Numismatics

NUMISMATICS

THE science of numismatics treats of coins and medals.

It acquaints us with the metals used in their composition, their various inscriptions and devices, their mechanical execution and artistic merit. It tells us of the different denominations of coins, their relation to one another, and the laws by which they were regulated.

The earliest known coins were issued by the Greeks in the 7th century before the Christian era. By the 4th century the whole civilized world used money, each state generally having its proper coinage. This has continued to be the case to the present time; so that now there are few nations without a metal currency of their own, and of these but a small proportion are wholly unacquainted with the use of coins. The number of varieties of coins and medals of which specimens are preserved in collections may be estimated at not less than several hundred thousand; and future discoveries will probably greatly increase this sum. A series of monuments of such length and completeness affords, as might be expected, very important illustration to history and to kindred branches of knowledge. This is, indeed, the real value of numismatics, and the student will do well to keep it constantly before him.

Coins, although they confirm history, rarely correct it, and never very greatly. The earliest belong to a time and to nations as to which we are not otherwise wholly ignorant, and they do not afford us that precise information which would fill in any important details of the meagre sketch of contemporary history. We gain from them scarcely any direct historical information, except that certain cities or princes issued money. When in later times the devices and inscriptions of the coins give more detailed information, history is far fuller and clearer, so that the numismatic evidence is rarely more than corroborative. There are, indeed, some remarkable exceptions to this rule, as in the case of the Bactrian coins, which have supplied the outlines of a portion of history which was otherwise almost wholly lost. The value of the corroborative evidence afforded by coins must not, however, be overlooked. It chiefly relates to chronology, although it also adds to our knowledge of the pedigrees of royal houses. But perhaps the most interesting manner in which coins and medals illustrate history is in their bearing contemporary, or nearly contemporary, portraits of the most famous kings and captains, from the time of the first successors of Alexander the Great to the present age, whereas pictures do not afford portraits in any number before the latter part of the Middle Ages; and works of sculpture, although occupying in this respect the same place as coins in the last-mentioned period and under the Roman empire, are neither so numerous nor so authentic. There is no more delightful companion in historical reading than a cabinet of coins and medals. The strength and energy of Alexander, the ferocity of Mithradates, the philosophic calmness of Antoninus, the obstinate ferocity of Nero, and the brutality of Caracalla are as plain on the coins as in the pages of history. The numismatic portraits of the time following the founding of Constantinople have less individuality; but after the revival of art they recover that quality, and maintain it to our own day, although executed in very different styles from those of antiquity. From this last class we can form a series of portraits more complete and not less interesting than that of the ancient period.

While coins and medals thus illustrate the events of history, they have an equally direct bearing on the belief of the nations by which they were issued; and in this reference lies no small part of their value in connexion with history. The mythology of the Greeks, not having been fixed in sacred writings, nor regulated by a dominant priesthood, but having grown out of the different beliefs of various tribes and isolated settlements, and having been allowed to form itself comparatively without check, can scarcely be learned from ancient books. Their writers give us but a partial or special view of it, and modern authors, in their attempts to systematize, have often but increased the confusion. The Greek coins, whether of kings or cities, until the death of Alexander, bear sacred subjects only. Afterwards, on the regal coins, the king’s head usually occupies the obverse and a sacred subject is placed on the reverse. The coins of Greek cities under the empire have usually an imperial portrait and a reverse type usually mythological. The whole class thus affords us invaluable evidence for the reconstruction of Greek mythology. We have nowhere else so complete a series of the different types under which the divinities were represented. There are in modern galleries very few statues of Greek divinities, including such as were intended for architectural decoration, which are in good style, fairly preserved, and untouched by modern restorers. If to these we add reliefs of the same class, and the best Graeco-Roman copies, we can scarcely form a complete series of the various representations of these divinities. The coins, ⅛owever, supply us with the series we desire, and we may select types which are not merely of good work, but of the finest. The mythology of ancient Italy, as distinct from that of the Greek colonies of Italy, is not so fully illustrated by the coins of the country, because these are for the most part of Greek design. There are, however, some remarkable exceptions, especially in the money of the Roman commonwealth, the greater number of the types of which are of a local character, including many that refer to the myths and traditions of the earliest days of the city. The coins of the empire are especially important, as bearing representations of those personifications of an allegorical character to which the influence of philosophy gave great prominence in Roman mythology.

Coins are scarcely less valuable in relation to geography than to history. The position of towns on the sea or on rivers, the race of their inhabitants, and many similar particulars are positively fixed on numismatic evidence. The information that coins convey as to the details of the history of towns and countries has a necessary connexion with geography, as has also their illustration of local forms of worship. The representations of natural productions on ancient money are of special importance, and afford assistance to the lexicographer. This is particularly the case with the Greek coins, on which these objects are frequently portrayed with great fidelity. We must recollect, however, that the nomenclature of the ancients was vague, and frequently comprised very different objects under one appellation, and that therefore we may find very different representations corresponding to the same name.

The art of sculpture, of which coin-engraving is the offspring, receives the greatest illustration from numismatics. Not only is the memory of lost statues preserved to us in the designs of ancient coins, but those of Greece afford admirable examples of that skill by which her sculptors attained their great renown. The excellence of the designs of very many Greek coins struck during the period of the best art is indeed so great that, were it not for their smallness, they would form the finest series of art-studies in the world. The Roman coins, though at no time to be compared to the purest Greek, yet represent worthily the Graeco-Roman art of the empire. From the accession of Augustus to the death of Commodus they are often fully equal to the best Graeco-Roman statues. This may be said, for instance, of the dupondii struck in honour of Livia by Tiberius and by the younger Drusus, of the sestertii of Agrippina, and of the gold coins of Antoninus Pius and the two Faustinas, all which present portraits of remarkable beauty and excellence. The mediaeval Italian medals aie scarcely less useful as records of the progress and characteristics of art, and, placed by the side of the Greek and Roman coins, complete the most remarkable comparative series of monuments illustrating the history of the great schools of art that can be brought together. Ancient coins throw as great light upon the architecture as upon the sculpture of the nations by which they were struck. Under the empire, the Roman coins issued at the city very frequently bear representations of important edifices. The Greek imperial coins struck in the provinces present similar types, representing the most famous temples and other structures of their cities, of the form of some of which we should otherwise have been wholly ignorant. The little-known art of painting among the ancients does not receive so much illustration from the coins. The best Greek pieces are of too severe a style to admit of an approach to pictorial treatment, although we perceive such a tendency in the works of important schools, and during the period of decline. The Roman coins sometimes present groups which have a very pictorial character, traceable to the tendency of the sculpture of the period; this is principally about the time of the Antonines. They are, however, never so pictorial in treatment as the mediaeval Italian medals. The art of gem-engraving among the ancients is perhaps most nearly connected with their coinage. The subjects of coins and gems are so similar and so similarly treated that the authenticity of gems, that most difficult of archaeological questions, receives the greatest aid from the study of coins.

After what has been said it is not necessary to do more than mention how greatly the study of coins tends to illustrate the contemporary literature of the nations which issued them. Not only the historians, but the philosophers and the poets, are constantly illustrated by the money of their times. This was perceived at the revival of letters; and during the last two centuries coins were very frequently engraved in the larger editions of the classics. A want of technical numismatic knowledge in the editors, and the carelessness of the artists, combined to deprive these illustrations of much of their value. Probably in part on this account, but chiefly in consequence of the change from historical to textual criticism, ancient coins have been little used in this manner by the new school. This neglect is being remedied, although the full value of coins and medals in illustration of the literature of modern as well as of ancient times is not as yet sufficiently perceived.

The science of numismatics is of comparatively recent origin. The ancients do not seem to have formed collections, although they appear to have occasionally preserved individual specimens for their beauty. Petrarch has the credit of having been the first collector; but it is probable that in his time ancient coins were already attracting no little notice. The importance of the study of all coins has since been by degrees more and more recognized, and at present no branch of the pursuit is left wholly unexplored.

Besides its bearing upon the history, the religion, the manners, and the arts of the nations which have used money, the science of numismatics has a special modern use in relation to art. Displaying the various styles of art prevalent in different ages, coins supply us with abundant means for promoting the advancement of art among ourselves. If the study of many schools be at all times of advantage, it is especially so when there is little originality in the world. Its least value is to point out the want of artistic merit and historical commemoration in modern coins, and to suggest that modern medals should be executed after some study of the rules which controlled the great works of former times.

Definitions.— The following are the most necessary numismatic definitions.

1. A coin is a piece of metal of a fixed weight, stamped by authority of government, and employed as a circulating medium.

2. A medal is a piece, having no place in the currency, struck to commemorate some event or person. Medals are frequently comprised with coins in descriptions that apply to both equally; thus, in the subsequent definitions, by the term coins, coins and medals must generally be understood.

3. The coinage of a country is usually divided into the classes of gold, silver, and bronze (copper), for which the abbreviations A, √fi, and Ae are employed in catalogues. In each class are comprised, not only the coins of the metal from which it takes its name, with no more than a necessary or inseparable proportion of alloy, but coins of other metallic substances, usually base, and always compound, which were generally struck in the place of the purer pieces. The principal metallic substances thus used were electrum for gold, billon for silver, brass for copper, and potin for silver and copper.

4. Electrum (fiλeκτρov, ήλεκτρο^, a compound metallic substance, consisting of gold with a considerable alloy of silver. Pliny makes the proportion to have been four parts of gold to one of silver. The material of early coins of Asia Minor struck in the cities of the western coast is the ancient electrum. It appears here to have at first consisted of three parts of gold to one of silver; but afterwards the proportion of silver was increased, though perhaps not everywhere. Gold largely alloyed with silver, not struck by the ancient Greeks or their neighbours, should be termed pale gold, as in the case of some of the late Byzantine coins.

5. Billon, a term applied to the base metal of some Roman coins, and also to that of some mediaeval and modern coins. It is silver with a great proportion of alloy. When the base silver coins are replaced by copper washed with silver the term billon becomes inappropriate.

6. Brass, a compound metallic substance employed for coins. It may be used as an equivalent to the orichalcum of the Romans, a fine kind of brass of which the sestertii and dupondii were struck, but it is commonly applied indiscriminately to the whole of their copper currency.

7. Potin, a term applied to the base metal of which some ancient coins are composed. It is softer than billon.

8. Various other metallic substances have been used in coinage. The so-called “glass coins” of the Arabs are merely coin-weights.

9. The forms of coins have greatly varied in different countries and at different periods. The usual form in both ancient and modern times has been circular, and generally of no great thickness.

10. Coins are usually measured by J/ionnet’s scale, from which the greatest dimension is taken, or, when they are square, the greatest dimension in two directions. This is, however, a very unsatisfactory scale, as its divisions are of an arbitrary character, and the instruments for applying it are such as make exactness scarcely possible. A gauge graduated to inches and decimal parts of an inch or to millimètres is far more satisfactory.

11. The weight of a coin is of great importance, both in determining its genuineness and in distinguishing its identity. To ascertain exact weight even to the tenth of a grain is therefore necessary, and this can only be done by the careful use of excellent scales.

12. The specific gravity of a coin may be of use in determining the metals in its composition.

13. Whatever representations or characters are borne by a coin constitute its type. The subject of each side is also called a type, and, when there is not only a device but an inscription, the latter may be excluded from the term. This last is the general use. No distinct rule has been laid down as to what makes a difference of type, but it may be considered to be an essential difference, however slight.

14. A difference too small to constitute a new type makes a variety.

15. A coin is a duplicate of another when it agrees with it in all particulars but those of exact size and weight. Strictly speaking, ancient coins are rarely, if ever, duplicates, except when struck from the same die.

16. Of the two sides of a coin, that is called the obverse which bears the more important device or inscription. In early Greek coins it is the convex side; in Greek and Roman imperial it is the side bearing the head; in mediaeval and modern that bearing the royal effigy, or the king’s name, or the name of the city; and in Oriental that on which the inscription begins. The other side is called the reverse.

17. The field of a coin is the space unoccupied by the principal devices or inscriptions. Any detached independent device or character is said to be in the field, except when it occupies the exergue.

18. The exergue is that part of the reverse of a coin which is below the main device, and distinctly separated from it; it often bears a secondary inscription. Thus, the well-known inscription CONOB occupies the exergue of the late Roman and early Byzantine gold coins.

19. The edge of a coin is the surface of its thickness.

20. By the inscription or inscriptions of a coin all the letters it bears are intended; an inscription is either principal or secondary.

