard. That the same standard was also ancient in Egypt seems to be proved by the issues of King Ptolemy I. He adopted for his silver three standards, one after the other ; first the Attic, in imitation of the coinage of Alexander ; second the Rhodian, with a view no doubt to convenience in commerce; third, the old Phoenician. And it was the last which pre- vailed and survived, superseding the others, down to the end of the Ptolemaic regime. An identical standard seems to have been in use in Egypt even under the Old Empire ; for we have records of bronze rings weighing about 15 grammes, 232 grains.^ Dr. Regling has shown,^ on the evidence of certain gold coins of Demetrius I of Syria, which bear marks of value, that in the second century b.c. the Ptolemaic or Phoenician drachm was equated with | of the Attic drachm. And taking the Phoenician drachm at 56 grains, and the Attic at Q7 grains, this exactly corresponds to the proportional weights of the two. We cannot, however, be sure how far this equation was generally accepted, or how far it ruled at an earlier time than the second century. The above considerations affect the attribution of some 1 Above, p. 191. " E. Meyer, JQehie SchrifteVj p. 95. » KliOj 1905, p. 124. PHOENICIA 347 Dins given by M. Babelon to the district of Gaza. Among lese are : 1. Ohv. Phoenician fish-god. Eev, Lion at bay. Weight, 162-5 grains (grm. 10-53). (B. T. CXXIII. 7.) 2. Obv. Winged goat Eev. Owl facing. Weight, 172-162 grains (grm. 11-11-1046). (B. T. CXXIII. 8.) raza is known to have issued many imitations of Attic oins, at the time when their issue ceased at Athens.^ 'heir weight (like their types) imitates that of Athens. Lnd the name of Gaza appears, according to the reading of I. Six, on drachms of Attic weight, which combine the yipes of a janiform head and an owl.^ But the staters bove mentioned are of Persian standard, and can scarcely ■e attributed to any city south of Aradus, such as was Gaza, ^ossibly, as M. Six held, they may be of Cilicia. § 2. Caethage. Strange to say, the earliest coins which can be attributed Carthage belong to the last decade of the fifth century, t was on the occasion of the great invasion of Sicily in 10 that the Carthaginians first discovered the necessity of . coinage, no doubt in order to meet the demands of the Lumerous mercenaries then employed. It is characteristic if the race that they met this demand, not by striking some resh and distinctive coins, but by making copies more or ess faithful of the money already in use in Sicily. Mixed nth these, however, some more distinctive types make their ppearance, the horse's head, the palm-tree, and a female Lead in a Persian tiara (PI. IX. 9). All these silver coins ollowed the Attic standard, then in universal use in Sicily ; nd the great mass of them consisted of tetradrachms, hough the didrachm, the drachm, and the obol appear as ?'ell as the litra with its divisions. -They were struck i^ithout doubt largely out of the spoil of Selinus, Gela, and ^ B. M. Cat. Phoenicia, p. cxliv ; Babelon, Perses Achem., pp. 46, 47 ; Traite, . 2, pp. 642-3. 2 Babelon, Traiie, pp. 670, &c. ; cf. Head, Num. Chron., 1878, p. 273. 348 COINS OF PHOENICIA AND AFRICA other Greek cities. The date of these imitative coiBS can be fixed with certainty by means of hoards of money found in Sicily. For example, the West Sicilian hoard, examined by Professor Salinas and Sir A. Evans,^ which was buried at the time of the Carthaginian invasion, about 406 e.g., con- tained many tetradrachms of this class which were fresh from the die, together with the coins of the Sicilian cities which were destroyed in the course of the invasion. Combined with these silver coins, however, were issued gold pieces of a less purely imitative kind. The earliest of these are : 1. Ohv. Head of Persephone. Mev. Prancing horse. Weight, 118 grains (grm. 7-64) ; 24 grains (grm. 1-55). (PL IX. 10.) These coins are given by Evans to the same period as the imitative silver. Somewhat later are the following gold coins: 2. Obv, Head of Persephone. Bev. Palm-tree. Weight, 36 grains (grm. 2-33). 3. Ohv. Palm-tree. Bev. Horse's head. Weight, 15-3 grains (grm. 0-99). The gold coins of Sjnracuse, after the repulse of the Athenians, were of the weight of 90, 45, and 20 grains, equivalent to 20, 10, and 4 or 4| silver drachms. But the gold coins of Carthage do not seem to have had any satisfac- tory relation to the silver. They follow an entirely different standard from that of Sicily, or indeed from any (3-reek gold standard. What that .standard is, it is hard to say ; but it is used for the later gold and silver coins of the city. Mr. Head calls it the Phoenician standard, with a drachm of 59 grains.^ But if we turn to the coins of Sidon and Tyre we find that they are minted on a standard not exceed- ing 55 grains to the drachm. The Carthaginian standard may, however, be a somewhat heavier variety of this, in use in Africa since the foundation of Carthage. In actual ^ Syracusan Medctllmis, p. 160, 2 mstoria Kumorunij ed. 2, p. 879. CARTHAGE 349 eight this standard closely corresponds with the Chian or iodian. At a somewhat later time, fixed by Mr. Head to 340 b. a, arthage strikes at once gold and electrum coins as )llows : Ohv. Head of Persephone. Eev. Horse standing. Weight, 145 grains (grm. 9'89). Gold. Obv. Head of Persephone. Eev. Horse and palm-tree. Weight, 73 grains (grm. 4-72). Gold. Obv. Head of Persephone. Eev. Horse standing. Weight, 118 grains (grm. 7-64). Electrum. Obv, Head of Persephone. Eev. Horse and palm-tree. Weight, 58 grains (grm. 3-75). Electrum. Obv. Head of Persephone. Eev. Horse looking back. Weight, 27 grains (grm. 1-74). Electrum. Here the electrum coins are of the same weights as the arlier gold, and belong to the Phoenician rather than the rreek circle of commerce. They may well have been quivalent to ten or twelve times their weight in silver, ^■hether coined or uncoined. The later gold coins are in I'-eight f of the electrum, and quite unique in the coinage f the period. At the ratio of 15 to 1, they would be equiva- ent to 10 silver units of 217 grains ; but this ratio seems 'ery unlikely. It would thus seem that Carthage struck on two different ystems at the same time. The silver money struck in or or Sicily followed the Attic standard ; that in gold or lectrum, struck in all probability mainly for home use, ollowed a variety of the Phoenician standard. The rates f exchange of the two series against one another remain to )e determined. The large silver coins bearing the name ,nd types of Carthage are later, and are the fruit of the ilver mines of Spain, where in all likelihood they were truck. I shall not further examine the coinage of Carthage. It 3 unfortunate that there is no systematic account of it since kliiller's Jfumism. de Vane. Afrique (1861). It would be a 350 COINS OF PHOENICIA AND AFRICA fruitful task to investigate the series in relation to the con- temporary coins of Italy and Sicily. § 3. Cyrene. We have seen in a previous chapter (XIII) that the early silver coinage of Cyrene follows a standard practically equivalent to that of Athens, but of independent and of earlier origin. Some of the smaller coins, however, are regulated by the drachm of Phoenicia. According to Mr. Head, it was at the time of the expul- sion of the Battiad kings and the establishment of a re- public, about 431 B.C., that a light variety of the Phoenician standard was, in the case of the larger coins, substituted for the Attic ; and gold coins were issued on the Attic standard about 4-00 B.C. But the expulsion of the Battiadae cannot well have been so late as 431, seeing that the last of the kings, Arcesilaus IV, won the chariot-race at Delphi in 466 B.C. The date of 450 is more probable. Whether the change in standard of the silver coins took place then can only be determined by a consideration of the style of the coins themselves. Mr. E. S. Gr. Robinson, after a careful discussion, is disposed to date the transition to the new standard about 435 b.c.^ It is not strange that the new standard adopted at Cyrene should be practically that of Samos (stater, 210 grains; grm. 13-60) for two reasons. In the first place, this very standard had long been in use for the divisions of the stater— drachms, and lesser units. And in the second place, there had always been a close connexion between Cyrene and Samos, as is shown by the history of Arcesilaus III, who iled to Samos when he was expelled from Cyrene, and in that island collected an army which restored him to his throne. At Samos the Samian weight for coins, which was for a short period given up at the time of the Athenian Conquest of 439 b. c, was resumed about 430 ; and it is possible that on that occasion the people of Cyrene adopted it for all their silver. 1 Num, Chron.j 1915, p. 87. CYEENE 351 Contemporary with these issues of silver are gold coins on ;he same standard. The earliest of these is a drachm ^ of somewhat archaic style. (Obv. Silphium plant. Eev. Head of bearded Ammon : weight, 53 grains (grm. 3-43), Paris.) The lalf or hemidrachm, and the quarter or trihemiobol were .ssued certainly before the end of the fifth century. The lialf drachm has the same types as the drachm ; the quarter irachm has various types, especially the heads of Ammon md Gyrene. In the weight of the quarter drachm (13-5 trains, grm. 0*87) Sir A. Evans sees the influence of Sicily, where the silver litra is of this weight. But as 13-5 grains ^f gold, at the exchange of 15 to 1, are equivalent to three A-ttic drachms of silver or a Samian tetradrachm in silver, it does not seem necessary to go further to justify the weight. It would seem then that Gyrene was the first of all cities outside Persia to produce a regular issue of gold coins, as distinguished from a few coins issued by some cities in time of stress. This is very natural, as Egypt was one of the chief sources of gold in the ancient world. We have already seen ^ that Gyrene was also very early in the use of a silver coinage. Besides these smaller gold coins, we find at Gyrene an abundance of staters of Attic weight. (PI. IX. 11.)