Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 11.djvu/183

 NUMISMATICS

153

NinVIISMATICS

A. Greek Coins. — The term Greek is always under- stood in ancient numismatics to include all coins ex- cept those of Roman origin and the Italian ois grave. The monetary unit is the talent of 60 minte (neither the talent nor the mina being represented by any coin), or 6000 drachmse, each being equal to 6 obols. The various currencies are in most cases based upon the Persian system of weights. The Persians had two (lilTcrent standards of weight for the precious metals: for gold, the Euboean; for silver, the Babylonian. The gold dari(\ the common gold coin, corresponding to the Greek silver didrachm, weighed 8..385 grammes (about 129 J grains); the silver daric (shekel), 5.57 grammes (nearly 87 grains). As the value of silver to that of gold was, in antiquity, as 1 to 10, the gold daric is the equivalent of 15 silver darics. Other standards of coinage were the Phocaean, the ^Eginetan, the Attic, the Corinthian, the Ptolemaic, and the cis- tophoric standard of Asia Minor; some of these, how- ever, may be derived from the Persian standaril. By the substitution of the lighter Attic standard for the old ^ginetan Solon brought about the partial aboli- tion of debt. The most abundantly coined pieces were the tetradrachm (25-33mm. in diameter) and the didrachm; pieces of eight, ten, and twelve drachmfe are exceptional, and a forty-drachma piece is a rarity. In the downward scale the division ex- tends to the quarter-obolus { = ri drachma). In Greek Asia Minor coins made of a mixture of gold and silver (electrum) were used. In Greece the silver coinage greatly predominated; copper coins do not antedate 400 B. c, while gold was but rarely minted. The coinage of the Persians, on the other hand, was very rich in gold, and it was their example that in- fluenced Philip II of Macedon and Alexander the Great. With a few exceptions the highest degree of fineness was aimed at, the gold daric being 97 per cent fine.

In the early times the coining was done with a single die: the reverse of the blank metal was held fast by a peg, generally square, in the anvil, and so received its impress in the form of a quadrangular depression (in- cuse square) ; in time this square came to be adorned with lines, figures, and inscriptions. In Southern Italy two dies that fitted into each other were employed, so that the coins present the same design in relief on the obverse and depressed on the reverse (numini iricusi). The inscriptions are in different languages, according to nationalities. Bilingual inscriptions — e. g., Greek- Latin — and inscriptions in which the language and type do not correspond — e. g., Greek in Cypriote characters, also occur; and even the Greek characters undergo numerous changes in form in the course of time. The right of coinage being a privilege of sov- ereignty, the inscriptions first mention the name of the sovereign power under whose authority the coin was struck; in Greece, until the time of Alexander the Great, this was the community. The names of the officials who had charge of the coinage are also found; and later coins also show the year, frequently reckoned from the Seleueid era, 312 B. c. The oldest coins had their origin on the ^Egean coasts, perhaps in Lydia,, as Herodotus tells us, or at jEgina, to whose king, Pheidon, the Parian chronicle ascribes them, possibly earlier than 600 B. c. Various islands of the same sea furnish coins bearing designs not very dissimilar to these. The coins of Southern Italy are ot not much later date, as is proved by the fact that specimens are extant from the city of Sybaris, which was destroyed in 510 B. c. The early coins of Greece proper and Asia Minor are thick pieces of metal, resembling flat- tened bullets, and, naturally, bear the simplest de- vices, plants and animals, which soon become typical of particular localities; these are succeeded by the heads and figures of deities and men, sometimes united in grouiis. About 400 b. c. the Greek art of die- cutting reached its fullest development, attaining a

degree of excellence unequalled by any later race: Syracuse holds the first place; after it in order come Arcadia, Thebes, Olynthus, etc.

Of the non-Hellenic peoples whose coins are in- cluded in the Greek series, the most important forus are the Jews. At first they made use of foreign coins, but, as one of the results of the national rising under the Machabees against the Syrians, the high priest, Simon, received from Antiochus VII (139-38 b. c.) the right of coinage. Simon minted copper and silver. To him is ascribed the "Shekel Israel": obverse legend (Shekel Israel) and a cup or chalice above which is a date (1-5, reckoning from the conferring of the right of coinage) ; reverse, legend (Jerusalem the Holy) and a lily-stalk with three buds. The rest of the Macha- bees — John Hydranus, Judas Aristobulus, Alexan- der Janna;us, Mattathias Antigonus, and so on — coined copper exclusively with inscriptions in old He- brew or in Hebrew and Greek. After these came the copper coins of the Idumaean prince Herod and his suc- cessors. In the time of Christ Roman coins were also in circulation. This is proved by the story of the trib- ute money. "And they offered him [Christ] a penny. And Jesus saith to them: Whose image and inscrip- tion is this? They say to him: Ciesar's" (Matt., xxii, 19-21). It was only during the two revolts of the Jews against the Romans in a. d. 66-70 and 132-135, that silver was again coined under Eleazar and Simon and Bar-Cochba respectively. On the Bactrian coins of the first century after Chri.st there occurs the name Gondophares, or some similar name, supposed to be identical with that of one of the three Magi, Caspar.

B. Roman Coins. — In Italy the earliest medium of exchange was copper, which had to be weighed at each transaction ((r.s rude). At first it was used in pieces of irregular form, later in clumsy bars. The credit of having first provided a legal tender is ascribed to Servius Tullius, who is said to have had the bars stamped with definite figures, mostly cat- tle (primus signaml ces; ces signalum). The intro- duction of true coins with marks indicating their value and the emblems of the city belongs to a much later date. The monetary unit was the as of 12 ounces (10.527 oz. Troy), equal to a Roman pound (ijbra — hence, Ubral standard) ; usually, however, the weight of an as was only 10 ounces (about 8j oz. Troy). The divisions of the as (the semis =\, Iriens =^, quadrans =\, sextans =\, and unda = I'i), in order that they might be more readily dis- tinguished, were marked on one side with as many balls as they contained ounces. On the one side was the representation of the prow of a ship, the charac- teristic device of the city of Rome, on the other, the head of a divinity, which varied with the denomina- tion of the coin. The coins were round, in high, but somewhat clumsy, relief, and east; some were minted in Campania.

From 268 b. c. the weight of the as steadily de- creased; the libral standard became first a, triental, then an uncial, and finally c-\c\\ a sriiiiuncial stand- ard — -h of the original weight. \\\n\'- this reduction of the standard facilitated the niaiuitaiture of coins of larger values (dupoTidius, tn/iufuliiis, dicussis, equal to 2, 3, and 10 asses respectively), it resulted in giving to copper coins a current value far above their intrin- sic worth and furthered the introduction of stamped, instead of cast, coins. According to Livy the first silver coins were minted in 268 b. c, this first silver piece was the denarius, equal to 10 asses. It was fol- lowed by the minor denominations, the quinarius (\ denarius) and sestertius (J denarius). Besides these the victoriatus {\ denarius) was coined for the use of some of the provinces as a commercial currency. The denarius, weighing at first S of a pound was re- duced in 217 n. c. to ,\, the silver used being almost pure. The obverse showrthe dea Roma; the reverse, the two Dioscuri; of these stamps the former more