21. In describing coins the terms right and left mean the right and left of the spectator, not the heraldic and military right and left, or those of the coin.

22. A bust is the representation of the head and neck; it is commonly used of such as show at least the collar-bone, other busts being called heads.

23. A head properly means the representation of a head alone, without any part of the neck, but it is also commonly used when any part of the neck above the collar-bone is shown. The present article follows custom in the use of the terms bust and head.

24. A bust or head is either facing, usually three-quarter face, or in profile, in which latter case it is described as to right or to left. Two busts may be placed in various relative positions λvhich cannot be described in English without circumlocution.

25. A bust wearing a laurel-wreath is said to be laureate.

26. A bust bound with a regal fillet (diadem) is called diademed.

27. A bust of which the neck is clothed is said to be draped.

28. An object in the field of a coin which is neither a letter nor a monogram is usually called a symbol. This term is, however, only applicable when such an object is evidently the badge of a town or individual. The term adjunct, which is sometimes employed instead of symbol, is manifestly incorrect.

29. A mint-mark is a difference placed by the authorities of the mint upon all money struck by them, or upon each new die or separate issue.

30. A coin is said to be surfrappe when it has been struck on an older coin, of which the types are not altogether obliterated.

31. A double-struck coin is one in which the die or dies have shifted so as to cause a double impression.

32. A coin which presents two obverse types, or two reverse types, or of which the types of the obverse and reverse do not correspond, is called a mule ; it is the result of mistake or caprice.

Arrangement of Coins.— No uniform system has as yet been applied to the arrangement of all coins. It is usual to separate them into the three great classes of ancient coins (comprising Greek and Roman), mediaeval and modern, and Oriental coins. The details of these classes have been differently treated, both generally and specially. The arrangement of the Greek series has been first geographical, under countries and towns, and then chronological, for a further division; that of the Roman series, chronological, without reference to geography; that of the mediaeval and modern, the same as the Greek; and that of the Oriental, like the Greek, but unsystematically,—a treatment inadmissible except in the case of a single empire. Then, again, some numismatists have separated each denomination or each metal, or have separated the denominations of one metal and not of another. There has been no general and comprehensive system, constructed upon reasonable principles, and applicable to every branch of this complicated science. Without laying down a system of rules, or criticizing former modes of arrangement, we offer the following as a classification which is uniform without being servile.

1. Greek Coins.— All coins of Greeks, or barbarians who adopted Greek money, struck before the Roman rule or under it, but without imperial effigies. The countries and their provinces are placed in a geographical order from west to east, according to the system of Eckhel, with the cities in alphabetical order under the provinces, and the kings in chronological order. The civic coins usually precede the regal, as being the more important. The coins are further arranged chronologically, the civic commencing with the oldest and ending with those bearing the effigies of Roman emperors. The gold coins of each period take precedence of the silver and the silver of the copper. The larger denominations in each metal are placed before the smaller. Coins of the same denomination and period are arranged in the alphabetical order of the magistrates’ names, or the letters, &c., that they bear.

2. Roman Coins. — All coins issued by the Roman commonwealth and empire, whether struck at Rome or in the provinces. The arrangement is chronological, or, where this is better, under geographical divisions.

3. Mediaeval and Modern Coins of Europe.— All coins issued by Christian European states, their branches and colonies, from the fall of the empire of the West to the present day. This class is arranged in a geographical and chronological order, as similar as possible to that of the Greek class, with the important exception of the Byzantine coins and the coins following Byzantine systems, which occupy the first place. The reason for this deviation is that the Byzantine money may be regarded not only as the principal source of mediaeval coinage but as the most complete and important mediaeval series, extending as it does without a break throughout the Middle Ages. The regal coins usually precede the civic ones, as being the more important; and the medals of each sovereign or city follow the coins.

4. Oriental Coins.— All coins bearing inscriptions in Eastern languages, excepting those of the Jews, Phoenicians, and Carthaginians, which are classed with the Greek coins from their close connexion with them. These coins should be arranged under the following divisions: Ancient Persian, Arab, Modern Persian, Indian, Chinese, and coins of the far East.

This method of arrangement will be found to be as uniform as it can be made, without being absolutely mechanical. It differs in some important particulars from most or all of those which have previously obtained; but these very differences are the result of the consideration of a complete collection, and have therefore an inductive origin. A general uniformity is no slight gain, and may well reconcile us to some partial defects. These defects may be remedied in large collections by the use of “cross-references” from one cabinet to another, and by the formation of independent series to illustrate the general one. A series illustrative of Greek art, and another of Graeco-Roman, might be formed. A series of portraits, and another of reverse types, would be equally valuable. Others might be made to show the changes of the coinage in relation to the condition of a state, with careful indications of the weight and composition of the examples, and others to illustrate the history of a particular country or city. Thus, the Byzantine copper coinage exhibits the success or disaster of the imperial arms, and the financial state of the empire in its fluctuations, while nothing can be more interesting than to see at one view the numismatic history of a great city. We have coins of Rome under the commonwealth and the empire, under the Ostrogoths, the Byzantines, the mediaeval senate, and the popes. The series of London would be not the least curious. It would begin with the Roman coins issued by the mint of Londinium at the time of Diocletian and his colleagues, comprising those of the usurpers Carausius and Allectus; then, having not long after ceased for a time, it would recommence with the Saxon pennies, including a specimen of those of King Alfred, which have for their reverse type the monogram of the city’s name; and, continuing through the mediaeval period, it would conclude with modern tokens and medals, among the latter of which might be placed a copy of that famous one of the first Napoleon, with the inscription “Frappée a Londres,” which was intended to commemorate the success of the Boulogne expedition.

I. — Greek Coins.

There are some matters relating to Greek coins in general which may be properly considered before they are described in geographical order. These are their general character, the chief denominations, with the different talents of which they were the divisions, their devices and inscriptions, their art, and the mode of striking.

The period during which Greek coins were issued was probably not much less than a thousand years, commencing about the beginning of the 7th century b.c. and generally ending at the death of Gallienus (268 a.d. ). If classed with reference only to their form, fabric, and general appearance they are of three principal types,—the archaic Greek, the ordinary Greek, and the Graeco-Roman. The coins of the first class are of silver, electrum, and sometimes gold. They are thick lumps of an irregular round form, bearing on the obverse a device, with in some cases an accompanying inscription, and on the reverse a square or oblong incuse stamp {quadratum incusum), usually divided in a rude manner. The coins of the second class are of gold, electrum, silver, and bronze. They are much thinner than those of the preceding class, and usually have a convex obverse and a slightly concave or flat reverse. The obverse ordinarily bears a head in bold relief. The coins of the third class are, with very few exceptions, of bronze.

Ιhey are flat and broad, but thin, and generally have on the obverse the portrait of a Roman emperor. It may be observed that the. common division of Greek coins is into autonomous and imperial, the former comprising all except those of the Roman period which have the effigies of emperors.

Ιhe different monetary systems of the Greeks grew out of the use of different standards of weight; in other words, their coins were divisions of various talents. To investigate the origin of these monetary systems would demand a complete examination of Greek metrology, which could not be attempted in the present article. It will be well, however, to state in a few words the theory of Dr Brandis, at once the latest and the most satisfactory, though it cannot be said to completely solve the hard series of problems which the documents set before us.

The source of the Greek systems of weight has been referred to Babylonia, no link having been established with the different metrology of Egypt, a circumstance which may make us pause before finally accepting the results of the inquiry.” The Babylonian weights had a twofold form,—the heavy talent, sometimes called the Assyrian, and the light talent, sometimes called the Babylonian. The heavy talent is the double of the light. Their weights and those of their divisions are thus stated by Dr Brandis on the evidence of the inscribed weights found at Nimrùd, the ancient Calah, in Assyria (see Nineveh), which are now in the British Museum. The result is approximately true, but it has been shown by a careful re weighing of the objects that the maximum weights rise somewhat higher and the minimum fall somewhat lower than is indicated in the table. [table]

The heavy talent is supposed to have found its way to Greece by sea from the Phoenician coast-towns, the light talent by land through Lydia. In adopting the Babylonian weights the Phoenicians and Greeks made an important deviation. They accepted the sixtieth of the mina as their shekel or stater, but allowed only fifty instead of sixty of these units to their mina, retaining the sexagesimal division in counting sixty minae to the talent. Thus the Phoenician and Greek talents contained 3000 shekels or staters, not 3600 sixtieths of the mina.

Two talents thus arose,—that by which the earliest Phocaic gold money was struck, derived from the heavy Babylonian, with a stater having a maximum weight of 256 grains, and the Euboic talent, derived from the light Babylonian, with a stater of 130 grains or a little more. The Phocaic was a modification of the Babylonian heavy talent, the Euboic of the light, each having the same stater as the parent weight, but a lower talent. The relation of gold to silver in the earliest days of coined money, about 700 b.c., and for long after, was 13⅜ to 1; consequently it was inconvenient to use the same standard for the two metals. Two systems for silver money are supposed to have arisen from this necessity, and it is here that the most brilliant but least conclusive part of the theory of Dr Brandis begins. The sixtieth of the heavy Babylonian mina weighed 260 grains, its sixtieth again weighed 4'3; this multiplied by 13‘3 gives us the Phoenician drachm of 57 grains, introduced into Greece, and the basis of the so-called Graeco-Asiatic or Phoenician silver standard. Four of these drachms produced the Phoenician stater at its maximum of 230 grains. Thus fifteen staters were equal to one gold sixtieth (230 × 15÷13⅛ = 258j, nearly 260). Dr Brandis therefore calls this the fifteen-stater system. The Lydians, on the other hand, are supposed to have originated a silver stater by multiplying the sixtieth of the light mina, 130 grains, by 13 - 3 and dividing this by ten, so as to obtain a silver stater of about 170 grains, current long after in Asia Minor. Ten of these staters would thus be equal to one gold sixtieth. This, therefore, is called the ten-stater system.

The monetary standards of the Greeks (expressed in grains) may be referred to the two original talents in the following manner :— [table]

The following table exhibits the weights of the principal denominations of the Greek systems. The Corinthian talent is excluded as simply a differently divided variety of the Attic, the Rhodian as a degraded Attic. In the subsequent account of Greek money the metrolo<rv of each class will be carefully noted.

[table]

The Rhodian drachm weighed 60 grains. The Babylonian weight is somewhat lower than the Persic, and it wants the distater. The term stater is usually applied to the didrachm, but also to the tetradrachm, and at Cyrene to the drachm.

The bronze standards have been less fully discussed. Some notice of them will be given under different geographical heads.

In the types of Greek coins (using the term in its restricted sense) the first intention of the designers was to indicate the city or state by which the money was issued. The necessity for distinctive devices was most strongly felt in the earlier days of the art, when the obverse of a coin alone bore a design, and, if any inscription, only the first letter, or the first few letters, of the name of the people by whom it was issued. The motive which dictated the kind of type to be selected was undoubtedly a religious one. There are some isolated instances in which the religious character of a type is doubtful; but these, if proved, would be only exceptions to a general rule. The piety of that age adopted religious devices, and for a long time it was held to be impious to substitute any other representations for them. To the same cause may, perhaps, be partly ascribed the preference on the most ancient coins for devices of a symbolical character to actual representations of divinities, although the difficulty of portraying the human form in the infancy of art must have had considerable influence in this direction.

Greek coins, if arranged according to their types, fall into three classes: (1) civic coins, and regal without portraits of sovereigns; (2) regal coins bearing portraits; and (3) Graeco-Roman coins, whether with imperial heads or not. The coins of the first class have either a device on the obverse and the quadratum incusum on the reverse, or two devices; and these last are again either independent of each other, though connected by being both local, or—and this is more common—that on the reverse is a kind of complement of that on the obverse. It will be best first to describe the character of the principal kinds of types of the first class, and then to notice their relation. It must be noted that a head or bust is usually an obverse type, and a figure or group a reverse one, and that, when there is a head on both obverse and reverse, that on the former is usually larger than the other, and represents the personage locally considered to be the more important of the two. We must constantly bear in mind that these types are religious and local if we would understand their meaning. “I do not believe,” Burgon says, “that the types of coins are, on any occasion, original compositions, but always copied (from the earliest to the lowest times) from some sacred public monument. Thus, when we find what is called a Boeotian buckler on coins, we are not to look upon the representation as a Boeotian buckler, but as the buckler of some Boeotian hero well known to the ancient inhabitants of that country, and accounted to be sacred by them. In like manner, when we find Minerva represented on coins we are not to understand the type as a Minerva, but the Minerva of that place ; and, in some cases which might be brought forward, the individual statues which are represented on coins, or ancient copies, will be found to exist. The only example of originality of composition apparent on coins is where types have been doubled or halved, to express similar modifications of value.”