^ Opinions as to the date of these gold staters differ widely. Sir A. Evans/ in agreement with Dr. L. Miiller, assigned them to a period before 415 b.c, and regarded them as having influenced the coinage of Syracuse before the time of Dionysius. M. J. P. Six,^ on the other hand, with whom Holm agrees, gives them to the time of Magas, 280 b. c, and finds in the enthroned figure of Zeus Ammon, which some of them bear, a copy of the seated Zeus of the coins of Alexander. M. Babelon, also, is strongly of opinion that the gold staters are later than Alexander.^ The question is not 1 Num. Chron., 1915, p. 86. Mr. Robinson would date this coin before 435. 2 Above, p. 218. ^ Syracusan Medallions^ p. 63. ^ Num. Chron., 1897, p. 223 ; of. Holm, Gesch, Sic, iii, p. 609. 6 Traite, iii, p. 1085, 352 COINS OF PHOENICIA AND AFRICA one to be easily decided. But my own view coincides with that of Head and Mr. Robinson, tbat the coins belong to the early part of the fourth century, and are contem- porary with the gold staters of Athens, Rhodes, and Lamp- sacus. The type of the seated Zeus does at first sight remind us of the silver coins of Alexander ; but in fact that type more nearly resembles the seated Zeus of the coins of the Persian satraps of Cilicia, which belong to the early fourth century. The chariot also, which is a common type, is nearer to the chariots on the fifth-century coins of Sicily than to that on the coins of Philip of Macedon. Contemporary with the gold staters are their fractions, the drachm, and hemidrachm of Attic weight. And the older gold coinage of Samian weight seems to have been continued. M. Babelon publishes one gold stater of this weight,^ 110-5 grains (grm. 7-16), which is quite exceptional. But coins of lesser denomination are common ; and as the same magistrates' names occur on them which we find on the staters, the two classes of coins seem to have been con- temporary. We have the eighth of a stater of Samian standard weighing 13-5 grains (grm. 0-87). M. Babelon calls the standard for silver in use in the fifth century Milesian (which is the same as the Samian), and that in use in the fourth century Rhodian. But in fact the coins of the two periods are in weight identical, as M. Babelon himself allows.^ "We thus have at Cyrene precisely the opposite arrange- ment to that at Carthage. At Carthage silver was struck on the Attic standard, gold on the Phoenician.^ At Cyrene gold was struck on the Attic standard, silver on that of Phoenicia. Silver didrachms and drachms of Attic weight were, however, exceptionally issued before the middle of the fourth century; and the magistrates' names on these are in some cases (0EYct>EI AEY5, POAIANOEYZ) identical with those which occur on the gold. 1 Ihid., p. 1079. =* Compare liis table on p. 1058 with his table on p. 1080. ^ Syracusan Medallions^ p. 63. CHAPTER XVIII COINS OF HELLAS, 480-330 b.o. § 1. NOETHEEN G-REECE, In a previous chapter we have considered the origins of loinage in Greece Proper, and carried down its history to he end of the sixth century in the case of a few important iities, Aegina, Chalcis, Eretria, Corinth, Athens, Corcyra. But the Persian War did not make a clear line of division ,n the coins of Greece Proper, as it did in Asia and Thrace. !Tor were the cities of Greece Proper subject, as were those )f Asia, to the domination of the Athenian Empire and )he Athenian coinage. There is thus usually no marked 3reak in their issues, at all events in the fifth century. Ind it will be best to treat in the present chapter of the vhole of the issues of the cities of Northern Greece and Peloponnesus down to the time of Alexander, except in the 3ase of the great cities above mentioned. The coins of most parts of Greece Proper give few data for metro- logical inquiries. From Thessaly to Messene they follow, ivith few exceptions, the Aeginetan standard. But there ire many indications of historic value to be gained from }he study of some classes of these coins. Thessaly and Epirus. I begin with Thessaly. The j&rst jity of Thessaly to issue coin was Larissa, the city of ihe Aleuadae, who seem to have obtained a primacy in ihe region at the time of the Persian wars.^ It was about >00 B.C. when these issues began. They were followed in ihe fifth century by those of many other cities, Pharsalus, Pherae, Scotussa, Tricca, and others. The only landmark n the Thessalian series is furnished by the occurrence at 1 Hdt. vii. 6. 1967 A a 354 COINS OF HELLAS, 480-330 b.c. Larissa on some coins of the name Simus, in small letters. It seems reasonable to regard this Simus as the Aleuad who was made Tetrarch of part of Thessaly by Philip of Macedon 352-344 b.c.^ It is, however, possible that the name may be only that of the artist who made the die ; and in fact we hear of a sculptor named Simus at Olynthus at this period.^ The autonomous silver coins of Thessaly ceased when Thessaly was incorporated with Macedon in 344 B.C. Alexander of Epirus, who went to Italy in 332 B.C., to aid the G-reek cities against the Italians, issued gold staters, which take their place among the coins of Tarentum, and silver didrachms : Obv. Head of Zeus crowned with oak. Eev. AAEZANAPOY TOY NEOnTOAEMOY. Thunderbolt. Weight, 165 grains (grm. 10-69).=^ (B. M. XXII. 23.) As the weight of these coins is the same as that of con- temporary coins of Corcyra, it is probable that they were issued in Epirus, Of the same weight as the coins of the Kings of Paeonia (p. 324) are the barbarous imitations of the coins of Zacynthus struck at Damastium, Pelagia, and other lUyrian cities in the middle of the fourth century : ^ Obv, Head of Apollo. Eev. AAMASTINON. Tripod-lebes. Weight, 206-188 grains (grm. 13-34-12. 18). Of these coins, rude as they are, still more barbarous imitations were current. Strabo mentions silver mines at Damastium. It may be doubted whether these copies are due to the uncivilized Thracian and Illyrian peoples of the district, or to the Gauls, who took advantage of the removal of the Macedonian armies to Asia by Alexander to occupy ^ B. M. Cat. Thessaly (Gardner), p. xxvi. M. Waddington told me that he accepted this attribution. 2 Bttll. Corr. Hell, xiv. 276. s ^^ j^f^ (j^t, Thessaly, p. 110. ^ B. M. Cat Thessaly, PI. XVI, p. xlii. NORTHERN GREECE 355 most of the country to the north and west of the Macedonian Kingdom. Very exceptionally, the island of Pharos on the Illyrian coast struck autonomous silver in the fourth century : Ohv. Head of Zeus. Eev. Goat standing. Br. Mus. Weight, 41 grains (grm. 2-65).^ The weight is that of the coins of Corcyra and Dyrrhachium. The type of the goat seems to be derived from the coins of Pares. A colony of Parians was settled in the island by Dionysius of Syracuse about 385 b.c. ; and the silver coin, with others in bronze, was probably minted at that time, Boeotia. Among the most important series of G-reek coins, from the historic point of view, is that of Boeotia. The coinage of Boeotia throughout reflects the history of the cities of the district, their mutual relationships, their rise and fall. The series has received much attention from numismatists, having been carefully worked out, first by Dr. Imhoof-Blumer, then by Mr. Head, and most recently by M. Babelon.2 It is unnecessary, in giving a resume of the numismatic history of Boeotia, to specify the weights of the several coins, as all follow the Aeginetan standard, and are of full weight. The Boeotian coins bear throughout, on the obverse, the shield with inlets at the sides, which seems to be derived from a Mycenaean prototype, and is commonly called Boeotian. This uniformity of type indicates that all through their history the Boeotian cities formed a monetary confederation. The cities, however, began with the issue of drachms of Aeginetan standard, bearing the league type of the shield, the first letter of the name of the issuing city being inserted in the side-openings. Thus we find the aspirate on the money of Haliartus, and T or TA on the money of 1 B. M. Cat. ThessalVj p. 83. ' Imhoof-Blumer, Numism. Zeitsckr., vols, iii and ix ; Head, Num. Chron.y 1881 J Babelon, TraiMj ii. 1, pp. 933-76, ii. 3, pp. 211-312. A a 2 356 COINS OF HELLAS, 480-330 B.C. Tanagra. Thebes seems to have struck coins of this weight and type, but uninscribed. Somewhat later, perhaps about 550 B.C., some cities struck staters or didraohms, with the initial of the city, not on the obverse, but on the reverse, in the midst of the incuse. In this series A represents Acraephium, Q Coroneia, Q Haliartus, M Mycalessus, ® Pharae, T Tanagra, Thebes (PI. II. 14). Divisions of the stater were also struck. It is a somewhat further development, when Thebes places on the reverse of its coins the letters OEBA (archaic), and Tanagra issues staters as follows: 1. Ohv. TA. Boeotian shield. Eeo. B in the midst of an incuse. {B. M, Cat Central Greece, PL IX. 17.) 2, Obv, T or TA. Boeotian shield. Bev, B O I in the com- partments of a wheel. (PI. X. 1.) 8. Ohv, T. Boeotian shield. Bev, T A in the compartments of a wheel. {B, M, Cat, PL IX. 14.) Nos. 1 and 2 prove that at an early time Tanagra claimed to represent the League. The occasion has been disputed. Mr. Head thought that it was after the Persian wars, when Thebes was for a time by the confederated Greeks debased from its predominant position. But it is very difficult to bring down No. 1 at all events as late as 480 B.C.; and therefore the view of M. Babelon is preferable. He con- siders the date of coins 1-3 to be about 507 b.c. He cites tetradrachms of Attic standard, struck at Chalcis in Euboea. 