Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 14.djvu/799

* NUMISMATICS. 681 NUMISMATICS. very notable additions to numismatic studies beyond the revisions of earlier works alreadj' mentioned. The real labor of this period lay in the gathering into eolleetions of the material for future studies. The works of the French iuiuiif Jean Tristan, viz. two separate books known as Coiiniicntaircs historiijiies, published in several editions from 1035 to 10.")0, deserve mention; as well as the De Ila Xuminuria of Scaliger (161(i), the Uc yrwslantia ft Usu Xumismatum Antiijuorum of Spanheim (1664), and a series of books on Roman and (Jreek coins by the explorer and collector .Jean V'aillant. One important work belongs to the early eigh- teentli century, the Thcsaurun Morclliaiiiifi. pub- lished in 1734 from the manuscript of Andreas Morell by Sigebert Ilaverkamp, which remained for a long time a cliief source of information regarding the Roman 'consular' coins. This cen- tury saw the immense growth of the great na- tional collections of Europe which have made possible the scientific study of coins. It was, in fact, the curator of the Vienna cabinet. .J. H. Eckhel, who may with justice be called the 'Father of Numismatics,' since his marvelous l>ii<-lii)ia yiinwrum Vcteruni (8 vols., Vienna, 17'J2-'J8) placed the study of ancient coins on a thoroughly scientific basis. He was a man of sucli extraordinary erudition, accuracy, and judg- ment that even now. more than a century after his death, his Doctrina is in every numismatic library and may be consulted with great profit, if also with discretion. Eckhel's metliod served as a model for future studies, and his material as a starting-point in the classification of ancient coins. With him begins the modern period, the important works of which will be cited below. The real study of media-val and modern coins is a development of the eigliteenth century. For an account of the growth of numismatic studies, see Babelon, Truite dcs moiuuiies (jrecques et romriines, I. 66-325 (Paris, 1901), A.NCiENT Coins — Origin — Classifrwtion. Among the most primitive peoples some kind of trade or barter was known ; and the precious metals were incontestablj' used as its medium for centuries before the invention of coinage. Ex- cavations in CbaUhca, Balivlonia, and Assj'ria have brought to light very abundant texts in which gold and silver are named as measures of value. In Genesis (xiii. 2 and xxiv. 35) we are told that Abraham was "very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold," and again (xxiii. 16) that he paid for the cave of jMaclipclah "four liundred shekels of silver current with the mer-- chant." In all transactions of this early period the metal was weighed, not counted in bars; an operation that appears not infrequently in the pictures on Egvptian tomlis. It was from the Baliylnnians that the weight systems passed by various trade routes to all the shores of the llediterranean. and, with the invention of coinage, were subdivided and adapted to the commercial needs of the Hellenic and Hellenized peoples. The Babylonians used a sexagesimal system; thus, hi measuring time, 60 seconds = 1 minute, 60 minutes = 1 hour; BO in measuring value, 60 xhrkili = 1 manah. 60 7)wn<ihs — 1 hikkar. In the course of trans- mission from east to west this became slightly modified, so that in Greece we find sums reck- oned: 50 ffTOTij/wj (or, locally. alyXoi, = shekels) = 1 /ivd (i.e. munali), 60 /ivoi — 1 riXafToe (corresponding to the kikkar). For fractions of the arar-fip (or unit) the (ireeks developed a duodecimal system, which became the basis of the Greek coinage and so passed to the early Romans, who, however, superposed upon it their own decimul notation. For a concise account of the transmission of ancient measures from Asia to Greece, consult Head, Hlstoria Sumoriim, introduction (Oxford, 1887). The first coins in the classical world were struck about B.C. 700. Ancient writers dilTer as to the place that should hold the honor of the invention, but it may be regarded as certain, liowever, that gold was first coined in Lydia, and silver in .Egina; and specimens of each of these primitive coinages are fairly com- mon. From these early centres coinage spread with great rapidity to the Ionian coast-cities and the islands in the .ligean .Sea, as well as to all Greece and the Greek colonies in Sicily, Italy, and elsewhere. For a thorough examina- tion of the origin of money, consult Babelon, Les origines de la monnaic (Paris. 1807). Ancient coins are classified in general accord- ing to the system laid out by Eckhel in his immortal Doctrina. The whole mass of material is divided into two general classes, Greek coins and Roman coins. (A) The Greek series (or more properly non-Roman, since it includes also Bactrian, .Jewish, Carthaginian, Ibero-Spanish, and Gaulish coins, etc.) is classified in geo- graphical order about the basin of the Mediter- ranean as follows : ( 1 ) Spain, ( 2 ) Gaul, ( 3 ) Italy, (4) Sicily, (5) Maeedon, Thrace, etc., (6) Greece, (7) Asia Minor, (8) the East, (9) Egypt, (10) the coast of Africa. Under these various heads the subdivision is alpha- betical for cities and chronological for kingdoms. The coins of each mint are then treated in detail, chronologically. By another division, Greek coins are classed as (a) autonomous, or struck by the city-republics, (b) regal, (c) Greek Imperial, that is, the Greek money of those towns which, under the Roman Empire, still retained the right of coinage for local circulation. Here, too, are generally added the Roman colonial coins, or coins with Latin, inscriptions struck in a number of towns outside of Italy and Sicily, such as Corinth, Laodicea, and .Uitioch. in the East, and numerous colonies in Spain and (iaul. But the coins of the late Empire, from the Latin mints of Constantinople, Antiocli, Alexandria, etc., are classified with the Roman scries. Roman coins are divided into two general classes: those of the Republic and tho.se of the Empire. The former include the m.s (fnn^c, or earliest hea^•y bronze coins, and the so-called 'consular' or 'family' coins, with initials or names of magistrates. Properly, these coins, too, should be classed chronologically; but as the dates of most are very uncertain, they are usually ar- ranged alphabetically by families, as .■bin-ia. Accolein, Acilia. etc., and subdivided under the various names in order of supposed age. The Imperial series, from Augustus to Romulus Au- gustulus, is classed by reigns, under each of which the coins are arranged either chronolo- gically or by the alphabetical order of the legend on the reverse. The same is true of the Byzan- tine .series. On ancient coins in general, con- sult: Babelon, Traitr dca moi>iiin<s fircrquen et romoinefs (Paris. 1901) ; Hill, Ilandhook nf Greek and Roman Coins (London, 1899) ; Lenor-