In the following list the types of Greek coins of cities, and of kings, not having regal portraits, are classed in a systematic order, without reference to their relative antiquity.

1. Head or figure of a divinity worshipped at the town, or by the people, which issued the coin, as the head of Pallas on coins of Athens, and the figure of Heracles on coins of Boeotian Thebes. Groups are rare until the period of Graeco-Roman coinage.

2. Sacred natural or artificial objects,—(a) animal sacred to a divinity of the place, as the owl (Athens) and the tortoise (Aegina); {b} sacred tree or plant, as the silphium (Cyrene) and the olive-branch (Athens); (c) arms or implements of divinities, as the arms of Heracles (Erythrae), the tongs of Vulcan (Aesernia).

It is difficult to connect many objects comprised in this class with local divinities. The reason of this appears to be that the Hellenes, wherever they colonized, and nowhere more than in Greece, found an earlier system of low nature - worship, and en deavoured to incorporate it into their own more intellectual mythology, sometimes with but partial success.

3. Head or figure of a local genius, — (a) river-god, as the Gelas (Gela); (ά) nymph of a lake, as Camarina (Camarina); (c) nymph of a fountain, as Arethusa (Syracuse).

4. Head or figure of a fabulous personage or half-human monster, as a Gorgon (Neapolis Macedoniae), the Minotaur (Cnossus).

5. Fabulous animal, as Pegasus (Corinth),a griffin (Panticapaeum), the Chimaera (Sicyon).

6. Head or figure of a hero or founder, as Ulysses (Ithaca), the Lesser Ajax (Locri Opuntii),Taras, founder of Tarentum (Tarentum).

7. Objects connected with heroes,—animal connected with local hero, as the Calydonian boar or his jaw-bone (Aetolians). Arms of heroes also occur as types, but their attribution to particular personages is difficult or impossible.

8. Celebrated real or traditional sacred localities, as mountains on which divinities are seated, the labyrinth (Cnossus).

9. Representations connected with the public religious festivals and contests, as a chariot victorious at the Olympic games (Syracuse).

The relation of the types of the obverse and reverse of a coin is a matter requiring careful consideration, since they frequently illustrate one another. As we have before observed, this relation is either that of two independent objects, which are connected only by their reference to the same place, or the one is a kind of complement of the other. Among coins illustrating the former class we may instance the beautiful silver didrachms of Camarina, having on the obverse the head of the river-god Hipparis and on the reverse the nymph of the lake carried over its waters by a swan, and those of Sicyon, having on the obverse the Chimaera and on the reverse a dove. The latter class is capable of being separated into several divisions. When the head of a divinity occurs on the obverse of a coin, the reverse is occupied by an object or objects sacred to that divinity. Thus the common Athenian tetradrachms have on the one side the head of Pallas and on the other an owl and an olive - branch; the tetradrachms of the Chalcidians in Macedonia have the head of Apollo and the lyre; and the copper coins of Erythrae have the head of Heracles and his weapons. The same is the case with subjects relating to the heroes: thus there are drachms of the Aetolian League which have on the obverse the head of Atalanta and on the reverse the Calydonian boar, or his jaw-bone and the spear-head with which he was killed. In the same manner the coins of Cnossus, with the Minotaur on the obverse, have on the reverse a plan of the Labyrinth. Besides the two principal devices there are often others of less importance, which, although always sacred, and sometimes symbols of local divinities, are generally indicative of the position of the town, or have some reference to the families of magistrates who used them as badges. Thus, for example, besides such representations as the olive-branch sacred to Pallas on the Athenian tetradrachms, as a kind of second device dolphins are frequently seen on coins of maritime places; and almost every series exhibits many symbols which can only be the badges of the magistrates with whose names they occur. Regal coins of this class, except Alexander’s, usually bear types of a local character, owing to the small extent of most of the kingdoms, which were rather the territories of a city than considerable states at the period when these coins were issued.

The second great class—that of coins of kings bearing portraits— is necessarily separate from the first. Religious feeling affords the clue to the long exclusion of regal portraits,—the feeling that it would be profane for a mortal to take a place always assigned hitherto to the immortals. Were there any doubt of this, it would be removed by the character of the earliest Greek regal portrait, that of Alexander, which occurs on coins of Lysimachus. This is not the representation of a living personage, but of one who was not only dead but had received a kind of apotheosis, and who, having been already called the son of Zeus Ammon while living, had been treated as a divinity after his death. He is therefore portrayed as a young Zeus Ammon. Probably, however, Alexander would not have been able, even when dead, thus to usurp the place of a divinity upon the coins, had not the Greeks become accustomed to the Oriental “worship” of the sovereign, which he adopted. This innovation rapidly produced a -complete change; every king of the houses which were raised on the ruins of the Greek empire could place his portrait on the money which he issued, and few neglected to do so, while the sovereigns of Egypt and Syria even assumed divine titles.

The reign of Alexander produced another great change in Greek coinage, very different from that we have noticed. He suppressed the local types almost throughout his empire, and compelled the towns to issue his own money, with some slight différence for mutual distinction. His successors followed the same policy; and thus the coins of this period have a new character. The obverses of regal coins with portraits have the head of the sovereign, which in some few instances gives place to that of his own or his country’s tutelary divinity, while figures of the latter sort almost exclusively occupy the reverses. Small symbols, letters, and monograms on the reverses distinguish the towns in this class.

The Graeco-Roman coins begin, at different periods, with the seizure by Rome of the territories of the Greek states. They are almost all bronze; and those in that metal are the most characteristic and important. In their types we see a further departure from the religious intention of those of earlier times in the rare admission of representations, not only of eminent persons who had received some kind of apotheosis, such as great poets, but also of others who, although famous, were not, and in some cases probably could not have been, so honoured. We also observe on these coins many types of an allegorical character.

The following principal kinds of types may be specified, in addition to those of the two previous classes. (1) Head or figure of a famous personage who either had received a kind of apotheosis, as Homer (Smyrna), or had not been so honoured, as Herodotus (Halicarnassus) and Lais (Corinth). (2) Pictorial representations, always of a sacred character, although occasionally bordering on caricature. We may instance, as of the latter sort, a very remarkable type representing Pallas playing on the double pipe and seeing her distorted face reflected in the water, while Marsyas gazes at her from a rock,—a subject illustrating the myth of the invention of that instrument (Apamea Phrygiae). (3) Allegorical types, as Hope, &c., on the coins of Alexandria of Egypt, and many other towns. These were of Greek origin, and owed their popularity to the sculpture executed by Greeks under the empire; but the feeling which rendered such subjects prominent was not that of true Greek art, and they are essentially characteristic of the New Attic school which attained its height at Rome under the early emperors. Of this kind of typer we must again speak in noticing the Roman coinage.

Those types which were common to this and the older classes were also much developed in their subjects. Thus, for instance, groups frequently took the place of single figures; and the representations of sacred localities acquired a great prominence, the most common being of buildings, which are generally temples. In the architectural types a tendency to pictorial representation is evident in the constant endeavours to depict edifices in perspective.

There is a class of coins which is always considered as part of the Graeco-Roman, although in some respects distinct. This is the colonial series, struck in Roman coloniae, and having almost always Latin inscriptions. As, however, these coloniae were towns in all parts of the empire, from Emerita in Spain (Merida) to Niniva Claudiopolis (Nineveh) in Assyria, in the midst of a Greek population and often of Greek origin, their coins help to complete the series of civic money, and, as we might expect, do not very markedly differ from the proper Greek imperial coins except in having Latin inscriptions and showing a preference for Roman types.

We have now to speak of the meaning of the inscriptions of Greek coins. These are either principal or secondary; but the former are always intended when inscriptions are mentioned without qualification, since the secondary ones are non-essential. The inscription of civic money is almost always the name of the people by which it was issued, in the genitive plural, as ΑΘΗΝΑΙΩΝ on coins of the Athenians, ΣYPAKOΣI∩N on coins of the Syracusans. The inscription of regal money is the name, or name and title, of the sovereign in the genitive, as ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΥ, or BAΣIΛEΩΣ ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΥ, on coins of Alexander the Great. J , his genitive form implies a nominative understood, which has been generally supposed to be νόμισμα, “money.” There are four instances in which a nominative of this kind occurs in coins,—ΦΑΝΟΣ EMI ΣΗΜΑ, “I am the badge of Phanes,” on an archaic coin of Halicarnassus; ΓOPTYNOΣ TO ΠAIMA, “the struck” money of Gortys, if the form suggested by Μ. François Lenormant be admissible, on an archaic coin of Gortys; and ΣEYΘA ΚΟΜΜΑ, “the stamp” or “coin of Seuthes,” as well as ΣEYΘA APΓYPION, the “silver piece” or “money of Seuthes.” The balance preponderates in favour of the idea that such a word as vbμj,σμa, or the more definite term for a piece of gold (χpu<τoi⅛), silver (apyvpiov), or copper (χαλκoi⅛), was intended. Yet the instances are not sufficient to establish the case. Besides their disagreement, it must be remembered that the coins of Phanes and Gortys belong to the infancy of money in Asia Minor and Crete, and that Seuthes was a semi-barbarous’chieftain. Any one familiar with Greek epigraphy will see the danger of resting on such evidence. In the eighth edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica a different explanation was offered on the authority of the late Mr Burgon, who generously communicated it to the writer. He supposed the inscription to relate to the type, and that the nominative understood is the name of that type.' It should be remarked that the type of the reverse of a civic coin is usually a complement of that of the obverse, and that the converse may be inferred of regal coins; there is thus in general virtually but one type, that of the tutelary divinity or sacred symbol of the city or sovereign. Athenian coins with the inscription AΘH[NAIΩN] have as their obverse type the head of Athene; the meaning of the inscription, according to Burgon’s explanation, would be, not “the money of the Athenians,” but “Athene of the Athenians.” When the name of the divinity represented is written, the nominative understood is supplied. Thus on coins of Syracuse, with the head of Arethusa as the obverse type, we read ΑΡΕΘΟΣΑ—(rev. ) AKOΣIΩN, “Arethusa of the Syracusans,” and on others with the head of Zeus, ΖΕΥΣ ΕΛΕΥΘΕΡΙΟΣ-ΣYPAKOΣIΩN “Zeus the giver of liberty of the Syracusans.” There are instances ιn λ i⅛⅛JJi⅛J ιaπιe8 tbe divinity and of the people occur together, as ΕΙΡΗΝΗ ΛOKPΩN, “Irene of the Locrians,” on a coin of iz⅛Λ⅛ cri ⅛ ize P h y rii > the obverse having the head and name of ΖΕΥΣ, as though the sense were Zeus (and) Irene of the Locrians. In the case of regal coins Burgon’s theory cannot be applied in strictness. In most cases we could supply the name of the divinity represented on the reverse, as, for the gold staters of Alexander, [ΝΙΚΗ] ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΥ, and for the silver, [ΖΕΥΣ] ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΥ; but when the type, as of almost all the Ptolemaic coins, is a symbol, in this case the eagle, some modification is needed. If we suppose that the nominative, understood when none is expressed, or implied when a divinity is named, is some word expressing the idea conveyed by the badge, as Zeus by the eagle, we shall probably be not far from the truth. The secondary inscriptions either describe secondary types, as ΑΘΛΑ, “rewards,” accompanying the representation of the arms given to the victor in the exergues of Syracusan decadrachms, or are the names of magistrates or other officers, or in regal coins those of cities, or are those of the engravers of the dies, of whom sometimes two were employed, one for the obverse and the other for the reverse, or are dates. These inscriptions are often but abbreviations or monograms, especially when they indicate cities on the regal coins.

The importance of Greek coins as illustrating the character of contemporary art cannot be easily overrated. They are beyond all other monuments the grammar of Greek art. Their geographical and historical range is only limited by Greek history and the Greek world; as a series they may be called complete; in quality they are usually worthy of a place beside contemporary sculpture, having indeed a more uniform merit; they are sometimes the work of great artists, and there is no question of their authenticity, nor have they suffered from the injurious hand of the restorer. Thus they tell us what other· monuments leave untold, filling up gaps in the sequence of works of art, and revealing local schools known from them alone.

The art of coins belongs to the province of relief, which lies between the domains of sculpture and of painting, partaking of the character of both, but most influenced by that which was dominant in each age. Thus in antiquity relief mainly shows the rule of sculpture, in the Renaissance that of painting.

