Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 17.djvu/700

Rh 642 NUMISMATICS [GREECE PROPER. Government, Chace, Corcyra, Comus, Cypris, Victor of People, Victory, Youth, Pallas, Foremost, Preserver, Fame, Light-bearer. The abundant bronze series goes on under the emperors. Acar- The coins of Acarnania are not remarkable for beauty or for nania. variety in their types. The money of several cities in the 4th century B.C. is that of Corinthian colonies. We must mention that of the Acarnanian League (229-168 B.C.), which bears the head of the Achelous as a man-headed bull and the seated Apollo Actius. Of Leucas there are silver coins and an abundant series in bronze. JStolta. In yEtolia the gold and silver coins of the ^Etolian League have some merit (279-168 B.C.). The gold pieces have on the obverse the head of Pallas or that of Heracles in the lion s skin and on the reverse vEtolia personified, seated on Gaulish and Macedonian shields, a curious historical type. These subjects recur, with others indicating the hunter-life of the population, on the silver money ; of especial interest is the head of Atalanta and the Caly- donian boar, and the spear-head with which he was slain, in both silver and bronze. On some of the copper the spear-head and the jaw-bone of the boar are seen. Locris. The coinage of Locris, Phocis, and Bceotia is entirely on the jEginetic standard. The coins of the Locri Epicnemidii are mainly didrachms, struck at Opus, with the head of Persephone and the figure of the Lesser Ajax in a fighting attitude, sometimes accom panied by his name. These coins were struck between 369 and 338 B.C., and are remarkable for the manner in which a Syracusan head is copied, and, as appears in other cases in Thessaly and elsewhere, not weakened but presented in a stronger and purer form. So much higher was the conception of art in Hellas than in the West. Phocis. The money of Phocis begins at a very early age, perhaps the 7th century B.C., and extends in silver down to the conquest by Philip (346 B.C.). The prevalent types are a bull s head and that of a goddess or nymph. Delphi, geographically included in Phocis, strikes very remarkable money, wholly distinct in types from the Phocian. The principal subjects are heads of rams and goats, the symbols of Apollo as a pastoral divinity, a dolphin (Apollo Delphinius), the omphalos and tripod, and a negro s head, which has not been satisfactorily explained. The Amphictyonic Council struck beautiful didrachms, probably on the occasion of Philip s presidency (346 B.C.), with the head of Demeter, and the Delphian Apollo seated on the omphalos. Under Hadrian and the Antonines there is an imperial coinage of Delphi, some pieces bearing the representation of the temple of Apollo, on one type the letter E appearing between the columns of the face, representing the mystic Delphic El, on which Plutarch wrote a treatise. Bceotia. The coinage of Bceotia is chiefly of a period anterior to the reign of Alexander, under whom the political importance of Thebes and the whole country came to an end. The main characteristic of the money is the almost exclusive use of the Boeotian shield as the obverse type, marking the federal character of the issues. These were struck by various cities, or by Thebes as ruling the League. The earliest pieces are drachms, presumably of Thebes, and cer tainly of Haliartus and Tanagra, issued between 600 and 550 B.C. These are followed by didrachms of the same and other cities until the time of the Persian War. The result of the unpatriotic policy of Thebes and most of the towns of Bceotia was the degradation of the leading city, and the coins reveal the curious fact that Tanagra then became the centre of the League-coinage. We now notice the abandonment of the old incuse reverse and the adoption of regular types, the wheel at Tanagra and the amphora at Thebes. These types increase and indicate several cities during the short period of Athenian influence (456-446 B.C.). The democratic institutions were next overthrown, and Thebes became again the head of Bceotia, and struck alone and in her own name, not in that of the League. To the earlier part of this period belong splendid didrachms with reverse types chiefly representing Heracles, subsequently vaiied by heads of Dionysus in a series only less fine. With the peace of Antalcidas (387 B.C.) Thebes lost her power, the League was dis solved, and the other Boeotian cities issued a coinage of some merit. In 379 B.C. Thebes became the chief state in Greece, and the patri otic policy of Pelopidas and Epaminondas is shown in the issue of the Boeotian coins at the great city without any name but that of a magistrate. Among those which occur is EIIAM or EIIAMI, who can scarcely be any other than the illustrious general. The battle of Chferonea (338 B.C.), swiftly followed by the destruction of Thebes, closes the historic coinage, save only for the appearance of new League-money of Attic weight, with the head of Zeus and the figure of Poseidon, issued between 288 and 244 B.C. (On the whole subject see Head s Coinage of Bceotia.) Attica. In Attica the great series of Athens is dominant, Eleusis alone in that country having issued an unimportant bronze coinage of good style while Athens was independent. The Athenian money begins with the issues which were struck under Solon s monetary law, practically adopting the Euboic standard instead of the Mgi- netic, by which the Attic weights were divided into the commer cial and the monetary. The monetary standard became so famous through the widespread traffic of Athens as to give the name Attic