1. Obv, ^ (X) on Boeotian shield. Bev. Wheel in incuse — square. (Babelon, TraiU, ii. 1, p. 973.) 2. Ohv. Eagle flying holding serpent in beak. Bev, S'AA in the compartments of a wheel. (Ibid., p. 670.) Chalcis, M. Babelon observes, was destroyed by the Athenians in 507 b.c; whence both these coins must precede that date. And the occurrence of the shield on No. 1 and the precise correspondence of the reverse of No. 2 with the coin of Tanagra, proves an alliance between the Boeotian and the Euboean city. Herodotus does not NORTHERN GREECE 357 say that the Athenians destroyed the city ; ^ but they con- fiscated its territory and so far dominated it, that an alliance with the Boeotians after that date is improbable, whereas there was an alliance before it. It must be observed that the distance between Tanagra and Chalcis is only twelve miles. There is also an early coinage of Orcho menus ; but as the money of this city bears a different type, a grain of wheat, and as it is only of the denomination of an obol, or a half obol, it stands apart. This coinage may go on until the destruction of Orchomenus by Thebes in 368 B.C. It is noteworthy that the incuse on the reverse of the coins of Orchomenus copies the Aeginetan incuse closely, and evidently on purpose. At the time of the invasion of Xerxes Thebes medized ; and when the Persian army was repulsed^ the city had to pay for its frailty. For about twenty years we have no coins which bear the name of Thebes. It is a difficult question which city or cities took its place. Tanagra between 479 and its destruction by Myronides in 456 would seem to have held a leading position. And it may well be that some of the coins above cited, bearing the joint names of the Boeotians and Tanagra, may belong to this period. After 456 e.g., the Athenians set up demo- cracies in several of the Boeotian cities, and we should have expected that these would strike coins. We find such coins at Acraephium, Coroneia, Haliartus, Tanagra, and Thebes. The reverses are : ^ Acraephium, AK. Wine-cup. Coroneia. KOPO. Head of Medusa. Haliartus, ARI, Amphora. Tanagra, TA. Fore-part of horse. TJiebes, ©E. Amphora. About the middle of the century Thebes begins to recover her ascendancy; and after her victory over the Athenians at Coroneia in 446, entirely monopolizes the ' Hdt. V. 77, vi. 100. ^ Num. Chron., 1881, pp. 201-5. 358 COINS OF HELLAS, 480-330 b.c. coinage of Boeotia until the Peace of Antalcidas in 387. The staters, which are numerous and in a fine style of art, bear the name of Thebes only, not that of the Boeotians. The types are usually taken from the legend of Heracles : one of them, the infant Heracles strangling the serpents, was copied in the cities of Asia which revolted against Sparta in 394 b.c, a fact which confirms the date of the Theban coin (PI. X. 3). Some of the Heracles types are, as we should have expected, more archaic in type than this, a few contemporary or later. The head of Dionysus also occurs (PI. X. 2). Of exactly the same period, 394 B.C., are certain small coins of pale gold or electrum : Ohv. Head of bearded Dionysus, ivy-crowned. Eev. OE. Young Heracles strangling serpents. Weight, 46-8 grains {grm. 3) ; 15-8 grains (grm. 1-02). (B. T. CCI. 1-5.) This period is that which I have already accepted as the date of the earliest issue of gold staters or didrachms at Athens, the earlier issue having been of drachms and smaller denominations only. Mr. Head has connected this gold issue with the visit to Thebes of the Ehodian envoy Timocrates, who expended the equivalent of fifty talents of silver on behalf of the Persian Satrap Tithraustes, at Thebes and elsewhere, in the promotion of an anti-Spartan alliance.^ If so, the gold of which these coins were made was Persian. But considering the smallness of the issue we may well consider it as money of necessity, Thebes followed the Athenian lead, and like Athens struck gold on her accepted silver standard, as did Pisa and Sicyon and other cities which used the Aeginetan weight. As the coins are of electrum, it is probable that the old Asiatic relation of value was preserved, electrum being regarded as ten times as valuable as silver. The Peace of Antalcidas seems to have had as important effects in Boeotia as anywhere. Many of the cities recom- menced their coinage, sometimes with types more distinctive * Xenophon, Hellenica, iii. 5. 1. NORTHERN GREECE 359 than of old. Haliartus introduced as type Poseidon striking with the trident (PI. X. 4) ; Orchomenus, a galloping horse or an amphora ; Tanagra, the fore-part of a horse ; Thespiae, a head of Aphrodite. The above cities issued didrachms, but several other cities, including Plataea, were content with striking fractional money. The League or Confederation was reconstituted by Pelopidas and his friends about 379 e.g., and not long after this begins the series of staters which have not on them the name either of the Boeotians or of any city, but only that of a magistrate ; the types, Boeotian shield and amphora, sufficiently identifying the district of mintage. Perhaps these names were those of Boeotarchs, some of them, such as Charopinus, Androcleidas, Epaminondas, and (the younger) Ismenias, being well known to history. Bronze coins are contemporary with these issues in silver, and bear the same names. After the victory of Philip of Macedon over Thebes in 338 B. c, the city naturally lost its pre-eminence. It was the policy of Philip to restore the cities which Thebes had destroyed, Orchomenus, Thespiae and Plataea. A fresh Boeotian confederation was formed, probably under the leadership of Thespiae. The federal staters and hemi- drachms are continued, but in the place of the name of a Boeotarch, they have only the inscription BO I II. The cities of the League also issue bronze coins of uniform pattern, bearing on one side the shield, on the other the first letters of the name of the issuing city, API for Haliartus, 0ES for Thespiae, AEB for Lebadeia, OPX for Orchomenus, DA A for Plataea, TAN for Tanagra. The absence of the name of Thebes is noteworthy. This coinage may have continued until 315 b. c, when coins began to be issued at Thebes by Cassander with the types of Alexander. 'It is interesting', Mr. Head remarks,^ *to observe how, as history repeats itself, the coinage reflects the history. There are three distinct periods in which the influence and ' Num. Chron., 1881, p. 250. 360 COINS OF HELLAS, 4S0-330 b.c. importance of Thebes had sunk to the lowest point : first, after the battle of Plataea, 479 b.c. ; second, after the Peace of Antalcidas, 387 b.c. ; and third, after the battle of Chae- roneia, 338 b.c. On each of these three several occasions a considerable portion of the currency appears to have been issued in the name of the Boeotians, while the coinage of Thebes itself either sank for the time being into insignifi- cance or ceased to be issued altogether.' Locris. The inhabitants of the district of Locris were not homogeneous. The people of Western Locris, the Ozolian Locrians, whose capital was Amphissa, seem to have been not far removed from barbarism.^ They struck no coins before the second century. Eastern Locris consisted of two districts: the northernmost was called Hypocnemidian, because it lay under Mount Cnemis ; its chief places were Scarphea and Thronium ; the southernmost was dominated by the city of Opus, which sometimes dominated the whole of Eastern Locris. In Locris we may trace, if not quite so clearly, the out- lines of a similar history to that of Boeotia. The earliest coins of the district which we possess are the obols and trihemiobols bearing only the letter O with an amphora, and the half obols bearing as type half an amphora, and on the reverse the letter A. These were struck at Opus : they are given by M. Babelon to the time before 456 b.c, when the people of Opus, with the Corinthians and Thebans, were allies of Aegina. There are also small coins of the fifth century struck at Thronium. After the Peace of Antalcidas, 387 B.C., when federal issues ceased generally, and their place was taken by the coins of separate cities, we find didrachms or staters of Aeginetan standard issued by the city of Opus, and bearing the inscription OPONTinN (PI. X. 5). Their reverse type is Ajax, the son of Oileus, in attitude of combat. After the battle of Chaeroneia, 338 b.c, this inscription gives place to AOKPnN with a monogram which may be 1 Thuc. i. 5. NORTHERN GEEECE 361 resolved into YPO (Hypocnemidian). Here, as in Boeotia, Lhe name of the tribe takes the place of that of a city after Chaeroneia, though our historic evidence is not so clear as Ln the case of Thebes. The coins which bear the name of Opus, we may observe, have a close resemblance to those of Syracuse, especially to the types of the engraver Evaenetus (compare PL X. 5 with XL 9). The figure of Ajax seems to be a copy of that of Leucaspis on the Syracusan money. Phocis. The coins of Phocis and Delphi bear traces of fche age-long dispute between the two communities for the control of the Delphic sanctuary and festival. The earliest coins of Phocis which bear the name of the tribe, for there are earlier uninscribed coins (B. M. V. 19), seem to begin about 480 b. c. Obv. 00 or n. Lyre in laurel wreath. Weight, 74 grains (grm. 4*77) : with hole in it. (B. T. CCV. 11, 12.) Obv. Bull's head facing. Bev. n.. Head of Apollo, laureate. Weight, 43-40 grains (grm. 2-80-2-60) ; 14 grains (grm. 0-90). (B. T. CCV. 13, 14.) These coins are attributed by M. Babelon ^ to the time of the occupation of Delphi by the Phocians, but it is difficult 1 Diod. xvi. 24-36. '•^ Be 'Bythiae oraculiSj xvi. ^ Traite^ iii, p. 327. NORTHERN GREECE 363 to believe that these violators would have had the effrontery to use as type the head of the deity whom they had so scandalously robbed. One is rather disposed to attribute them to 339 b. c, when Athens and Thebes reconstituted the Phocian League and rebuilt some of the cities. Contemporary with these coins are the notable didrachms and drachms which bear the names of the Amphictions : Ohv. Head of Demeter, veiled. Bev. AM0IKTIONON. Apollo seated with lyre and laurel-branch. Weight, 184-190 grains (grm. 11.92-12-35); also the drachm. (PI. X. 6.) Ohv. Head of Demeter, veiled. Bev. Omphalos entwined by serpent. Weight, 44 grains (grm. 2-82). (B. T. CCVI. 6.) M. Bourguet has shown that there was exactly at this time a renovation of the coinage.