Page:History of Art in Phrygia, Lydia, Caria and Lycia.djvu/267

 THE LYDIANS, THEIR COUNTRY, HISTORY, AND RELIGION. 251 between the inhabitants of one village, or of one town, but between men of different tribes and different nations, the need of a medium of exchange was felt, which should facilitate despatch of business, and which, by common consent, should always and everywhere be accepted in discharge of all and any purchase, without obliging the vendor, by way of compensation, to accept goods he did not require. This medium, at once commodious and easily transported, possessed, too, of intrinsic value which was recog- FIG. 155. An Egyptian market, from a tomb painting of the fifth dynasty. Gazette Arche., 1880, Plate XVI. nized by all, was supplied by the precious metals, gold and silver, and, to a certain extent, bronze also. At the outset their use was restricted to dust and irregular pieces ; by degrees, however, they were replaced by crenated bars, ingots, rings, and plates, or flat pieces, with notches so graduated as to correspond with the scale of weights, down to the feeblest. Ingots of this kind are often figured on the monuments of the civilized nations of Egypt and of Anterior Asia, in the very act of having their weight tested. This is shown in our woodcut (Fig. 156), as well as in scores of inscriptions. Ingots were a primary form of specie, which, though showing a decided advance, still left much to be desired. 1 1 Upon the coinage of the early nations, see FR. LENORMANT, La Afonnaie dans FAntiqitile, torn. i. pp. 93-124.