Sculpture best represents character (⅞0os), painting expression (τα 7rα07}). Character is the permanent aspect of the face and figure as denoting the dominant quality. Thus a great statue may be not unfairly described by a single epithet. Expression is the transient but intense effect of some sudden feeling. A single figure in a painting requires a fuller description than a statue; the character is seen beneath the expression. Sculpture aims at embodying the ideal, and when it represents the real it must show the fulness of all qualities and even of all potentialities. Repose is the condition of sculpture. Painting having for its purpose the representation of light (colour), and the effects of light in bodies, can only deal with the circumstances of the moment. Movement is implied in painting. Sculpture that is pictorial and painting that is sculpturesque belong to the decline of art. Expression of a ι supreme kind is, however, found in sculpture of high quality, especially in that kind of relief which lies nearest to sculpture, alto-rilievo; and character is seen in noble portraits which endeavour to represent the man in his completeness. But such sculpture is properly in groups and such painting in the single form. The group suggests the treatment of painting, the single form in pictorial art that of sculpture. Relief, as intermediate between sculpture and painting, admits separately of movement and the momentary action, but the movement must be of the most dignified and rhythmical kind, otherwise it will need colour to counteract confusion by a higher harmony, and the momentary action must be of supreme importance. Observe the dignity and rhythm of the Panathenaic frieze of the Parthenon, the want of colour in the Amazon frieze of the Mausoleum, contrasting it with the noble fragmentary chariot frieze, and the supreme moment chosen in the metopes of the Parthenon.

Relief is usually divided into three kinds, low, middle, and high (basso-, mezzo-, and alto-rilievo), and it is convenient to retain these terms while admitting that they are only roughly correct. Work to be viewed in a feeble light and from a distance must have clearness in the most necessary outlines, and that simplicity which equally marks the Panathenaic frieze. It admits of simple and general movement. This is low relief, and must not be too much raised from the background. High relief difiers from sculpture in the round in that it is not necessarily detached from the background, nor usually of the full depth of true proportion, and in consisting of groups to be seen from a distance, so simply treated as to be free from confusion due to the shadows upon them, and not to cast shadows. It should thus be simple in the forms. It admits of expression of the highest kind, which is almost suggested by the relation of the figures which constitute a group, but it does not allow movement. Middle relief, inasmuch as it is used for objects to be seen near, is delicate in its outlines and may be elaborate in its details. The sculptured columns of the temple of Artemis at Ephesus show the delicacy of the method and coins and gems its delight in elaboration. All coins should be treated in this manner, and it is usual in the entire range of those of the Greeks, although the influence of sculpture on relief of other kinds is constantly traceable.

It may be expected that Greek coins will bear the impress of the sister arts of sculpture and painting, filling up the gaps in the sequence of examples of the art of which we have remains, telling us somewhat of that which has but a written tradition. Our first duty is to endeavour to place the documents in the best order, separating the geographical from the historical indications, first examining the evidence of local schools, then those of the succession of styles. It is from coins alone that we can discover the existence of great local schools, reflecting the character of the different branches of the Hellenic race. In tracing the changes in these schools we gain a great addition to our ideas of the successive styles, and can detect new examples of those which owe their fame to the leading masters. But in dealing with works in relief we have the advantage due to their intermediate character. In our larger geographical horizon we can trace the character of the successive styles, not of sculpture only, but also of sculpture and painting.

Greek coins clearly indicate three great schools, each with its subordinate groups. The school of central Greece holds the first place, including the northern group centred in Thrace and Macedonia, and the southern in the Peloponnesus, with the outlying special schools of Crete and Cyrene. The Ionian school has its northern group, Ionia, Mysia, and Aeolis, and its southern, Rhodes and Caria. Beyond these are certain barbarous and semi-barbarous groups, of which the most important is that of eastern Asia Minor, Persia, and Phoenicia, with Cyprus. The school of the West comprises the two groups of Italy and Sicily.

The whole duration of the schools is limited, by the repulse of the Persians and the accession of Alexander, from 480 to 332 b.c. Before this age all is archaic, and it is hard to trace local characteristics. After it, the centralizing policy of the sovereigns and the fall of the free cities destroyed local art. In certain cultivated centres under enlightened kings a local art arose, but it speedily became general, and we have thus to think of a succession of styles during the rest of the life of Greek art. The century and a half of the local schools is significantly the great age of this art.

In the study of each school we have first to determine its character, and then to look in its successive phases for the influence of the great masters of style. Two dangers must be avoided. We must not too sharply divide the sculptors and the painters as if they always were true to the special functions of their arts. It is well to bear in mind that the earliest great painter, Polygnotus, was a portrayer of character, καλό; -ηθογράφος, -ηθικός, as Aristotle calls him, whereas the latest great sculptors represented expression. Thus sculpture first weighed down the balance, afterwards painting; but it must be remembered that relief can be truer to painting than sculpture in the round, which is more limited by the conditions of the material and mechanical necessities. Our second danger is due to the ease with which local qualities may be ascribed to the influence of a leading style. It is also to be borne in mind that the movement of art in coins was during one period slower than in sculpture,—hence an influence more general than particular. Phidias and Myron do not make their mark so much as Polyclitus. In all cases the direct influence of great masters is to be looked for later than their age. The style of their time is prevalent in the coins, their actual works do not produce imitations till later, and as this is so we must regard the reflexions as influenced by the atmosphere in which they were produced. A Hera of the age of Polyclitus may be truer to the style of this artist than a later one which was produced under the influence of his famous statue.

The school of central Greece in its southern group, comprehending Attica, is remarkable for its widespread extent. It has its colonies in Magna Graecia at Thurium, an Athenian foundation, probably at Terina, and in Macedonia at Amphipolis and Chalcidice under Athenian rule. It alone shows instances comparable to the works of Phidias, though its most numerous fine works are of the age of Polyclitus and that of Praxiteles and Scopas. Its qualities may be seen by comparison of the same subjects as treated by the other schools and groups. The earliest works are marked more than any others by the qualities of high promise which characterized the Aeginetan marbles,—the same dignified self-restraint and calm simplicity. Next we perceive a series strong in style, and showing that lofty dignity, that reposeful embodiment of character, which are the stamp of the works of Phidias and his contemporaries. The subjects are more remarkable for fidelity, breadth, and boldness than for delicacy of execution or elaboration of ornament. Every subject is ideal, even the portrayal of animal form. Thus the character shows us what divinity is intended and the ideality what is intended by the representation of beast or bird. From these works we pass to those which reflect the style of the time of Praxiteles and Scopas, when the influence of painting began to be felt, and art inclined towards feeling and descended to sentiment. Still, to the last, character rules these coins, and the chief difference we see is in the increased love of beauty for its own sake and the fondness for representing movement, not to the exclusion of repose, but by its side. In other respects there is little change except in the finer execution and more ornamental quality of the work. Even when the greatest achievement of the Sicilian school, the head of Persephone on the decadrachms of Syracuse, is copied by the Locrians and the Messenians, the larger quality of the school of Greece asserts itself, and the copy is better than the original: there is less artifice and more breadth. The northern group is at first ruder, in the age of Phidias severer, and afterwards it merges into the greater softness of its southern rival. If it copies, as Larissa may copy Syracuse and Neapolis in Campania, it again asserts its superior simplicity, and we prefer the copy to the original.

The Ionian school lacks the sequence which the rest of the Greek world affords. It is broken by the baneful influence of the Persian dominion, and consequently the best works belong to the earliest and latest part of the period. The earliest coins, of the Aeginetan age, present nothing special; the later, of the time of Praxiteles and Scopas, comprise works not inferior to those of central Greece, and remarkable, like the Western and the Cretan, as the sole records of a school otherwise unknown. They are markedly characterized by the qualities of the style of feeling, that of Praxiteles and Scopas; but more than this, they are the expression of that style in pictorial form. They represent expression, and they treat it as it could not be treated in sculpture in the round, portraying locks streaming in the air and flowing draperies. At the same time, they are true to the highest qualities of art. Each divinity is at once recognized. Persephone has not the maidenly sweetness she wears in Hellas, but the melancholy foresight of her fate; she has not the character but the expression of the goddess. It must be remembered that, while Hellas produced the great sculptors, western Asia Minor bred the great painters after Polygnotus, himself a sculptor in painting rather than a painter. In the native land of Zeuxis, Parrhasius, and Apelles we see the evidence of the rule of painting. The execution of even the smallest works of this school is marked by the subtlest modulations of form, and here again we see the quality of the painter, who, having to represent solid objects on a plane, must have the highest knowledge of anatomy. The power of expression and the knowledge of what underlies the surface of the face are carried even in the smallest works just alluded to, as the Cyzicene hectae, to a degree of excellence which baffles modern critical power. The technical skill is inferior to that of the West, yet the skill in modelling is far greater, and has no parallel in the medallic work of any other time or country.

The school of the West, if we except such outlying examples of the art of Hellas as those of Thurium and Terina, has its highest expression in Italy, its most characteristic in Sicily. It has distinctive qualities throughout the age. Even in the earlier period we trace a striving after beauty and. a delicacy of finish, with a weakness of purpose, that mark the school with an influence increasing to a time long after the extinction of its rivals. We trace neither clearness of character nor force of expression. The Persephone of Syracuse is merely a beautiful girl. More than this, her beauty is shown off by the portrayal of the artifices of civilized life, emphasized by tricks of style. At the same time there is a knowledge of the capacity of the materials and the form of the coin, and a masterly power of finish, on the whole a completeness of technical skill which is unequalled. The result in the lower subjects is splendid, if wanting in variety, but in the higher we miss the noble achievements of the greater schools. So far there is a general agreement in the northern and southern groups. Yet the Italian shows a nobler and simpler style, with some affinity to that of central Greece, which we look for in vain in Sicily, though we are dazzled by the rich beauty of the magnificent series of coins which marks her wealthiest age. Sicilian art has this apparent advantage, that the great cities, save Syracuse, perished in the Carthaginian invasion, or under the tyranny of the elder Dionysius. Thus we have no important works save of Syracuse during the second half of our period, and cannot judge fully to what this school would have fallen. The key to this exceptional development of Greek art is found in the absence of sculptors or painters in the West, except only Pythagoras of Rhegium at the very beginning of the age, whose influence is thought to be traceable on the money of his native town. The Western art is that of engravers accustomed to minute and decorative work, uninfluenced by sculpture or painting. Their designs will not bear enlargement, which only enhances the charm of those of the other leading schools. Those of the great Syracusan decadrachms are small; those of the minute hectae of Cvzicus are large.

The most important of the lesser schools is the Cretan. Crete, retaining the primitive life of older Hellas, was never truly civilized, but enjoyed to the last the privileges and exhibited the faults of an undeveloped condition. Producing in the age of high art neither sculptor nor painter of renown, the Cretans, to judge from their coins, were copyists of nature or art. At first rude, their work acquires excellence in design, but never in execution. While we see their poor reproductions of the designs of the Peloponnesus, we are amazed by their skill in portraying nature. Their gods are seated in trees with a background of foliage. Their bulls are sketched as they wandered in the meadows. All fitness for the mode of relief, as well as for the material and the shape of the coin, is entirely ignored. Hence a delight in foreshortening, and a free choice of subject with no reference to the circle in which it must be figured. In spite, however, of their skill, the Cretans never attempted the three-quarter face, which is at once the best suited to the surface of a coin and the most trying to the skill of the artist. Yet their work is delightfully fresh, as if done in the open air. There is no idealism, but much life and movement. In a word, the school is naturalistic and picturesque. Its works are of the highest value in the study of Greek art, but as examples of the application of that art to coins they are to be used with caution. Nowhere else do λve see the artist so freely copying nature and art, nowhere so unshackled by academic rules, nowhere so little aware of the limitation of his province.

It is important to study the mode in which Greek money was coined, because the forms of the pieces thus receive explanation, and true coins are discriminated from such modern falsifications as have been struck, and in some degree from those which have been cast. Our direct information on the subject is extremely scanty, but we are enabled by careful inference to obtain a very near approximation to the truth on all the most important points.