^ The financial Board of the temple in 338 B.C. introduces a distinction between the old coinage, iraXaiov^ and the new, Kaivov or Kaivov ^A^(pLKTvo~ vLKov, The standard of both coinages is the Aeginetan. The Amphictionic coin was struck out of the tribute which the people of Phocis after their defeat were compelled to pay to the Delphic sanctuary. In 338 they had already paid 270 talents in the old money, which was no doubt melted down and reissued. Delphi is disappointing. We should have expected that, as on the occasion of the Olympic festival abundant coins were struck by the people of Elis, so at Delphi large coins would be abundant. But we have only small pieces, with two exceptions, which will presently be considered. These small pieces work in with those of Phocis in a curious way : the triobol, obol, and hemiobol being Phocian, while the tri- hemiobol (1^ obol), the tritarte morion (| obol), and the quarter obol are Delphic.^ All are of Aeginetan weight. Their date is not certain, but they have an archaic air. A few may be later than 421, but most of them would be previous to 448, when Athens placed the presidency of the festival in the hands of the Phocians. ^ Adminisiratimi financiere du sanduaire pythique, p. 90. ^ B. M. Cat, Cenfral Greece, p. xxxii. 364 COINS OF HELLAS, 480-330 b.c. The exceptions are : 1. Obv, AAAOIKON (archaic). Two rams' heads and two dol- phins. Eev. Four deep incuses, in each a dolphin.^ Weight, 276 grains (grm. 1788). (B. T. XLII. 16.) 2. Ohv. No inscription. Kam's head ; beneath, dolphin. Eev. Incuse square, quartered ; in each quarter, cross. Weight, 186-5 grains (grm. 12-08). (B. T. XLII. 19.) These coins are of the middle of the sixth century, or little later. The second is, naturally, an Aeginetan didrachm. The first is too heavy to be an Attic tetradrachm : can it be an Aeginetan tridrachm, a denomination elsewhere un- known? It is noteworthy that this coin must have been issued at about the time when Peisistratus raised the weight of the Attic tetradrachm. As a compensation for the jejuneness of the coinage of Delphi, the Delphic inscriptions furnish us with valuable information as to the relations in exchange of the Aeginetan and Attic standards in Phocis. In the temple accounts of the fourth century the sums of money acquired in Attic and in Aeginetan coin are kept apart. Yet they must sometimes have been added together ; and the officials made this easy by the adoption of the Attic mina, which consisted, of course, of 100 Attic drachms, and which was regarded as consisting of 70 Aeginetan drachms.^ It would seem then that at Delphi an Attic drachm was regarded as normally equivalent to ^^ of an Aeginetan drachm.-^ This fairly agrees with the respective weights of the two. We have here definite inscriptional evidence of such adjustments in the normal values of coins of different kinds as I have supposed to exist in many places. There must everywhere have been some generally accepted relation between the staters dominant in the district and other coins ^ Rev. numismaiique, 1869, p. 150 ; cf. Babelon, Traite, ii. 1, 993. M. Babelon, by an oversight, gives No. 2 the same inscription as No. 1. 2 T. Eeinach, UHistoire par les monnaieSj p. 100. This equation recognized in the time of Aristotle may account for what he says as to the Solonic reform (p. 147). ^ Bourguet, Administr. financiere du sanctuaire pythiquey p. 18. NOETHEEN GEEECB 365 which circulated there. In Delphi the local standard was that of Aegina, but Attic money also was largely used. But this normal equivalence was of course subject every- where to an agio or commission on exchange, according to the temporary demand for one class of coin or the other. Of this agio we find examples in the Delphic accounts.^ In certain transactions recorded a commission, eTrtKaraXXayrj, is mentioned. In some cases the Attic drachm was regarded as equal to § of an Aeginetan drachm; sometimes, but apparently only in small transactions, as § of it. The Delphic treasurers on one occasion borrow 190 darics, in order to make gold crowns, and they record a profit on the transaction of 95 staters, that is, one Aeginetan drachm per daric^: this is curious, because in this purchase the treasurers were the seekers, not the sought, so that their profit is the more notable. On another occasion, when the treasurers had to pay to the executive 20 Aeginetan talents, they enter in their accounts only a payment of 18| talents, making a profit {kTriKaraWayri) of i| talents. Euboea. Euboea recovered its liberty in 411 B.C., after which for some years a federal coinage was issued, the types of which indicate Eretria as the mint-city : Obv. Cow reclining. Itev. EYB. Head of nymph Euboea. Weight, 177-184 grains (grm. 1145-11-94). (B. T. CXCVII. 17, 18.) These are didrachms of Aeginetan standard, the adoption )f which in Euboea is a notable fact, though, as the neigh- Douring Boeotia used this standard, it is not contrary to all probability. The confederacy, however, recurred to the Attic standard, )robably about 394 B.C., the date of Conon's victory at ]!nidus : Obv, Head of Nymph. Mev, Cow standing : inscription EYB or EYBOI. Weight, 249-264 grains (grm. 16-10-17-7). (B. T. CXCVII. 20-22.) 1 Bourguet, op. cit.j p. 20. ^ ^^/^^ oqyy^ Hell., xx, p. 464. 366 COINS OF HELLAS, 480-330 b.c. Oht\ EYB or EYBOI. Head of Nymph. Eev, Head of cow. Weight, 61-65 grains (grm. 3-98-4-21). (B. T. CXCVII. 24.) These are clearly tetradrachms and drachms of full Attic weight, and show the revival of Athenian influence. Bat after a few years, either at the time of the Peace of Antal- cidas (387 b. c.) or at that of the congress at Delphi (369 B.C.), the cities of Chalcis, Carystus, and Histiaea resumed the issue of civic coins, drachms of a somewhat reduced Attic weight, about 56-59 grains (grm. 3-60-3-80). Carystus also struck didrachms on the same standard. That the lowering of the standard was due to the influence of Philip of Macedon who used the Phoenician (Abderite) standard is improbable, as the coins seem earlier than his time. A Chalcidian drachm of this period bears a very interest- ing counter-mark, the letters l + N (Ix^) a-^d a lyre.^ We cannot hesitate to regard this coin, as does M. Babelon, as marked for circulation at Ichnae in Chalcidice, probably in the dearth of the usual civic coins, when Philip of Macedon was at war with the Chalcidian League. Athens. There is not much to be said as to the coinage of Athens in the fourth century. I have already given some account of the issue of gold staters and fractions about 394 B. c. The silver coinage of the period after 394 is in style very similar to the gold. It went on to the time of Alexander and the Lamian war. Head assigns a special class of tetradrachms which have on tte reverse a subsidiary type beside the owl (a bucranium, prow, rudder, trident, &c.) to the period 339-322 ; but this is a mere division for con- venience, for there is no reason to connect the introduction of a subsidiary type with the battle of Chaeroneia. "What is quite clear is that Athens did not in the time of the Second Confederacy, after 378 b. c, make any attempt to stop the coinage of the allied cities, or to substitute her coins for theirs. The allies had been taught by experience not to submit to any dictation from Athens ; and though ^ Traite, iii, p. 186. NOETHERN GEEECE 367 he city after 400 b. c. rapidly recovered its power, it did lot again acquire a dominating position. "When the Athenian coinage of the older style came to an md, we find in several districts of Asia imitations intended io take its place and continue its vogue. Some of these, }truck at an uncertain mint, bear the name of the Persian Satrap Mazaeus, and must have been issued during the cam- Daigns of Alexander. Others seem to be later, and reach us From Egypt, Persia, and even India. As the weight of the A.ttic tetradrachms and of those of Alexander was the same, the two species of coins could conveniently circulate together. After the middle of the fourth century the issues of bronze, which has been intermitted after the experiment of the fifth century (above, p. 295)^ were resumed. Bronze money was also struck at Eleusis. Aegina. The coinage of Aegina does not give us very clear indications of date. We know the history of the island, and have to fit the coins to that history by their style. But the conservative types, the tortoise and the incuse -square, do not give clear stylistic data. It is, however, probable that numismatists generally are right in supposing that the change of type from a turtle to a land tortoise (B. M. VI. 29, XIII. 24) took place about 480 b. c. And M. Babelon is probably right in maintaining that after the Athenian con- quest of Aegina in 456 b. c. the people of the island issued no more staters, but only drachms and triobols, the staple of the currency being supplied by the owls of Athens. In 431 B. c. the Aeginetans, having revolted against Athenian domination, were expelled from their island by Pericles, and struck no more coin until they were restored to it by Lysander, after which they resumed the issue of staters and fractions of the stater on their old standard. The bronze coins of Aegina (type, two dolphins) belong to this latter period only. The whole coinage seems to have come to an end about the middle of the fourth century, perhaps in consequence of fresh pressure from Athens. Megara. The next place which presents us with problems 368 COINS OF HELLAS, 480-330 B.C. is Megara. Strangely enougli, unless, as M. Svoronos sug- gests, some of the early didraclinis of Attic weight assigned to Euboea are really of Megara, that city strikes no coins until early in the fourth century (B. T. CXCIV. 