Page:Origin of metallic currency and weight standards.djvu/226

 It is desirable "to take note of the fact that in Asia Minor and in the earliest periods of the art of coining, ([Greek: alpha]) the heavy gold stater (260 grains) occurs at various places, from Teos northwards as far as the shores of the Propontis; ([Greek: beta]) the light gold stater (130 grains) in Lydia ([Greek: Kroiseios statêr]) and in Samos (?); ([Greek: gamma]) the electrum stater of the Phoenician silver standard, chiefly at Miletus, but also at other towns along the west coast of Asia Minor, as well as in Lydia, but never however in full weight; ([Greek: delta]) the electrum and silver stater of the Babylonic standard, chiefly if not solely in Lydia; ([Greek: epsilon]) the silver stater of the Phoenician standard (230 grains) on the west coast of Asia Minor ."

Here we may call attention to the fact that whilst Miletus struck her electrum staters on the Phoenician silver standard (their normal weight being 217 grains), the Phocaeans always from the infancy of coining employed for their electrum the gold standard of the heavy shekel (260 grains). But the proper time for discussing why the Lydians, Milesians and Phocaeans all struck their electrum coins of various standards, will come further on in our enquiry.

The coin-standards of Greece Proper.

Before we attempt to examine into the connection of the Homeric talent or ox unit, and the ancient systems of the East, it will be advisable to get a clear view of the coin-*standards found in actual use in historical times, and to understand the common doctrine of the derivation of the same. As gold was not coined in Greece Proper until a comparatively late period, owing doubtless to the fact that there was no great supply of it to be had, and that all of it was required to meet the demand for personal adornment, the entire early coinage of Greece (with some few exceptions to be presently noted) consisted of silver. These silver issues were all struck on either of two systems; (1) the Aeginean, or Aeginetic, and (2) the Euboic, the stater of the former weighing about 195 grains, that of the latter about 135-130 grains. But it is a fact of paramount importance that gold, whenever and