The only single ancient Greek die of the authenticity of which we are persuaded was seen by Burgon in the East. He described it, from recollection, as a piece of copper or bell-metal, in the shape of a truncated cone, flat at the top and bottom, about 3⅛ inches in height, and from about 3 inches in diameter at the bottom to 2 at the top. In the upper surface was cut the die for the reverse of a tetradrachm of a Seleucid king of Syria, with the type of Apollo seated on the omphalos. There appears to have been no trace of any method of fitting this to the die of the obverse. From the appearance which the coins present, it may be inferred that the Greeks placed a ball of metal, carefully adjusted to the proper weight, and cold, between two dies, and then struck the upper die a powerful blow with a very heavy hammer. There was no collar to give the coins an exactly circular form. The dies must have been of hard metal, though softer than modern ones. Some Greek coins have been found of the same die, but such as the writer has seen did not present any evidence as to the wear to which their dies had been subjected. The Roman coins appear to have been struck in the same manner, but with a more careful adjustment of the two sides, yet without a collar. Their dies, although hard, must have been, like the Greek dies, softer than those of the moderns, since, in the case of coins from the same die, we can trace the increase of imperfections through wear, and this notwithstanding the short period for which each die was used and the relatively few coins struck from it. In the case of Greek coins, there is similar evidence, in the great number which have bad or imperfect impressions, although not worn, since all these can scarcely owe their inferiority to insufficient force having been used in striking them. Some few Greek and Roman coins were cast and not struck; others were first cast to give them their general form, and then struck. Both cases, however, form very rare exceptions, and are confined to particular groups of coins and not to isolated examples.

We may now pass on to notice the Greek coinage of each country, following Eckhel’s arrangement. The series begins with Spain, Gaul, and Britain, constituting the only great class of barbarous Greek coinage. It must not be supposed that the money of the whole class is of one general character; on the contrary, it has very many divisions, distinguished by marked peculiarities; it has, however, everywhere one common characteristic,—its devices are corrupt copies of those of Greek or Roman coins. The earliest of these barbarous coinages begin with the best imitations of the gold and silver money of Philip II. of Macedon. They probably first appeared to the north of his kingdom, but the gold soon spread as far as Gaul, and even found their λvay into southern Britain, by which time the original types had almost disappeared through successive degradations. Next in order of time are the silver imitations of Roman family coins, the victoriati and denarii of the commonwealth, which began in Spain and passed into Gaul and Britain, being current in those countries with the gold money of Greek origin. The copper money of Spain follows the imitated silver types; that of Gaul and Britain, though showing Roman influence, is more original. It is useless to attempt a very minute classification of the subjects of these barbarous types, since the artists by whom they were executed did not properly understand them.

Side by side with these large coinages we find Greek money of colonies in Gaul and Spain, and a far ampler issue of Phcenician coins by the Carthaginian kings and cities of the Peninsula. The coinage of Hispania, corresponding to the modern Spain and 1 ortugal, was issued during a period of about four centuries, closing in 41 A.D. There are four classes of money, which in the order of their relative antiquity are Greek, of two groups, Carthaginian, Romano-Iberian, and Latin. The first or older group of Greek money belongs to the widespread currency which reveals the maritime power of the Ionians of Phocaea. It consists of fractions of the drachm of the Phocaean standard, from the diobol or third downwards. Its later pieces are of the Phocaean colony of Emporiae, founded by the earlier settlement of Massilia. Next in order and in part contemporary, beginning before the middle of the 4th century b.c., come the drachms of Emporiae, which betray the influence of Siculo-Punic art. Their standard is probably Carthaginian. Of the neighbouring Rhoda, a Rhodian colony, there is similar money. Carthaginian coins of Spain begin in the same period with the issues of the great colony of Gades, following the same weights as the Emporian drachms. These are followed by the issues of the Barcides from 234 to 210 B.c., with Carthaginian types and of Phoenician weight, struck of six denominations, from the hexadrachm to the hemidrachm. Senor Zobel de Zangr6niz has classed them to Spain, on the grounds of provenance and the possession of the silver mines by the Barcide kings, against Müller, who attributes them to Africa. The types are Carthaginian, and present some interesting subjects. The true Iberian currency begins not long after the Punic. The later drachms of Emporiae, ultimately following the weight of the contemporary Roman denarius, have Iberian legends, and form the centre of a group of imitations issued by neighbouring native tribes with their distinctive inscriptions. This coinage ceased when the Roman province was formed in 206 b. c. A little before this date the Romans had begun to introduce Latin money; about this time, however, they took the backward step of permitting native coinages of Latin weight. Probably they found that native legends and types were more welcome to their subjects than those of Rome. Consequently this coinage of Spain under the republic, which lasted until 133 b.c., may be almost considered national. The two provinces Hispania Citerior and Hispania Ulterior have this marked difference: the coins of the nearer province, of silver and bronze, have always Iberian inscriptions on the reverse, and are clearly under distinct Roman regulation; those of the farther are apparently of independent origin, and consequently bear Iberian, Phoenician, Libyo-Phoenician, and Latin legends, but they are of bronze alone. The interest of these coins lies mainly in their historical and geographical information. They bear the names of tribes, often the same as those of the town of mintage. The art is poor, and lacks the quaint originality and decorative quality of that of Gaul. Ultimately the native money was wholly Latinized (133 b.c.), though political circumstances for a time renewed it under Sertorius (80-72 b.c.) in the modified form of a bilingual currency. The purely Latin issues of the two provinces, and under the empire more largely (from 27 b.c.) of the three, Tarraconensis, Baetica, and Lusitania, present little of interest. They closed in the reign of Caligula (37-41 a.d. ), though in later times purely Roman money in gold and silver was issued at different times in Hispania down to the establishment of the Visigothic kingdom.

The imperial money of Hispania introduces us to one of the two great classes of provincial coins under the empire; the larger of these was the Greek imperial, bearing Greek inscriptions, the smaller the Roman colonial, with Latin inscriptions, deriving its name from the circumstance that among Greek-speaking nations the coloniae were distinguished by the use of the Latin language on their money. In the coinage of Hispania, issued by a nation adopting Latin for official use, the aspect of the coinage is colonial, though it was not wholly issued by colonies. Many of the Spanish towns .belong to the kindred class of municipia; others are neither coloniae nor municipia. In Hispania the obverse of the coin bears, as usual in the colonial class, the head of the emperor or of some imperial personage, the reverse a subject proper to the town. The priest guiding a plough drawn by a yoke of oxen is peculiarly proper to a colonia, as portraying the ceremony of describing the walls of the city, so also an ox, with the same reference, the altar of the imperial founder, or, as connected with his cultus, a temple, probably in some cases that of Roma and Augustus. Other types, however, portray the old temples in restored Roman shapes, or indicate directly by fishes, ears of corn, and more rarely bunches of grapes, the products of the country, not, as in Greek cities, those products in relation to religion. Some original and grotesque types have a markedly local character. The money of Augusta Emerita (Merida) in Lusitania, a colony of pensioners (emeriti), is specially interesting, including as it does the silver issues of P. Carisius, the legatus of Augustus.

The coinage commonly called that of Gaul belongs to the people more properly than to the country; for it comprehends pieces issued by the Gauls or other barbarians from the borders of Macedonia and Illyricum to the English Channel and the Bay of Biscay, through Pannonia, part of Germany, Helvetia, and Gaul. It influenced the money of northern Italy, and, crossing the Channel, produced that of Britain, which has its own distinctive features. Four classes of coinage are found in these vast limits. Arranging them by date, they are the money of the Greek colony of Massilia and her dependencies, that of the Gauls and other barbarians of central and western Europe, those which can be classed to the tribes and chiefs of Gaul, and the imperial coinage of that country. The coins here attributed to the Gauls and other barbarians are by some numismatists classed to Pannonia. It is quite true that the silver money of this class is not found in Gaul, but in the case of the gold it is impossible to draw a distinct geographical line. Further, no nation is so likely to have struck the bulk of these pieces as the plunderers of the Greek cities; at the same time, there are Thracian and other barbarous mintages which are not Gaulish. The gold money cannot be limited to any one country; it is common to all, having evidently spread as a safe commercial medium; the silver, on the other hand, remained limited to the neighbourhood of the Macedonian territory. Thus, though we may separate certain eastern issues, the general designation of the whole group as issued by the Gauls and other barbarians is safest, so long as the great class of gold remains common to the whole region, and even in some varieties to Britain apart from the true British coinage—unless, indeed, its presence there is due to commerce.

The great mart of Massilia (Marseilles), founded about 600 b.c. by the Phocaeans, was the centre of the Greek settlements of Gaul and northern Spain. Emporiae was her colony, with other nearer towns of inferior fame. Yet Massilia always held the first place, as is proved by the abundance of her money. At first it consisted of Phocaean obols, part of the widespread Western currency already noticed in speaking of Emporiae. These were succeeded by Attic drachms, some of which, about Philip of Macedon’s time, are beautiful in style and execution. Their obverse type is the head of Artemis, crowned with olive, at once marking the sacred tree, which had grown from a branch carried by the colonists, so tradition said, with a statue of the goddess, from Ephesus, and proclaiming the value of the olive-groves of Massilia. On the reverse we note the Asiatic lion, common to it and the last colony of Phocaea, the Italian Velia in Lucania.

The coinage of the Gauls clearly had its origin in their predatory incursions into Greece. They there found the money of Philip and Alexander still the great currency. Civilized enough to convert their spoil from metal into money, they speedily coined gold and silver, of which the earliest examples imitate, often with no small intelligence, the gold staters or didrachms of Philip and the silver staters or tetradrachms of Alexander. From the greater rarity of Alexandrine types in silver and their absence in gold, it may be conjectured that the earliest issues were struck in Philip’s reign, though the mass of the coinage must be later. The money of Gallia before the complete Roman conquest, to which it may be anterior in its commencement by half a century, belongs in the gold to degraded types of the earlier widespread currency. The undoubted gold and electrum of this class, identified as bearing regal or geographical names, are extremely limited. By far the most interesting coin of the group is the gold piece which bears the name at full length of the brave and unfortunate Vercingetorix. The silver money is comparatively common. The name of the Helvetian prince Orgetorix is likewise traced on Gaulish coins, on which it appears allied with those of native chiefs, and in a special coinage of his own, remarkable for the characteristic Swiss type of the bear. The bronze money of Gaul is still more abundant than the silver, and has a special interest from its characteristic types. The Roman coins recall those of Hispania, but are limited to a few coloniae. They range in date from Antony and Augustus to Claudius. The principal issues are the well-known money of Lugdunum (Lyons) and Nemausus (Nîmes). Those of Lugdunum may have been struck iu a district around the city; the type of the famous altar of Lyons, that of Roma and Augustus, is worthy of note. The type of Nemausus, commemorating the conquest of Egypt in the crocodile and palm, is further remarkable as sometimes struck in the shape of the hind-leg of a deer, and is therefore called the pied de biche.

The ancient coinage of Britain is the child of that of Gaul, retaining the marks of its parentage, yet with characters of its own due to independent growth. Μoney first came in trade by the easiest sea-passage, and, once established in Kent, gradually spread north and west, until the age of the earlier Roman Avars, when it was issued in Yorkshire, probably in Lincolnshire, and in a territory of λvhich the northern limits are marked by the counties of Norfolk, Cambridge, Huntingdon, Bedford, Buckingham, Oxford, Gloucester, and Somerset. The oldest coins are gold imitations of Philip’s staters, which, whether struck in Gaul or Britain, had a circulation on the British side of the Channel. They are the prototypes of all later money. From a careful comparison of their weights with those of later coins, and from a study of the gradual degradation of the types, Evans places the origin of the coinage between 200 and 150 B. c. Its close may be placed about the middle of the 1st century a. D. The inscribed coins occupy the last century of this period, being contemporary with uninscribed ones. The uninscribed coins are of gold, silver, bronze, and tin, the gold being by far the most common. There is small variety in the types, nearly all in gold and silver, and some in copper, presenting in more or less degraded form the original Gaulish type for gold. It may be suspected that all new types and the extremely barbarous descendant of the tin series are of the age of the inscribed coins, or but little earlier. The Channel Islands are remarkable for a peculiar coinage of billon, a very base silver, presenting the usual types modified by Gaulish grotesqueness. The place of this group in the British series is merely accidental; in character as in geography it is Gaulish.

The inscribed coins are evidently in most cases of chiefs, though it is certain that one town (Verulamium) and some tribes had the right of striking money. The most interesting coins are those of known chiefs and their families—of Commius, probably the active prince mentioned by Caesar, of Dubnovellaunus, mentioned in the famous Ancyra inscription, which has been called the will of Augustus, and most of all the large and interesting series of Cunobelinus, Shakespeare’s Cymbeline, his brother Epaticcus, and his father Tasciovanus. It is evident from the coins and historical evidence collected by Evans that Tasciovanus had a long reign. His chief town, as we learn from his money, was Verulamium. His coins are in three metals, repeat the traditional types, and present new ones, some showing a distinctly Roman influence. The money of Epaticcus is scanty, but that of Cunobelinus, with Camulodunum (Colchester) for his chief town, is even more abundant than his father’s, indicating a second long reign, and having the same general characteristics. The gold shows a modification of the traditional type, the silver and bronze the free action of Roman influence and a remarkable progress in art. With the death of this prince not long before 43 A.D. British coinage probably ceases, none being known of his sons, Adminius, Togodumnus, and the more famous Caractacus, though the coins of the Iceni may have continued as late as 50 a.d.