6-10). 1. Ohv, Head of Apollo. Eev. Lyre. Weight, 122 grains (grm, 7-90). 2. Ohv, Head of Apollo. Eev, Five crescents. Weight, 50 grains (grm. 3-24) ; another, 46 grains (grm. 2-96). 3. Obv, Head of Apollo. Eev, Three crescents with H. Weight, 23 grains (grm. 1-49). 4. Ohv. Head of ApoUa Eev. Lyre. Weights, 18-2 grains (grm. 1'18) ; 10-2 grains (grm, 0-66) ; 4*2 grains (grm. 0-27). Mr. Head gives up the question to what standard these coins belong. According to all analogy, the five crescents should indicate five units^ and the three crescents three units. If the coins are somewhat under normal weight (and they are indeed somewhat worn down), No. 1 might be an Attic didrachm, and No. 2 a pentobol (normal, 56 grains) ; could No. 3 be a triobol of the same standard and the coins under No. 4 be the diobol, obol and hemiobol ? This seems to me the most reasonable view. The staters of Athens would be used in all large payments. But for • small transactions, local coins might be from time to time struck ; and there is no reason why they should be of full weight, being intended only for local use. Coin No. 2 seems to have double marks of value, the five crescents indicating that it is a pentobol, and the H that it is a half drachm of another standard. An Attic pentobol should weigh 55 grains, and an Aeginetan hemidrachm 48 grains. The coin is actually between these limits ; but that the intention was that it should pass for one or the other of these does not appear probable. Coin No. 3 should be a triobol ; and it is actually almost of the weight of a Corinthian triobol (22-5 grains). It is, however, to be noted that there is no definite evidence that either the Aeginetan or the Corinthian standard was ever in use at CORINTH AND COLONIES 369 Megara : hence the best view on the whole is that the coins of the city follow the Attic standard. § 2. COEINTH AND COLONIES. The history of Corinth during the period 480-330 b.c. consists of a constant struggle, not always successful, with Athens on one side and Corcyra on the other. Before 480 the predominance of Aegina had driven Corinth into friendliness towards Athens. But after the Persian wars, and especially after the fall of Aegina, the Corinthians came more and more to see that the commercial supremacy in Greece lay between them and Athens. Of Corinthian commerce towards the east we hear very little ; probably it scarcely existed in the time of the Athenian Empire. And Corinthian influence towards the west seems to have been in a diminishing course until the time of the fatal Athenian expedition against Syracuse, after which it again increases. The restrikings of early coins of Corinth in the cities of South Italy, of which I have above spoken (Chap. XI), sufficiently show that the money of Corinth was familiar there down to 480 b.c. or later. But the case seems to have been different in Sicily. For E-iccio, in describing finds of fine fifth-century coins of Sicily made near Ehegium,^ speaks of coins of Athens of the old style as found with them, but not of coins of Corinth. Sir A. Evans gives an account of a hoard found in West Sicily and buried about 400 B.c.,^ in which he records that two tetradrachms of Athens (of fine archaic style) were found with the hoard, and no coins of Corinth, but several pegasi of Leucas of early class, that is, probably, belonging to the time 500-450 B.C. In the Santa Maria hoard, buried about 380 B.C., there were two Athenian tetradrachms, but no Corinthian coins.^ * Ann. delV Inst, 1854, p. xl. ^ Syracusan Medallions and their Engravers, p. 167. 3 Ibid., p. 18. 1067 B b 370 COINS OF HELLAS, 480-330 b.c. Thus is established a fact of some importance, the pre- dominance of the Athenian coinage in Sicily and of the Corinthian coinage in South Italy in the period 550- 420 B.C. The exceptions may be held to prove the rule. The only coins of Sicily which seem to show Corinthian influence, the didrachms of that standard struck at Zancle, Himera, and Naxos in the latter part of the sixth century, are, as has been shown, really offshoots from the South Italian coinage, and the result of the influence of Cumae. And the only Italian coins which belong to the Attic sphere of influence are those of Thurii, which city was one of the Periclean colonies, and those of Ehegium, which city was almost Sicilian. The line of conflict between the two influences passes through the straits of Messina ; to the north of that line we have a predominance of Corinthian, and to the south of it of Athenian influence. At a later period, in the fourth century, Corinthian coins and imitations of Corinthian coins had considerable vogue in Sicily. Now that we are awaVe of the Athenian policy in the fifth century, to force upon the allies the use of Athenian money, and to prevent them from issuing any of their own, we naturally inquire whether such a policy was adopted by other powerful cities. I think it can be traced in the monetary issues of Corinth and her colonies. Since no detailed record exists of the finds of ' Pegasi ' in Italy and Sicily, and since the coins of Corinth and the colonies of Corinth are very hard to date in consequence of the uniformity and conventionality of their types, it is difficult to be sure of the facts in regard to the monetary- issues of Corinth.^ But these facts seem to be as follows : From 550 b.c. or thereabouts down to 243 B.C., when Corinth joined the Achaean League, there was struck a series of coins of almost uniform types and weight. Accurately to arrange it by date is impossible: there are no fixed points, and the style changes by imperceptible 1 There is a paper by Professor Oman in Corolla Numismaiica which deals with the issues of 460-390 b. c. CORINTH AND COLONIES 371 gradations. Professor Oman has, however, shown that a somewhat abrupt transition from the archaic to the early fine style takes place in the middle of the fifth century.^ We must next consider the coins of the so-called ' Colonies of Corinth '. The view of Dr. Imhoof-Blumer, long ago expressed,^ that this coinage was purely com- mercial in character, and had little political significance, has been generally accepted, and doubtless it represents at least a side of the truth : it may, however, require some modification in view of recent discovery. Of the many colonies of Corinth which dotted the coasts of Acarnania and Epirus, one only, Leucas, issues coins from 550 b.c. onwards, of the same weight as the mother- city's and showing the same succession of styles. The coins of LQucas only differ from those of Corinth by having on the reverse, under the Pegasus, the letter A instead of AAinN. Heracles striking with club. (PI. X. 12.) M. Babelon observes that with the foundation of Megalopolis, Pheneus and Stymphalus cease for a time to issue coins.^ Contemporary with these are : Tegea. Obv. Head of Athena. Bev, TETEATAN. Warrior charging (Hemidrachm). (B. T. CCXXVII. 28.) The reverse type seems to be copied from the charging Ajax of the coins of the Locrians, which belong to the same period, Hermione. Obv. Head of Demeter. Eev. EP in monogram, within wreath (Hemidrachm). (B. T. CCXVIII. 13.) Pellene. Obv. Head of Apollo, laureate. Eev. PEA in wreath (Hemi- drachm). (B. T. CCXXII. 22.) Epidaurus. Obv. Head of Asclepius. Eev. E P in monogram, within laurel wreath (Hemidrachm). (B. T. CCXVII. 10.) It may, however, be that the occasion of some of these issues was rather earlier than 370, the Peace of Antalcidas, when the several cities of G-reece and Asia were recognized as autonomous, and when many of them began to issue coins. The chief place is taken in Western Peloponnesus by the coinage of Elis, in Eastern Peloponnesus by the money of Argos, and in Northern Peloponnesus by that of Sicyon. In South Peloponnesus, as Sparta did not issue silver coin until the time of Areus, nor Messene until the time of Epaminondas, any silver coin current would have to be borrowed from one of the wealthier neighbours. * Babelon, Traite^ iii, p. 567. PELOPONNESUS 381 Arcadia. We begin with Arcadia. It is a rugged and mountainous district ; the cities, in their little valieys, stood apart, and the level of civilization was very low. It is natural that Arcadia should never have formed a federal unit like Boeotia or Phocis. Various towns, at different periods of history, claimed not supremacy but hegemony; but none of them held it for long. Generally the Arcadians followed the fortunes of Sparta, and furnished troops to her. Most remarkable among the early coins of Arcadia are the hemidrachms of Aeginetan standard issued by the Heraeans and bearing their name. They were probably struck in connexion with the festival of Zeus Lycaeus at Lycosura, and passed among the Arcadians as a sort of religious coinage. The earliest issues are inscribed EPA ; they have as type the head of Demeter or Despoena. They are succeeded about the time of the Persian wars by the hemidrachms which bear, on the obverse, a seated figure of Zeus Lycaeus, on the reverse the head of Despoena, with the inscription APKAAIKON. These coins seem to show that Heraea was regarded at the time as the leading city of Arcadia. This issue is conjecturally supposed to have come to an end about 418 B.C., when the Spartan hegemony in Peloponnesus was strengthened. Then the name of the Heraeans reappears on an unimportant series of small coins. The type of the coins bearing the name of the Arcadians bears a striking likeness to that of some of the early coins of Elis ; the representation is of Zeus Aphesius, sending out the eagle. In the British Museum is an archaic inscrip- tion recording an alliance between the people of Elis and those of Heraea. As the early coins of Elis are nearly all didrachms, and those of Heraea hemidrachms, it may fairly be conjectured that they together constituted the main coinage of "Western Peloponnese, which was decidedly of religious character. Psophis in Arcadia issues in the sixth century the following coins, among others: Obv. Stag springing to r. Eev. Fish placed transversely in 382 COINS OF HELLAS, 480-330 B.C. incuse. Weight, 61 grains (grm. 3-95) ; 21 grains (grm. 140). (B. T. XXXVIII. 