Page:History of Art in Phrygia, Lydia, Caria and Lycia.djvu/299

 SCULPTURE AND NUMISMATICS. 283 FIG. 189. Lydian coin. Electrum. Cabinet des Medailles. FIG. 190. Lydian coin. Electrum. British Museum. Sandyattes or Alyattes (Fig. 189). On one side are seen the fore- parts of a lion and a bull, back to back, or rather neck to neck ; l on the other, a square hollow produced by the relief of some hard substance, upon which was placed the blank piece of metal to be struck by the hammer. At the first blows the pattern on the die enters the metal and prevents it moving out of place. We pro- pose to assign the same origin and date to another stater, bear- ing the head of a lion turned to the left, with open mouth and protruding tongue (Fig. 190). The reverse of certain pieces, with a lion couchant on the obverse, and head turned away to the left, is like that of the earliest coins ever issued, proving that old puncheons were used over again (Fig. i9i). 2 As stated, Croesus appears in history as a monetary reformer. Now, the Greek cities of Miletus, Ephesus, and Phocsea began to issue staters and fractions of the same, in pure gold, as early as the reigns of Alyattes and San- dyattes, the father and grandfather of Crcesus. In the lifetime of Alyattes, Crcesus was made governor of Mysia, and was thus for years a near neighbour of Phocsea, a circumstance cal- culated to bring home to him the many advantages of the new coinage r whose standard was more closely defined than that of the electrum pieces struck by his predecessors. On his ascending the throne, therefore, he ceased to coin electrum, and put in circulation new pieces of gold and silver. He is fathered with two gold staters, of varying weight, 1 The images are so blurred as to challenge the question whether we should not rather see in them bulls ; but arguing from the pieces ascribed to Croesus, in which the lion and the bull are quite distinguishable, has led to the conclusion that in this instance also the coiner meant to depict the two inimical animals. 3 It is uncertain whether the coins in question should be ascribed to Sardes or Miletus (BARCLAY V. HEAD, Hist. Numorum, p. 545). The balance is in favour of Sardes from the fact that the fox appears on them, an image not seen on the later pieces of Miletus. FIG. 191. Lydian coin. Elec- trum. British Museum.