The ancient coins of Italy occupy the next place. They appear to have been struck during a period of more than 500 years, the oldest being probably of the beginning of the 6th century b.c., and the latest somewhat anterior to the time of Julius Caesar. The larger number, however, are of the age before the great extension of Roman power, which soon led to the use of Roman money almost throughout Italy. There are two great classes, which may be called the proper Italian and the Graeco-Italian; but many coins cannot be referred to either, since they present peculiarities of both. The proper Italian coius are of gold, silver, and bronze. Of these, the gold coins are extremely rare, and can never have been struck in any large numbers. The silver are comparatively common, but the bronze are very numerous and characteristic. Some of the silver coins have an incuse device on the reverse, which is almost always a repetition of that on the obverse; they are of Greek cities, but their fabric is peculiar to Italy. There are also a few with a design on the obverse and a perfectly plain reverse. The most remarkable bronze coins of this class are of the kind called aes grave, some of which were the early proper coinage of Rome, although others are known to have been struck by other Italian cities. These are very thick coins, some of which are of great size, while most have a rude appearance. The designs of the Italian coins are generally, if not always, of Greek origin, although the influence of the native mythology may be sometimes traced. The inscriptions are in Latin, Oscan, or Etruscan, and follow a native orthography; sometimes on the earlier coins they are retrograde. The art of this class is generally poor, or even barbarous. The denominations are common to Greek money, except in the case of the bronze, which follows a native system. Of this system the early proper Roman coins afford the best known examples. The Graeco-Italian coins are of gold, silver, and bronze. The silver and .bronze are very common, and the gold comparatively so, although struck by few states or cities. In form the silver and bronze coins are thicker than those of Greece of the same period, but there is not the same difference in the gold. The designs are of Greek origin, although here, as in the proper Italian coins, but less markedly, native influence can be detected. This influence is evident in the frequent occurrence of types symbolically representing rivers, showing a bias towards the old nature - worship, and still more in the use of Latin inscriptions, with half-Italian forms of the letters on coins otherwise Greek. Of the best art of ancient Italian money we have already spoken, and we shall have occasion to mention some of its most beautiful examples. The denominations of the gold and silver coins are unquestionably derived from those of Greece, according to the weight of the Attic talent, the heaviest gold piece being the stater or 3000th part of that talent; in silver there are few tetradrachms, the didrachms are extremely common, and smaller denominations are usually not rare. We thus learn that the silver currency was chiefly of didrachms, smaller pieces being less used, and larger ones scarcely used at all. It is important here to notice that the interchange of the native or Italian bronze coinage with the Greek silver coinage led to a double standard, silver and bronze. The bronze standard, as might be suspected, was of Italian origin, the silver of foreign introduction.

The peculiarity of the Italian bronze is that in its oldest cast form it was of such weight as to show the absence in some parts of the country of silver equivalents. It was long after silver had been introduced everywhere, with struck bronze equivalents, before the heavy coinage (aes grave) went out of circulation. The silver money is at first remarkable for the evidence it affords of its extraneous character in presenting two standards. Afterwards it becomes equivalent to the bronze, or supplies equivalent pieces, and is quite regular. The original condition of the Italian currencies is best illustrated by the money of Etruria about 300 b.c. Etruria, be it remembered, was an early goal of Oriental commerce by sea. At the great mart of Populonia, and in the country round, we find not only silver coins of two different foreign standards, the Attic and the so-called Persic, but also cast aes grave and later struck bronze pieces issued before the cast money had fallen into disuse. Without discussing the origin of these various currencies it is enough to note that they bear witness to the effects of a widely-spread commerce, and show that here was the meeting-point of the native system and of foreign ones.

In Italy the aes grave long ruled. Originally it was libral, the principal coin being the as, nominally of the weight of a Roman libra or pound. In the coinage of Rome the as does not seem to have ever exceeded the weight of ten ounces, or ten-twelfths of its proper weight. On the other hand, the aes grave of Etruria is occasionally heavier. The Romans made the quarter denarius, called the sestertius, the silver equivalent of the libral as; the earliest weight of this coin was about 17'156 grs.; and, the value of silver to bronze being as 1 to 250, we thus obtain 4290, or about ten libral ounces, as the original weight of the libral as. The successive reductions of the as belong to Roman numismatics, and it is only necessary here to add that they affected the local bronze coinages as Italy fell under the rule of the republic. The silver coinages, on the other hand, survived for a longer time throughout the Greek cities. Their coin corresponding to the sestertius, as the equivalent of the libral as, was the Attic diobolon, which, originally of 22'5 grs., was at once reduced to about 18, and of course reduced the didrachm at the same time, which, really Attic, became apparently Phoenician; it was the principal silver coin of the cities of Magna Graecia. The purely Italian currency rules in northern and middle Italy. The great Greek coinages are of the wealthy marts which dotted the coasts of Campania, Calabria, Lucania, and the Bruttii. Similarly λve find Etruscan inscriptions on the coins of Etruria, and Oscan on those of middle and lower Italy, where they are eclipsed in number and style by the Greek issues.

Beginning in the north of Italy, the first coins that strike us are those of Populonia in Etruria. The silver money of this place is generally of the peculiar fabric in which the reverse is left perfectly plain. The aes grave of upper and middle Italy is of great importance. It presents the great oblong masses of uncertain weight, multiples of the as, which wear an aspect of great antiquity, though the elephant on one shows us that they were cast after the wars of Pyrrhus. Latium is particularly rich, even when we exclude the coinage of Rome (to be treated later). Samnium shows us a curious revival of native silver money after the local coinage of the Italian towns had been almost abolished by Rome. It was the result of the Social or Marsic War of the confederate tribes, who struck for Italy against the Roman supremacy during the years between 90 and 88 b.c. The coins present the head of Italia, and reverse types of which the most striking are warriors, varying in number, taking an oath over a sacrificial pig, and a bull for Italy goring the prostrate wolf of Rome. The inscriptions are Oscan or Latin.

Certain of the Greek towns of Italy deserve special mention for the splendour of their coinage,—beautiful in style and delicate in execution. In Campania (leaving the Romano - Campanian for later notice) the two most interesting currencies are of Cumae and Neapolis, the modern Naples. Cumae presents silver money of the archaic and the early fine style, in which last we first observe the peculiar naïveté of western Greek art before it had attained elaboration. The abundant silver coins of Neapolis are of the early and the late fine periods and of the decline. The types are usually the head of the siren Parthenope, more rarely Hera and Pallas, favourite goddesses of the Greeks of Italy; the reverse presents the man-headed bull common on Campanian money, here not a rivergod as in Sicily, but the tauromorphous Dionysus. The bronze money is of good style, and age has beautified it with the rich blue or green patina due to the sulphurous soil. When we reach Calabria the Greek money startles us in astonishing wealth of beauty in the currency of the opulent and luxurious mart of Tarentum, second only to Syracuse in the whole West, of all the main periods of art, and including in the age of its greatest prosperity and its fall (the time of the contest with Rome) the most abundant gold issues of any Greek city. The gold money of Tarentum is a delight to the eye, with the varied beauty of its gem-like types, which, while they show the gem-engraver’s art, prove the medallist’s knowledge of the rich but opaque metallic material. Several heads of divinities adorn these coins, and the chief reverse types relate to the legendary founder, Taras, son of Poseidon. Always a youth, he appears as a charioteer, perhaps as a horseman, and riding on a dolphin, the familiar Γarentine type. The most remarkable subject represents him with outstretched arms running to Poseidon seated on a chair. The silver coinage is chiefly of Attic didrachms, oi loiV weight to admit the interchange of their sixth, the diobol, with the Roman libral as. The prevalent type is Taras seated on a dolphin; in earlier money the type is single, and repeated incuse on the reverse; afterwards this subject occupies the reverse, and, itself a charming composition, is delightfully varied. On the early fine coms the people or demos, personified generally as a youth, often holding a spindle, occupies the obverse, but gives place to a horseman in various attitudes, giving great scope to the engraver’s skill; pιobably he is Taras himself, save when he is a full-grown warrior. These representations illustrate the famed horsemanship of the Tarentines, and refer to contests and games which were probably local. Heraclea in Lucania shows us didrachms of the fine age, with heads of Pallas and subjects connected with Heracles: the contest with the Nemean lion is most skilfully treated, and the series is very characteristic of the gem-engraver’s art. The powerful city of Metapontum begins with early coins having the incuse reverse, and then displays a long series stretching down to the decline of art. The constant type, which recurs with the heraldic instinct of the West, is the ear of bearded wheat, reminding us of the “golden harvest” {χρυσoυv θtpos) which the Metapontines dedicated at Delphi. Like the Tarentine badge, it first occupies the obverse, then the reverse, balanced by a charming series of heads of divinities. Persephone is the most appropriate counterpart; we also note heads of Concordia {'Ομόνοια) and Hygieia, marked by an ingenuous grace peculiar to the early fine work of the Western school, of Leucippus the founder as a helmeted warrior (occurring on a rare tetradrachm and the usual didrachms), and many other types of unusual variety and originality of conception.

The ancient Sybaris, famous for her luxury, has left archaic coins; she was destroyed by Croton in 510 b.c., restored for a time, and then became an Athenian colony, speedily receiving the name of Thurium about 443 b.c. The result of the support of Athens in the days of Pericles was the issue of a splendid series of coins. Not only is the face of the coin occupied by the head of Pallas, and the great currency, as at Athens, of tetradrachms, but the severe beauty of the style points to the direct influence of the art of central Greece. The head of Pallas is covered by a helmet adorned with a splendid figure of the sea-monster Scylla. The reverse shows a bull butting (θot'ptos), in a strikingly ideal form. Probably the obverse type affords the nearest reflexion of the masterpiece of Phidias, or at least the closest following of his style. The finest coins are unsigned tetradrachms, but didrachms of cognate style give the beginning of the name of the engraver Φ. He reappears at Terina (of which town presently).

Velia, the last colony of Phocaea, whose citizens sailed away to the far west rather than submit to the Persian tyrant (544 b.c.), shows coins from its foundation. The pieces of fine work witness to an Asiatic origin in the types of the lion, devouring the stag or as a single device, while the obverse displays the head of Pallas so much in favour in Magna Graecia. The style, which lacks strength but not beauty, is Italian, and we see no trace of the pictorial qualities of Ionian art, which indeed had not taken its mature form when the exiles left the mother country.

The Bruttii are the first native Italians whom we find striking a fair Greek coinage. Their gold and silver is of late style, the gold presenting the head of Poseidon and Amphitrite on a sea-horse, the silver the head of Amphitrite and the figure of Poseidon, both with other subjects. Caulonia has early coins running down to the early fine period, mythologically interesting in type, and the later with a beautifully-designed stag on the reverse. For Croton the ruling type is the tripod. The eagle occurs on the obverse and the tripod on the reverse. The bird of Zeus is inferior to that at Agrigentum, as this again is inferior to the eagle of Elis. We note also beautiful types of Heracles seated, one of marvellously delicate work, on the reverse of which Apollo aims an arrow at the Python from behind his tripod,—a remarkable composition. The other Heracles types form a most interesting series of recollections, “memory sketches,” of a famous statue, the pose of which recalls the so-called Theseus of the Parthenon, while the obverse presents the head of the Hera Lacinia worshipped on the promontory close by. The latest coins, like the parallel ones of Metapontum, are weak and pretty. The money of the Locri Epizephyrii affords two curious types of reverse, Eirene seated, of fine style, with the legend ΕΙΡΗΝΗ ΛOKPΩN, and the later yet more remarkable subject of Roma seated while Pistis crowns her, the legend being PΩMA ΠIΣTIΣ ΛOKPΩN. The historical reference is as yet undiscovered. There are beautiful coins of the little-known town of Pandosia, bearing the head of the nymph Pandosia (?); the reverse has the river Crathis, a splendid head of the Lacinian Hera, and Pan, being signed by an engraver who may be the same as the Φ of Thurium, though the style is different and the execution gem-like.