29.) Obv, Fore-part of stag. Rev, OV. Fish transversely placed. Weight, 13.9-13.5 grains (grm. 90-0-86). (B.T. CCXXVI. 3,4.) Ohv, Stag springing to r. Rev. E within incuse. Weight, 6-3 grains (grm. 0-40). (B. T. CCXXVI. 6.) The last of these coins is certainly a hemiobol, as is shown by the mark of value E : ^ the coins of twice the weight are probably obols, though the O may not be a mark of value, but the second letter of the city's name. If so, the standard used at Psophis is certainly the Aeginetan ; and the coin of 61 grains which looks like an Attic drachm must be an Aeginetan tetrobol. At the same time it must be observed that in the island of Zacynthus, not very far distant from Psophis, we have traces of the Attic standard in the early fifth century, though the larger coins range in weight with those of Corcyra. It would seem that at some periods Mantineia, and at other periods Tegea, claimed some sort of hegemony among the Arcadians. But their money bears only the name of the city. A definitely organized League of the Arcadians was only formed in the time of Epaminondas's invasion of Peloponnese. Then a new city was built to serve as a federal capital, and received the ambitious name of Megalopolis. To it were transported the inhabitants of several of the townships ; and the Arcadians sent deputies to meet in the Thersilion, which has now been excavated.^ Some towns, such as Alea, Thelpusa, and Pallantium, dis- appear from the numismatic record ; others, like Stymphalus and Pheneus, suspend their coinage. Only Mantineia and Tegea continue uninterruptedly. The staters struck at Megalopolis are very beautiful : Ohv. APK in monogram; head of Zeus. Rev, Pan seated on rock. (B. M. XXIII. 35.) ^ The omission of the aspirate, at a time when the Ionic alphabet was coming in, need not surprise us. 2-. E. A, Gardner and others, Excavations at Megalopolis^ 1892. PELOPONNESUS 383 But Megalopolis soon fell into decay, and issued only hemi- drachms of careless workmanship. Elis. From about 500 B.C. onwards we have the very in- teresting and beautiful series of staters of Aeginetan weight which bear the name of the people of Elis, and were probably issued by them on the successive occasions of the Olympian Festival. The types, Zeus, the eagle, the thunderbolt, Victory, and the heads of Zeus and Hera, all obviously allude to the sacred rites and games of the precinct of Zeus. There is no variety of monetary standard in the coins of Elis ; but in the types we may detect a few land- marks, which are of the greater value because of the rarity of such landmarks in the series of Peloponnesus. The earliest is furnished by the staters which bear the type of Zeus striding and hurling the thunderbolt with the inscription OAYMPIKON (B. T. XXXIX. 1-2). They belong to the beginning of the fifth century ; E. Curtius conjectured that the occasion of them was the imposition by the people of Elis on the Lepreates of Triphylia of an annual tribute to the Olympic Zeus, the inscription 'OXvfnrtKov [j/ofiicrfia) marking the coin as belonging to Zeus himself. This conjecture is confirmed by the discovery, based on the inscriptions at Delphi, that it was out of the tribute paid to the sanctuary by the Phocians who had violated it, that the coins were issued marked with the inscription *A/j,^tKTi6i/coi/.^ This seems an exact parallel. The earliest introduction of the head of Hera (and that of Zeus) on the coins of Elis must be referred to the occasion of the political alliance between Elis and A.rgos in 421 B.C., when Argos gave up the wolf type, and Elis the eagle-and- serpent type, in honour of the goddess common to the two states. A brief interruption of the issues of Elean coins took place in 364-362 b.c, when the Arcadians, after driving the troops of Elis out of the sacred enclosure, melted down some of the treasures to pay their mercenaries, and trans- ' Bourguet, Administr. financiere du sanctimire pijlhiquCj p. 18. 384 COINS OF HELLAS, 480-330 b.c. ferred the presidency of the games to the people of Pisa, who had a very ancient claim to it. It must have been on this occasion that certain small gold coins were struck : Ohv. Laureate head of Zeus. Eev. PISA. Three half- thunder- bolts. Weight, 24 grains (grm. 1-55). Ohv. As last. Eev. PISA. Thunderbolt, not winged. Weight, 16 grains (grm. 1-04). (B. T. CCXXXV. 13, 14.) These are evidently a trihemiobol and an obol of Aeginetan weight, struck as money of necessity. The Eleans in a very- short time recovered the control of the games. The head of Zeus on the Pisatan coins is of somewhat noteworthy style, and helps us to assign to the period immediately before or after 364 b.c. coins of Elis which bear a Zeus head of similar character.^ Zacynthus. The coinage of Zacjmthus, and of the neigh- bouring cities of Same and Pale in Cephallenia, presents peculiar features. The stater of Zacynthus, in the fifth and fourth centuries, is of the weight of 180 grains normal (grm. 11-66), and so is of Aeginetan standard. But the system of division is not into Aeginetan drachms and obols as else- where. The stater is divided into three, the next denomina- tion weighing 60 grains (grm, 3-88). Of this lesser unit, we have the half weighing some 30 grains (grm. 1-94)5 and the sixth weighing up to 10 or 11 grains (grm. 0-7i-0-64). These denominations are clearly the Attic drachm, half-drachm, and obol. This interpretation of the weights is not a con- jecture but a certainty, as we have a coin of 8-3 grains (grm. 0-54) marked with O as an obol, and a coin of 4 grains (grm. 0-26) marked with an H as a hemiobol. Zacynthus was in the Athenian alliance at the time of the Pelopon- nesian "War, having been conquered by the admiral Tolmides ^ in 455 B.C. The island was in the circle of Corinthian commerce, and in the third century copies the Corinthian types, but politically it was anti-Spartan, and furnished ^ For the coins of Elis see my paper in the Num, Ckron, for 1879 ; Seltman, Nomisma, part ix ; and Babelon, Traite, vol. iii. 2 Diodorus, xi. 84. Diodoras says that Tolmides conquered Zacynthus, but brought in the cities of Cephallenia without force. PELOPONNESUS 385 a refuge to Spartan exiles ; ^ we are therefore not surprised to find traces of Attic influence in the coinage. Zacynthus was also in close relations with Sicily, where the Attic standard was in general use. The coinage of Zacynthus offers us two clear landmarks. The type adopted by the cities of Samos, Ephesus, Ehodes, and other places in 394 B.C., young Heracles strangling the snakes (PL X. 9), makes its appearance quite unexpectedly on the money of Zacynthus, which may therefore at once be divided into coins earlier than 394 b. c, and coins later than that year. In 357, Dion, then organizing his expedi- tion against the younger Dionysius of Syracuse, made Zacynthus his head- quarters, and struck there, no doubt to pay his troops, a notable coin : Olv, Laureate head of Apollo. Rev, I A. AlilNO^. Tripod. Weight, 174-169 grains (grm. 11.25-10-95). (B. T. CCXXXVI. 18.) The drachm and hemidrachm were struck of Attic weight in Same and Pale in Oephallenia at the time of the Pelopon- nesian War. The city of Cranium, on the other hand, adhered in all denominations to the standard of Aegina, or perhaps rather that of Corcyra, which was somewhat lower. Argos. There are few places of which the monetary issues are smaller in proportion to the age, the wealth, and the artistic reputation of the city than Argos. Until the alliance with Elis in 421 B.C., the city issued only small coins — drachms, hemidrachms, obols, and hemiobols — bearing on one side the fore-part or the head of a wolf, on the other side the letter A in an incuse. This coinage prob- ably began about the middle of the sixth century ; but it is obviously incomplete ; for all larger payments the staters of Aegina must have been used. This may explain the confused notion, common among ancient historians, that the Aeginetan coinage began under the rule of Pheidon of Argos. ' Hdt. vi. 70, iv. 37. C 386 COINS OF HELLAS, 480-330 b.c. In 421 B.C. the head of Hera comes in on the coins : Obv. APfEION or UN. Head of Hera, wearing round crown. Eev, Two dolphins: between them various devices, the wolf, the tripod, &c. Stater. (PI. X. 10.) Ohv. As last. Eev. APFEinN. Diomedes carrying the Palla- dium. Drachm. (Ibid. 18-20.) Also smaller divisions. As this time is exactly that at which the great statue of Hera was set up by Polycleitus, it is reasonable to see in the coins a reminiscence of the head of that statue ; but the style is poor, greatly inferior to that of the contem- porary coins of Elis. The issue of the staters and drachms soon ceased, and the city again reverted to the issue of small coins only. M. Babelon speaks of these as Rhodian drachms or Attic tetrobols ; ^ there can, I think, be no doubt but that they are hemidrachms of a somewhat reduced Aeginetan standard. The usual weight is about 36-42 grains (grm. 3.33-2-72). At Argos and at Tegea were issued early in the fourth century a few coins of iron.