to all subsequent measures which followed it except the Corinthian, and the term Euboic gradually fell into disuse. The earliest coins are tetradrachms of full weight (270 grains), with an extremely archaic head of Athene helmeted to the right, and within an incuse square an owl to the right with the letters A0E. These may be early in the 6th century B.C. Soon afterwards a sprig of olive appears in the upper left corner of the square. The coins of the age of the Persian War have olive-leaves forming an upright wreath on the helmet of Athene. To this period belongs the decadrachm with the owl facing, its wings open. In the same age a crescent is added symbol of the lunar character of the goddess between the olive -sprig and the owl. These types continue during the period of fine art, with slight modifica tion and the abandonment of the incuse square, but with no mark of the splendour of Athens as the centre of Greek sculpture. No doubt commercial reasons dictated this conservative policy, which makes the coinage of Athens a disappointment in numismatics. Her money was precious for its purity not only in the Greek world but among distant barbarians, so that imitations reach us from the Punjab and from southern Arabia, and any change would have injured their wide reception. There are many divisions of silver coinage with the types a little varied, and some different ones ; and during the age of supremacy gold was issued in small quantities and bronze introduced. The Macedonian empire put an end to the autonomy of Athens, and when the money is again issued it is of a wholly new style and the types are modified. The great series of spread tetradrachms may be dated from the accession of Philip V. (220 B.C.), and lasted until the capture of the city by Sulla (86 B.C.). The obverse type is a head of Athene with a richly-adorned helmet, unquestionably borrowed from the famous statue by Phidias in ivory and gold, but a poor shadow of that splendid original, and an owl on an amphora within an olive -wreath. The earliest coins have the monograms of two magistrates, the later the names of two who are anmial, and one changing about every month, but ultimately dropped. The occurrence in these of the names of Antiochus IV. (Epiphanes), before he came to the throne, of Mithradates VI. and his creature Aristion, helps to fix the dates. The abundance of this money shows the great commercial importance of Athens in these later times. Remarkable bronze coins of a later age bear two representations of the Acropolis and the great edifices. Both have on the obverse a head of Minerva. The reverse of one represents the Acropolis, with the grotto of Pan, the statue of Pallas Pro- machus, the Parthenon, and the Propylfea, with the steps leading up to the latter. The reverse of the other shows the theatre of Dionysus, above which are caverns in the rock, and higher still the Parthenon and the Propylsea. There are also Greek imperial pieces of Megara. The money of the island of jEgina is of especial interest, since JSgina. with it Greek coinage is said to have originated. The story is that, at a time when ^gina was a dependency of Argos, Phidou king of Argos struck the first Greek money there, probably in the seventh century B.C. It is said that previously silver was formed into spikes (6j3elffKoi), of which six made a handful (Spaxf^r;), and that thus the name of the drachm and its sixth, the obolus, originated ; but this account may be an invention of later times. There can be no doubt, however, that the earliest yEginetan coins are of extreme antiquity. The weight is of course on the Jiginetic standard. The oldest pieces are very primitive didrachms, bearing on the obverse a turtle and on the reverse a rude incuse stamp. Afterwards the stamp becomes less rude, and later has a peculiar shape. There are some coins of the early part of the fine period of excellent work. The great currency was of didrachms. The bronze coins are not remarkable, but some appear to be of an earlier time than most Greek pieces in this metal. The series of Achaia begins under the Achrean League, some time Achaia after 330 B.C., when we first find coins of the Achoeans, with no distinction of cities, a purely federal coinage. The silver coins, like the later ones, are either Attic tetrobols or ^Eginetic hemi- drachms. Then follows the money of the ten cities of the Old League, beginning about 280 B.C. Dyme, Patne, Tritsea, Pharre, ^Egium, Bura, Ceryneia, Leontiiim, ^Egira, and Pellene. In 251 B.C. Sicyon, Corinth, and Megara added their strength to the little alliance ; the towns of Arcadia and Argolis followed, then Sparta, Messene, and Elis. The type of the silver is the head of Zeus Homagyrius, the reverse with the monogram of the Achfeans in a laurel-wreath. After the earliest money the reverse bears the sym bols or monograms of the cities which struck. The oldest bronze repeats the silver types ; the rest bears a standing Zeus and a seated Demeter, with the name of the city at full length. Corinth is represented by a very large series of coins, the weight Corinth, of which is always on the Corinthian standard, equivalent to Attic but differently divided, the Corinthian tridrachm, the chief coin, corresponding to the Attic didrachm. The oldest pieces, of the 6th century B.C., bear on the obverse Pegasus with the letter 9, koppa, the initial of the name of Corinth, and on the reverse an incuse pattern. In course of time the head of Athene in an incuse square occupies the reverse. The incuse square disappears, as generally elsewhere, in the early period of fine art. Of the age of the excel-