Rhegium was closely connected with Messene in Sicily opposite, and thus the great Sicilian currency of tetradrachms prevails.

Anaxilaus, tyrant of Rhegium from 494 to 476 b.c., early in his rule acquired Messene through Samian adventurers. The coins of both towns at first present Samian types, and then, the Samians having been expelled, Anaxilaus commemorates his Olympic victory in the mule-car. As this race only lasted from 500 to 448 B. c., its occurrence here, represented only in the style of the earliest quarter of the 5th century, is historically valuable. The same type appears at Messene and lasts longer. In both cases the reverse bears a running hare, a symbol of Pan.

The little-known town of Terina is illustrious as having produced a series of silver didrachms which, on the whole, is the most beautiful in Italy. The obverse has the head of a goddess, who is portrayed winged on the reverse,—a wonderfully fine subject, well conceived and most delicately executed in a variety of different attitudes, some recalling the Nices which adorn the balustrade of the temple of Wingless Victory at Athens. Very curiously, the money of Terina begins with an archaic coin which bears on the reverse the named figure of Wingless Victory, surrounded by the olive-wreath. Does all this indicate a religious connexion with Athens? Though the Athenian temple was not built till half a century or more after the date of the earlier coin, we may well think that the worship was of older date. The artist of the later coins, who signs Φ, is clearly the Φ of Thurium, Athenian in style if not in nationality, and perhaps he had seen the sculptures at Athens. At Terina he rules art; at Thurium he is one of several engravers; at Heraclea and Neapolis he merely introduces the stronger style; perhaps he appears once' more executing a masterpiece at Pandosia. He must have had a longlife and wide renown. It is significant that at Terina the later coins have a merit most unusual in the West.

The coinage of Sicily is Greek. The Hellenic and Carthaginian colonies of the coast left the barbarous natives undisturbed in the inland country, and both issued Greek money, the Punic with a tincture of Phoenician style. The coinage ranges from the 6th century b.c. until the subjugation of the island by the Romans, after which a few cities struck colonial or imperial coins for a short space. The marked periods are those of the preponderance of Syracuse from 480 to 212 b.c., interrupted by the great Carthaginian wars, which were fatal to the cities of the southern coast. The coinage is in gold, mainly issued at Syracuse, in silver, and in bronze. The standard is Attic, except the earliest money of the Chalcidian colonies Himera, Messene, and Naxos, which follows the Aeginetan weight. The metrology of Sicily has a distinct relation to that of Italy. Here also there is a double standard, silver and bronze, and in consequence an intrusive silver coin, differing but little from the obol, weighing 13 - 5 instead of ll - 25 grs., the silver equivalent of the bronze litra, whose name it borrows. The litra in bronze was the Sicilian pound, equal to half an Attic mina, and to two-thirds of the Roman libra or pound. So important was the litra in Sicily that the silver litra supplanted the obol, and the didrachm was sometimes called a stater of ten litrae, the decadrachm a piece of fifty litrae, pentecontalitron. The leading coin is the tetradrachm, not, as in Italy, the didrachm.

The Sicilian money is of extremely careful artistic work, not unfrequently even in the case of bronze allowing for a more rapid execution of the die; and the highest technical excellence is attained. The art is that of the southern branch of the great Western school, generally more skilful than the art of southern Italy, but less varied. The earlier fine work has a naive beauty peculiar to the West and almost confined to Sicily; all that follows is evidently gem-engravers’ work. These coins are remarkable for the frequency of artists’ signatures, which for the short period of highest skill are almost universal on the larger silver money of Syracuse, and occur less frequently on that of the other great cities. As in Italy, the decline is more rapid than elsewhere in the Greek world, in consequence of the inherent weakness of the style; but it is in part due to the calamities of the island, as of lower Italy.

The fame won by the tyranni and other leading aristocrats of Sicily in the great national contests of Hellas, in the race with the quadriga, the mule-car, and the horse, led to the introduction and supremacy of types commemorating these victories, probably in most cases those achieved at Olympia. That these victories are intended is shown principally by the mode in which a chariot is portrayed at the critical moment of passing the turning-post, by the occurrence of the turning-post itself, by the correspondence of the cities issuing the type with those commemorated by Pindar, in whose Olympic Odes the six victories in the chariot-race are all won by Sicilians, and by the direct evidence of Aristotle (ap. Poll., v. 75) that Anaxilaus of Rhegium recorded on his coins his Olympic victory with the mule-car. It is obvious that no success could be so appropriately figured on the coinage. The religious idea was maintained; the charioteer or the horseman was not the victor, but at the same time the renown of the city was indissolubly connected with the citizen who won it. Hence these types are confined to states ruled by tyranni or oligarchies; outside Sicily they are only found at Rhegium when it was closely connected with Sicily, at Cyrene, and in the money of Philip II. of Macedon. The horseman is not a frequent type; the mule - car is limited to Messene (and Rhegium); but the quadriga becomes the stereotyped subject for the reverse of the great Sicilian tetradrachms,—the bulk of the coinage,—and only escapes heraldic sameness by a charming variety in the details. In the age of finest art a divinity of the city takes, in Homeric guise, the place of the charioteer, or Nice herself so wins the victory; commonly she hovers above about to crown the charioteer. Yet more interesting are the types connected with nature-worship, especially those portraying river-gods in the form of a man-headed bull, or a youth with the budding horns of a calf, or in the shape of a dog, where Phoenician influence is found, and also the subjects of the nymphs of fountains. These types occur on either side of the coin. The obverse of all is usually held by the head of a divinity, Persephone and Pallas taking the first place.

The leading position which Syracuse held in the island makes it proper to notice her splendid currency first, the finest for knowledge of the materials, for skill in suitably filling the space, and for delicacy of execution in the whole range of Greek money, though we miss the noble simplicity of Greece, the strong feeling of western Asia Minor, and the simple picturesqueness of Crete. These larger qualities are sacrificed to an excess of richness and even to tricks of art. Yet the beauty of the coins and their completeness,—the artist having satisfied his intention,—command our admiration; and our interest is raised by the story they tell of the vicissitudes of the great city of the West, the mother of liberty and the slave of tyrants, great in commerce, rich, luxurious, loving the arts, yet able to defend herself even under base rulers against all the power of Carthage and of Athens. Syracuse was founded in 734 b.c. by Archias of Corinth, an origin which, remembered on both sides, served her well in later history. In the 6th century, under the oligarchy of the Geomori, she issued her most archaic silver money, which, primitive as it is, gives promise of the care of the later coinage, and begins the agonistic types, thus indicating some early victory at a great Hellenic contest. Gelon, tyrant of Gela, won the chariot race at Olympia in 488 b.c., secured Syracuse in 485 B.c., and, when the Carthaginians, probably by agreement with Xerxes, invaded Sicily, utterly routed them at the great battle of Himera (480 B. c. ), the Salamis of the West. These events find their record in the issue and subjects of his Syracusan money, which, however, was struck, as usual in that age, in the name of the people. The chariot type is varied, for Nice appears hovering above the victorious charioteer, about to crown the horses, and the coins issued after the great battle show the lion of Libya beneath the car in the exergue (Head, Syracuse, 9). These last pieces are fixed in date by the famous story how Gelon’s wife Demarete, having gained favourable terms for the vanquished Carthaginians, was presented by them with a hundred talents of gold, by means of which she coined the great silver pieces of fifty litrae or ten drachms, which were called after her demaretia. They bear the head of Nice, or it may be Pallas, crowned with olive, and the quadriga and lion. The battle of Himera and the death of Gelon (478 b.c.) fix the date of these remarkable coins, which close the archaic series of Syracuse and give us a fixed point in Greek art, at about 479 b.c. There is a touch of Egyptian in their style which makes us think that Syracuse may have been influenced through Naucratis.

Hieron (478-467 b.c.), the brother and successor of Gelon, continues the same types, alluding, as Head well remarks (loc. cit.), to his great victory over the Etruscans off Cumae (474 b.c.), by the marine monster in the exergue of the reverse which denotes the vanquished maritime power. It is to be noted that as Gelon introduces the Nice in the chariot type, so in the horseman type we now first see Nice crowning the rider. Gelon had won an Olympic victory in the four-horse contest, Hieron in the horse-race, though he also won with the four horses in the Pythian games. With Hieron’s money we say farewell to archaic art. The female heads on the obverse now have the eye in profile and show beauty and variety, and the horses are even exceptionally represented in rapid action. With the short rule of Thrasybulus, the last brother of the house, it came to an end, and the age of the democracy (466-406 b.c.) began. The victories by land and sea of Gelon and Hieron had established the power of the city on a sure basis, and fifty years of prosperity followed. To the earlier part of this age belong the beautiful transitional coins in which the female heads are marked by a youthful simplicity of beauty combined with fanciful and even fantastic treatment of the hair; the reverses remain extremely severe. Towards the close of this age there are very fine works, the first signed coins, with the old dignity yet with greater freedom of style, the horses of the quadriga in rapid movement. The contest with Athens and the victory of Syracuse (415-412 b.c. ) seem to have given the impulse of which we here see the effect. To the democracy also belong the earliest gold and bronze pieces.

The tyranny of Dionysius and his successors (406-345 b.c. ) is the age of the most splendid Syracusan coins, and that which shows the distinct beginning of decline. The wealth and prosperity of Dionysius led to the issue of the magnificent decadrachms, commonly but erroneously called medallions, with the heads of Persephone and Arethusa and the victorious chariot, as λvell as a variety of signed tetradrachms. The tyrant, defeated at Olympia by a combination, seems to commemorate on these coins the victory he could have won, and this explanation appears to be confirmed by such indications, never all combined, as the fallen turning - post, the broken rein, and the affrighted charioteer. The Dionysian dynasty closed in nine years of anarchy, until Syracuse appealed to Corinth, and Timoleon was sent to restore order (344 b.c.). The triumph of this public-spirited statesman is witnessed by various changes in the coinage. The chief silver piece is now a didrachm of Corinthian type, corresponding in weight to the tridrachm of Corinth, and with the same types, the head of Pallas and the Pegasus; the smaller coins present some Corinthian subjects. The democracy was overthrown in 317 b.c. and the city seized by Agathocles (317-289 b.c. ), the worst of the tyrants of Syracuse. In the course of his reign he adopted the royal style, and his coins, a reflexion of earlier work, give his name first without and then with the title king,—a double innovation. The tyrant Hicetas (287-278 b.c. ), and the next rule)·, Pyrrhus king of Epirus (278-276 b.c. ), continue the coinage, Pyrrhus issuing money in the name of the Syracusans and also striking his own pieces. The departure of Pyrrhus led to the establishment by a native, the second Hieron, of a dynasty which, so long as he ruled (276-216 b.c. ), restored the ancient prosperity and preponderance of the rule of his namesake. At first content with inscribing his name alone, he soon not only takes the title of king, conferred on him in the early years of his reign, but also places his portrait on the money. Of his time is the beautiful portrait of Queen Philistis, supposed to be his consort. The heads have merit, but the reverse has become merely heraldic. The money of the short reign of Hieronymus (216-215 b.c. )andof the brief democracy which fell before the Romans (215-212 b.c.) close the independent series of this great city. But her name still appears in bronze money issued after the conquest.

Taking the rest of the money of Sicily in alphabetical order, we first note a very fine bronze coin bearing a beautiful female head, perhaps that of Sicilia, crowned with myrtle, and a lyre, the date of which is later than Tiinoleon’s Syracusan issues, on one of which it is restruck. This coin is conjecturally attributed to Adranum. Aetna, better known as Catana, is represented by a unique tetradrachm, with a wonderful head of Silenus, and Zeus as the god of the volcano hard by enthroned and hurling a thunderbolt. The first great town is Agrigentum, represented by archaic, transitional, and fine coins, the fine series ending with the overthrow of the city by the Carthaginians in 406 B.c.,—a blow from which it never recovered. The usual types are the eagle and the crab, but in the age of finest art we see two eagles devouring a hare, and a victorious chariot; these occur in the rare decadrachm and the tetradrachms. The eagle is superior to that of Croton, inferior to that of Elis. Is it a sea-eagle, while the Olympian bird is the golden eagle? Many of the bronze coins are of good work. The type most worthy of note is the head of a river-god, with the name Acragas, which was that of the stream of the town, and on the reverse an eagle standing on an Ionic capital, the Olympic turningpost. The success of Agrigentum at the games is attested by Pindar, while Virgil (Aen., iii. 704), Gratius (Cyneg., 526), and Silius Italicus mention its ancient renown for horses. The lofty site (arduus Acragas), overlooking the sea and on the bank of the stream of the same name, makes the eagles, the crab, and the river appropriate devices, showing that Greek types have a local fitness, while chosen with a religious intention.