^ It is not clear whether they were coins of necessity or deliberately fraudulent issues. The bad state of preservation in which they are found makes assertions in regard to them risky ; but it may safely be said that they can have had nothing to do with a regular iron currency, which would be far more bulky. Phlius, Argos dominated the valley of the Inachus, but the cities of the north coast, which are conventionally placed in Argolis, were in no way subordinate to Argos. They struck coins quite independently, but only the issues of Sicyon are of much importance. The lesser cities must have generally used the coins of Aegina, of Argos, and of Sicyon. The coins given by Six and Babelon^ to Phlius which bear on the obverse the letter CD and a three-legged symbol, and on the reverse an incuse of eight triangles like that 1 Traite, ii. S, p. 463. 2 jjji^^^ pp. 465, 655. 3 Ibid.j ii, 1, p. 813 ; Six, Num. Chron., 1888, p. 97. One of these coins is said to have been found in Arcadia. PELOPONNESUS 387 of Aegina, can scarcely be Peloponnesian, considering the fabric and the weight, 110-112 grains (grm. 7-16-7-21). There are, however, coins of Phlius, issued towards the middle of the fifth century, bearing as types a bull walking and a wheel : drachms and hemidrachms of Aeginetan standard. They are continued into the fourth century. Cleonae, on the road between Corinth and Argos, struck a few obols in the fifth century, Epidaurus hemidrachms and obols in the fourth century. Sicyon. The extensive series of silver coins issued by Sicyon unfortunately offers us no landmarks, but runs on without a break We may, however, conjecturally regard the letters EY on the coins as standing for Euphron, tyrant 360 B.C., and KAE as standing for Oleander, who also exercised a tyranny in the city.^ Troezen. Alone among the cities of Peloponnesus, in the latter part of the fifth century, Troezen struck money on the Attic standard, drachms of 67-56 ^ grains (grm. 4-34-3 -62) and hemidrachms of 31-30 grains (grm. 2'0-l-94), This remarkable exception may be accounted for partly by the position of Troezen, over against Attica, and partly by the traditional friendship between the two cities. The head of Athena and the trident of Poseidon are the types of the coins. At the time of the Persian wars it was at Troezen that the people of Athens took refuge, leaving their city to the mercy of the Persians. Theseus was said to have been born at Troezen. In the Peloponnesian War, as we learn, Troezen was on the side of Sparta ; but probably the sympathies of the people were divided, those who con- trolled the coinage being Attic in sympathy. Aehaea. Between Patrae on the west and Sicyon on the east lay the cities of Aehaea, each possessing a small territory between the Corinthian Gulf and the mountains of Arcadia. None of these cities was of great importance, and none in ^ B. M. Cat. Peloponnesus, p. xxxiv. ^ Ibid,y p. 165. Two coins from the same die weigh, one 67*4 grains, the other 56-7 grains. This fact iUustratesthe absurdity of basing theories on any- minute weighings of single Greek silver coins. oc2 388 COINS OF HELLAS, 480-330 b.c. the fifth century made large issues of coins. The Achaean cities had a religious league, of which the centre was the sanctuary of Poseidon at Helice. But this religious unity did not, as in the case of the Arcadians, lead to the institu- tion of a coinage. On the destruction of Helice in 373 b.c. the religious centre of the district was shifted to Aegium, the sacred seat of Zeus Homagyrius and Demeter Panachaea. Then began the earliest federal issues of the Achaeans, who seem to have set up a federal system at the same time as the Arcadians, the Achaeans meeting at Aegium, and the Arcadians at Megalopolis. The types of the Achaean coins are ; Ohv. Head of Artemis. Rev. Zeus seated on throne. Stater. (B. T. CCXXII. 19.) Ohv, Same head. Rev. Athena charging. Drachm and Hemi- drachm.1 (B. T. CCXXII. 20, 21.) In the third century the Achaean League extended to all the cities of Peloponnesus. The above coins seem to show that the origins of the League go back to the period of Epaminondas : — an important fact in history ; they closely resemble the coins of Pheneus and Messene, struck at that time. Messene. When the Messenians, under the protection of Epaminondas, rebuilt and reoccupied their city, they struck, for the first time, silver coins : Obv. Head of Demeter, corn-crowned. Rev. Zeus striding, eagle on outstretched arm. Stater. (B. T. CCXXVII. 29.) We may almost regard these coins, with those of Megalo- polis, Pheneus, Stymphalus, and Achaea, as belonging to an anti-Spartan League. Their period of issue was short. A remarkable stater at Paris, struck at Messene, bears witness to the influence of Philip of Macedon (weight 227-5 grains ; grm. 14-73). This coin follows the Abderite weight. That weight had been adopted by the Chalcidian 1 Hist. Num., ed. 2, p. 416. The smaller coin had been attributed by various authorities to the ThessaUan Achaea, but this attribution is now given up. PELOPONNESUS 389 League ; then by Philip of Macedon. M. Babelon ^ sees in it the direct influence of Philip, whose alliance was accepted by the Messenians and who rewarded them after the victory of Ghaeroneia by assigning them territory in dis- pute between Sparta and Messene.^ If Babelon is right, this will be an almost unique instance of the acceptance of a monetary standard on purely political grounds, and with no regard to commercial convenience. In the time of Alexander, the Messenians adopted for their staters the Attic weight. There is not in Peloponnesus any phenomenon corre- sponding to the attempt of Athens to monopolize the coinage of the Delian Confederacy. The reason is obvious. The Peloponnesian League was dominated by Sparta, and the Spartans not only had no notions in the matter of commerce, but had not even any coinage, save of iron bars, until the time of Alexander. Spartan generals, it is true, highly appreciated the gold of Persia, but it does not seem to have been in any way officially recognized. Thus the cities and confederations of Peloponnesus followed their own courses. § 4. The Islands, In Chapter V I have dealt with the sixth-century coinages of the Greek islands, which were nearly all more or less close imitations of that of Aegina. Only of the earliest issues of Deles I may here say a few words. The island of Delos, the religious centre of the Ionian League, and for a time the political centre of the Athenian Confederacy, appears to have struck in the sixth century : ^ O&v. A, Lyre. Bev. Incuse square. Weight, 122-126 grains (grm. 7.90-8-16). (B. T. LXI. 16.) Obv, Lyre, Rev, A HA I. Wheel. Weight, 5-7 grains (grm. 0.33-0-45). (B. T. LXI. 20.) These coins are of Euboic weight, forming an exception ^ Babelon, Traite, iii, p. 693. 2 Polybius, ix. 28 ; Strabo, viii. 4. 6. ^ Hist. Num., ed. 2, p. 485. 390 COINS OF HELLAS, 480-330 b.O. among all the coins of the Aegean. Probably they were minted on the occasion of some Ionian festival, and not only for purposes of trade. The Cyclades, as we have seen above (Chap. XIV), inter- mitted their coinage at the time of the Athenian Empire, with the notable exception of Melos. Towards the middle of the fourth century some of them resume coinage : Andres. 1. Ohv, Head of Apollo. Eev, AN. Young Dionysus standing. Weight, 217 grains (grm. 14.08). (B. T. CCXXXIX. 13.) 2. Ohv, Head of young Dionysus. Eev. AN API ON. Panther. Weight, 55-52 grains (grm. 3.60-3-37). (lUd. 16.) Tenos. 3. Ohv. Head of Zeus Ammon. Eev, TH. Poseidon seated. Weight, 260-253 grains (grm. 16-80-16-43). (Ibid. 21.) 4. Ohv, Similar. Eev, TH. Bunch of grapes. Weight, 63-54 grains (grm. 4.12-346). (Ibid, 22.) Deles. 5. Ohv. Head of Apollo. Eev. AH. Lyre. Weight, 51 grains (grm. 3-30). (B. T. CCXL. 14.) Naxos. 6. Ohv. Bearded head of Dionysus. Eev. N AZ I HN. Wine-cup. Weight, 58-56 grains (grm. 3-72-3-65). {Ibid, 23.) Pares. 7. Obv. Goat standing. Eev. PA. Ear of corn. Weight, 32-30 grains (grm. 2-05-1.90). (B. T. CCXL. 29.) 8. Ohv. PAP. Goat. Eev, Wreath of corn. Weight, 29 grains (grm. 1-85). (Ihid, 32.) Siphnos. 9. Obv, Head of Apollo. Eev. ZIO. Eagle bearing serpent. Weight, 58 grains (grm. 3-72). (B. T. CCXLI. 5.) Meles. 10. Ohv, Pomegranate. Eev. MAAI. Drinking-cup. Weight, 123-115 grains (grm. 7.97-744). (B. T. CCXLIII. 7.) 11. Obv, Similar. Eev, Lance head (or Eagle). Weight, 60-54 grains (grm. 3.85-3-48). {Ibid. 8, 9.) THE ISLANDS 391 Thera. 12. Obv, Head of Apollo, facing. Eev, OHPAI. Bull butting : dolphin. Weight, 95 grains (grm. 6-15: worn). (Ibid. 24.) It is not easy exactly to fix the dates of these issues. They were probably made either after the Peace of Antal- cidas (387 B.C.), or else a few years later (378 b.c.)^ when a league of the islands was formed, under the patronage of Athens, in opposition to Spartan supremacy. At this time Athens had renounced all attempt at imposing her coins on her allies. All the islands except Tenos seem to have adopted the Chian or Ehodian standard, at that time dominant on the coast of Ionia, rather than the Attic standard, or the Aeginetan standard, which they had used in the sixth century, and which was in use in the Pelopon- nese and at Thebes. The tetradrachm of Tenos, of Attic standard, is by Babelon assigned to the time of the Lamian "War ; ^ and in fact the coin is obviously a copy of the money of Alexander. The coin of Thera is of base metal : as it has lost weight, it may be of Ehodian standard. Crete. In Crete, coins make their first appearance at Cnossus (in the sixth century), Gortyna, and Phaestus. Other cities strike abundantly in the fifth and fourth cen- turies. They all use the Aeginetan standard ; and we have scarcely any means of assigning dates to Cretan coins since we know almost nothing of the history of the island ; and a certain barbarism which is common in their execution prevents us even from dating them by style. Thus little is to be made of them from the historic point of view, though many of them are interesting from the mythologic and epigraphic points of view, as well as from that of art.^ One point, however, requires a brief mention. In early Cretan laws fines are stated not in cattle as in the laws of Draco, but in A€/??;rey (bowls) and rptiroSe^. It is difficult to suppose that before the use of money so inconvenient a ^ Cavaignac, Hist, de Vantiquiie, ii, p. 856. ^ TraiU, iii, p. 826. 3 See Babelon, TraiU, ii. 3, pp. 876-1046; Wroth, Num. Chron.y 1884, p. 1, and B, M, Cat. Crete ; P. Gardner, Types of Greek Coins, p. 160. 392 COINS OF HELLAS, 480-330 B.C. measure of value as the tripod can have actually been in use. One is tempted to think that in Crete pieces of bronze roughly in the shape of the tripod or the lebes were in circulation, just as in China were pieces of bronze cast roughly in the shape of a shirt or a hoe.^ Such objects, however, do not seem to have been as yet discovered. Mr, Svoronos ^ thinks that traces of this primitive currency may be found on Cretan coins of the fifth and fourth cen- turies. There are silver staters (didrachms) of Cnossus, Gortyna, and several other cities, which are stamped with a countermark appearing to represent a circular lebes. A stater of Cnossus also is stamped with a tripod, and the inscription NOM, of which the meaning is doubtfal. Svoronos's view is that these coins are thus marked to carry on an old tradition, and that they take in circulation the place which had been occupied in earlier times by the actual tripod and lebes. It seems clear, in fact, that some at least of the inscriptions mentioning the tripod and the lebes are as late as the latter part of the fifth century, and that the tripod and the lebes must have had some definite value in the documents of that period. Numis- matists are divided as to the admissibility of Svoronos's view.^ Dr. Macdonald suggests {Coin-types, p. 34) that it was rather the bowl full of meal or grain which was the unit of value, not the bowl itself. He cites Scottish analogies, and this view seems very reasonable. 1 Ridgeway, Origin ofCurrency^ p. 22. 2 ;Qyxi^ Qy^^ ^q^^ iggs, p,405. 3 Babelon, TraiU, ii. 3, p. 875. CHAPTEE XIX COINS OF SOUTH ITALY, 480-330 b.c. § 1. Greek Cities. It is impossible here to discuss the coinage of South Italy in 480-330 b.c. in full detail. It has not yet been carefully worked out by numismatists. Sir Arthur Evans's monograph on the coins of Tarentum is a masterpiece ; but we require similar detailed investigations of the numis- matics of other cities of South Italy before we can survey the region as a whole. Holm, in his History of Greece,^ has devoted a few pages to the subject, from which I may cite a few general observations : ' Two currents are visible in Western Greece (Magna Graecia) during the first half of the fourth century, one of which, of an autocratic character, has its centre in Syracuse, and the other, allied to freedom, in the league of cities which extends from Thurii to Tarentum. We may further maintain that Heracles, who appears on the coins in the twofold character of a serpent- strangling and lion-slaying hero is the tutelary deity of the league, and that the league, while it certainly has a political connexion with Thebes, from an artistic point of view seems to have cultivated closer relations with Athens.* Undoubtedly the political history of the Greek cities of Italy is dominated by the relations which those cities held with one another, with the barbarous tribes of Italy, such as the Samnites and Messapians, and with the powerful rulers of Syracuse. In this light their coinages should be investigated. But it would not answer to close these investigations with the date of Alexander the Great, at 1 Eng, Trans. J iii, pp. 143-51. 394 COINS OF SOUTH ITALY, 480-330 B.C. which their history becomes more interesting, being inter- laced with the story of the growth of Roman power. I may cite another interesting generalization of Holm. ' The cities of Bruttium were checked in their development by Dionysius, as were the cities of Sicily, and hence their coinage ceases in 388, Rhegium, Oroton, Terina, Temesa, Caulonia ; Locri and Hipponium had not yet begun. On the other hand, the cities of Lucania were no doubt hard pressed by the Lucanians, but they retained their independent existence. Thurii was not conquered by the Brettii till 356, and even then was not permanently subdued.' These dates, however, are not accepted in the Historia Numorum ; and it is clear that further investigation is required. Owing to the unfor- tunate fact that the British Museum Catalogue of Italy was published too early, the chronological relations of the Italian coins are in a more obscure condition than those of other districts. In fact the coinage of Italy must be treated as a whole, and as a continued development; but this cannot be done in the present work. Most of the cities of South Italy in 480-330 merely continue the coinage in use at the beginning of the fifth century, until they fall into the hands of the Samnites or the Romans, showing progress or decay in art, but no great change in other matters. There are, however, a few points for remark : (1) The introduction of gold and its relation in value to silver. (2) Exceptional coinages of a few cities, such as Meta- pontum, Thurii, and Locri. (1) According to the most recent view of Sir A. Evans,^ the earliest gold coins of Tarentum were struck as early as 375 B.C. : they are the beautiful gold staters of Attic weight. {Ohv. Head of Demeter veiled. Rev, Poseidon on a throne welcoming the child Taras.) In the head of these coins Evans sees the work of the Syracusan engraver Evaenetus. If so, the date can hardly be later than he ' Horsemen of Tarentum, 1889. More recent views in Num. Ghron.j 1912. GREEK CITIES 395 supposes. We have seen that at this time several of the cities of Asia were striking gold staters on this standard ; and it seems rather in reference to them and their Attic prototypes of the period beginning in 394 B.C. than in reference to any western issues that the coinage was regu- lated. The gold coins of Dionysius at the time weighed 90 and 45 grains (grm. 5-83 and 2-91), and though these would work in very well with the Tarentine gold coins, they are scarcely likely to have suggested them. The gold coins of Carthage, at the beginning of the fourth century, weigh 118 and 36 grains (grm. 7-64 and 2*33), and so belong to a different monetary system. But the gold money of Cyrene consists partly of staters of Attic weight, and in them also I would trace the direct influence of Athens and Ehodes. Succeeding gold coins of Tarentum (Pl. XI. 1) appear to have been issued almost exclusively on the occasions when soldiers from Greece came to aid the people of Tarentum in their resistance to their Italic neighbours. Archidamus was summoned from Sparta about 340 b.c, Alexander the Molossian from Epirus in 334-330 B.C., the Spartan Cleo- nymus in 302, Pyrrhus in 281. There is a small piece in gold which can be definitely assigned to the time of Alexander the Molossian, since the types which it bears are identical with those on his coins : Ohv. Head of Helios radiate. Bev. AAEi. Thunderbolt. Weight, Q-6 grains (grm. 042).^ Among Tarentine gold coins there are not only didrachms or staters, drachms, tetrobols, triobols, diobols, and obols of Attic standard, but there are also pieces which follow the weight of the silver litra and half-litra, 13-5 grains (grm. 0-87) and 6^7 grains (grm. 0-43). The weights are preserved with noteworthy exactness. In a find discovered at Taranto some of these coins, though not the earliest of them, were mingled with gold staters of Philip and Alexander of Macedon. 1 Evans, ibid., PI. V. 5. 396 COINS OF SOUTH ITALY, 480-330 B.C. Excluding the doubtful archaic gold coins of Cumae, of which I have already spoken/ only Metapontum and Heracleia in Italy besides Tarentum issued gold in the fourth century, Metapontum. 1. Ohv, Head of Leucippus. Eev, Two ears of corn. Weight, U grains (grm. 2-85). Tetrobol. (PL XI. 2.) 2. Ohv. Female head. Bev. Ear of corn. Same weight. Heracleia. Ohv. Head of Athena. Rev, Heracles seated. Weight, 33 grains (grm. 2-13). Triobol. These coins are contemporary with those of Tarentum, and probably arose from the same temporary needs. It is noteworthy that at this time the silver didrachms of Tarentum still weighed 123-120 grains (grm. 7 '97-7-77), How these silver coins exchanged against the gold is a difficult question. It appears that until the middle of the fourth century, both in Sicily and in Etruria, gold was fifteen times as valuable as silver. At this rate the gold stater would be worth nearly, but not exactly, sixteen of the silver didrachms: at the rate of twelve to one the stater would be worth about thirteen of the didrachms. A further complication arises from the fact, which seems to be proved by the contents of the hoard of Benevento,^ that in circulation the silver didrachms of Tarentum, weighing 123-120 grains (grm. 7'97-7'77), were closely mixed up with the silver coins of Nola (110-106 grains), Neapolis (114-110 grains), Velia (112 grains), and Meta- pontum (119-118 grains). The irregularity in the weights of the coins of Magna Graecia is in any case a most puzzling phenomenon, and one of which no satisfactory explanation has been found. (2) In the fourth century Metapontum places on the bronze coins an inscription indicating value : 1. Ohv. Hermes sacrificing. Eev. Ear of corn. OBOAOC Weight, 130 grains (grm. 842). ' Above, p. 208. ^ Horsemen of Tar