The money of Camarina is of especial beauty and interest. The fifth of Pindar’s Olympic Odes, to Psaumis the Camarinaean, affords an excellent commentary upon it. The earliest coin we know is a didrachm of about this time, whereas there are many pieces of from fifty to a hundred years earlier of most of the other important cities of Sicily. Camarina, however, was then but lately inhabited (νόοι,κον έδραν), having been recently twice devastated by the Syracusans. This piece has on the obverse a helmet upon a round shield and on the reverse a pair of greaves, between which is a dwarf palm (Chamaerops humilis). The arms are those of some divinity or hero; the palm may represent the sacred grove (dλσos àyvôv) in which the temple of the chief divinity probably stood. This piece is followed by tetradrachms and didrachms of the best period, most beautiful in style, and varying a little from difference of age. The tetradrachms bear on the obverse the head of Heracles in the lion’s skin, and on the reverse Pallas as a victor at the Olympic games in a quadriga. It was Pallas, protector of the city (τroλιdoχε ∏αλλds), whose sacred grove was made more illustrious by the success of Psaumis. The didrachms have on the obverse the head of a river-god, portrayed as a young man with small horns and with wet hair. Of the two rivers of Camaτina, the Oanus and the Hipparis, the Hipparis is here represented, for in one case the name is given on the coin. Pindar seems to show the same preference, for, while he merely mentions the Oanus {ποταμόν . . . "Ωavov), he speaks of the sacred channels by which the Hipparis watered the city (σεμνούς οχετούς, "lππapις οΐσιν S,ρδει στρατόν). On the reverse the nymph Camarina (Ωκεανού θυyaτεp . . . ~K,aμaρlva) is seen carried across her lake (εyχωpiav . . . λlμvav) by a swan swimming with expanded wings, while she aids v s P r θading her veil in the manner of a sail. Some of these didrachms have on either side, around the chief device, fresh-water fishes. The series of Catana comprises fine archaic tetradrachms and others of the time of the best art. The archaic tetradrachms have the types of a river in the form of a man-headed bull and of the figure of Nice. The head of Apollo succeeds, with for reverse the victorious quadriga, in one case passing the turning-post, an Ionic column.

Gela is represented by coins of which the archaic tetradrachms must be especially mentioned. They have on the obverse the forepart of the river-god Gelas, whence the city took its name. The Gelas is represented as a bull, having the face of a bearded man. On the reverse is a victorious quadriga at the Olympic games, in some examples represented passing an Ionic column, as on coins of Catana. A tetradrachm of the later period of the age of good art has types of the head of the Gelas as a young man horned, surrounded by three fishes, and on the reverse Nice in a biga with a wreath above. The money of Himera is of great interest. The oldest didrachms of Himera, which probably began in the 6th century b.c., bear on the obverse a cock and on the reverse an incuse pattern. They are succeeded by transitional tetradrachms, which bear on the one side a victorious quadriga and on the other a nymph sacrificing, near whom a little Silenus stands under the stream of a fountain issuing from a lion’s head in a wall. Leontini is represented by tetradrachms with the head of Apollo and the victorious car, which gives place to a lion’s head. The series of Messene begins, when the town was called Zancle, or, as it is written upon the coins, Dancle, with early drachms or smaller pieces of the Aeginetan weight, and of very archaic work. On the obverse is a dolphin, and around it a sickle, and on the reverse is a shell in the midst of an incuse pattern. The place is said to have received its name on account of the resemblance of the harbour to a sickle ((^αγ κλov or ξayκλη). Next to these first coins of Zancle may be placed, as the oldest piece of the Attic weight, a tetradrachm with the Samian types, a lion’s scalp on one side and on the other the head of a bull, and bearing the inscription MEΣΣENION. This coin was doubtless struck during the rule of the Samians, who took the place about 494 b.c., at the instigation of Anaxilaus tyrant of Rhegium, by whom they were subsequently expelled (Thucyd., vi. 4). The next pieces are the earliest of those which have on the obverse the mule-car and on the reverse a running hare, like the contemporary coins of Rhegium, with the same devices and equally of the rule of Anaxilaus. These types cease at Rhegium, though they continue at Messene, some of the tetradrachms bearing them being of the age of fine art. When the town had been seized by the Mamertini, money was struck with their name, thus borne by the later coins, which are of bronze. They are good, but not of the best style. Naxos is represented by handsome transitional tetradrachms and others of the fine period, and by smaller silver pieces, chiefly of the earlier time.

There are some coins of the city of Panormus, but most of those which have been classed to it are of the Carthaginians, issued both in Sicily and in Africa. Nothing is more probable than that many of these pieces were struck at Panormus, but there is no sure means of distinguishing any such, and, if there were, the mere fact of their having been issued at the place would not justify us in classing them to it. Segesta is represented by coins of the archaic and of the good period. We first notice the head of the nymph Segesta and a hound, probably a river-god, then the same type for obverse associated with a young hunter accompanied by two hounds,—a charming composition. Another interesting type is a victorious car driven by Persephone, who carries ears of corn.

In the series of the city of Selinus the first coins are didrachms, bearing on the obverse a leaf and on the reverse an incuse square. The city and the river of the same name no doubt derived their name from the plant σέλινον, the leaf of which must be here intended. There is some difficulty as to its identification; the plant sacred at Selinus appears to be, as Colonel Leake supposes, wild celery (Apium graveolens) ; but it does not follorv that the “selinon” with which the victors at the Isthmian and Nemean games were crowned was really the same species. Tetradrachms and didrachms of transitional and of good art have devices of more than usual interest. The obverse exhibits a river-god, sometimes the Selinus, sometimes the Hypsas, sacrificing at the altar of Aesculapius, while on the didrachm a wading-bird is sometimes seen behind him, as if departing. This subject appears to allude to the draining of the pestiferous marshes. The reverse of the tetradrachms generally shows a quadriga in which Apollo stands drawing his bow, while Artemis is charioteer. The reference must be equally to the driving away of the pestilence.

We have still to mention the main characteristics of the true Siculo-Punic coins, that is, those actually struck by the Carthaginians in Sicily. A careful examination shows that the Punic money must be separated into three distinct divisions—the coinage of the Carthaginians in Africa, in Sicily, and in Spain. The Sicilian coins are adjusted to the Attic talent, like those of the Greek cities of the island, and show Greek style modified by barbarian influence. The known towns are Solus, Motya, Panormus (?), and Heraclea Minoa. The leading types are imitated from Syracusan money. This series must not be confounded with the large Attic issues of Carthage, which are distinguished by special types not found in Sicilian money, such as the horse’s head and the palm-tree; the head of Persephone links these coins with the true Siculo-Punic.

The islands near Sicily issued coins which belong to the Carthaginian series, except Lipara, of which there is heavy bronze money on the Sicilian system, having on the obverse a head of Hephaestus, or sometimes a figure of the same divinity seated, holding a hammer and a vase, which he seems to have just formed.

In the Tauric Chersonese there are interesting coins, in the three metals, of the city of Panticapaeum, the modern Kertch. Their obverse usually bears the head of Pan and their reverse a griffin and other subjects; some are of fine Greek style. The money of Sarmatia, of Dacia, and of upper and lower Moesia is chiefly bronze of the Graeco-Roman class. In Sarmatia we may notice the autonomous and imperial pieces of Olbia, and in Dacia the series bearing the name of the province. The Roman colonia Viminacium in upper Moesia is represented by numerous coins of a late time. Of Istrus, in lower· Moesia, there are drachms having a strange type on the obverse, representing two beardless heads, those of the Dioscuri, side by side, the one upright and the other upside down; on the reverse is an eagle devouring a fish. The style of these coins, it may be noticed, is in general fair, though it sometimes approaches to barbarism. There are abundant Greek imperial coins of Marcianopolis and Nicopolis, while Tomi is represented in this class as well as by autonomous money.

The coins of Thrace are of high interest. Here and in Macedonia we observe the early efforts of barbarous tribes to coin the produce of their silver mines, and the splendid issues of the Greek colonies; and we see in the weights the influence of the Asiatic Greeks, the Athenians, and the Persians. The oldest coins are of the 5th century b.c., and there are others of all subsequent times, both while the country was independent and while it was subject to the Romans, until the cessation of Greek coinage. Some of the best period are of the highest artistic merit. So long as they maintain any general distinctive peculiarities of fabric and design, that is, from their commencement until the age of Philip, the Thracian coins resemble those of Macedonia. The money of Abdera comprises tetradrachms and smaller coins of the periods of archaic and line art, all but the latest of the Phoenician standard, ultimately superseded by the Persic. The principal type is a seated griffin. The reverse type, an incuse square, has at first four divisions, but in the age of the finest art contains a variety of beautiful subjects. √Enus is remarkable for the great beauty of some of its coins. These are tetradrachms of Attic weight, of the late archaic and best ages. The interesting turning-point from growth to maturity is seen in a vigorous head of Hermes in profile, wearing the petasus. A little later is the splendid series of facing heads, the broad, severe, and sculptural treatment of which is truly admirable, and far superior to the more showy handling of the same subject in later drachms. A goat is the reverse type of the larger coins. The money of the city of P>yzantium begins with coins on the Persic standard of good style, having on the obverse a bull above a dolphin and on the reverse an incuse square of four divisions, and closes with the series of bronze coins issued under the empire. The Roman colonia of Deultum and the city of Hadrianopolis deserve a passing notice. Of Maronea, anciently famous for its wine, there is an interesting series beginning with small archaic coins. After these we notice fine tetradrachms of Phoenician weight, having on the obverse a prancing horse and on the reverse a vine within a square. The standard changes to Persic, of which there is a beautiful series of didrachms. Then the series is interrupted by the rule of the Macedonian kings, and resumed in a barbarous coinage of the native Thracians, issued in the second and first centuries before the Christian era, consisting of spread Attic tetradrachms with the types of the head of beardless Dionysus crowned with ivy and on the other side his figure. The Greek imperial coins of Pautalia and Perinthus are worthy of notice. Among those of the latter town we may mention fine pieces of Antoninus Pius and Severus, and large coins, commonly called medallions, of Caracalla and other emperors. The money of the imperial class issued by Philippopolis, Serdica, and Trajanopolis should also be noticed. In the Thracian Chersonese the most important series is one of small autonomous silver pieces, probably of the town of Cardia. There is a limited but highly interesting group of coins of Thracian kings and dynasts. The earliest are of kings of the Odrysae, including Seuthes I., who began to reign in 4'24 b.c., and whose monev bears the two remarkable inscriptions ΣEYΘA KOMMA and ΣEYΘA APΓYPION. It closes with the issues of Roman vassals; they begin with Coson, who puts on his gold staters the type of the Junia family, the first consul between his lictors, marking his allegiance to Brutus, and an eagle. Lysimachus, commonly classed as king of Thrace, belongs to the group of Alexander’s western successors. Among the islands of Thrace, Iιnbros with its trace of Pelasgic worship, and, equally with Lemnos, showing evidence of Athenian dominion, and Samothrace with the Asiatic worship of Cybele yield in interest to Thasos. Here a long and remarkable currency begins with very early Persic didrachms, the obverse type a centaur carrying a nymph, the reverse an incuse square of four divisions. Under the Athenian supremacy we see a decline of weight, and in style the attainment of high excellence. The design of the obverse noλv reminds us of the work of Alcamenes at Olympia, grand in spite of careless execution. After this we observe coins of Phoenician weight, bearing for their obverse types the head of Dionysus. These are of the best period of art, and some tetradrachms are among the very finest Greek coins. The head of Dionysus is treated in a sculptural style that is remarkably broad and grand. The massive, powerful features, and the formal hair, nearly falling to the neck in regular curls like those of the full beard, are relieved by a broad wreath of ivy-leaves, designed with great delicacy and simplicity. The reverse bears a Heracles kneeling on one knee and discharging his bow,—a subject powerfully treated. Of a far later period there are large tetradrachms, much resembling those of Maronea, with the same type of the beardless Dionysus, but on the reverse Heracles. There are coins of Paeonian kings, which are chiefly silver, and have a resemblance to those of the Macedonian sovereigns, although they are somewhat barbarous. They range from 359 to 286 b.c.

The money of Macedonia both civic and regal is of great variety and interest. It begins at an early time, probably towards the end of the 6th century b.c. The old pieces are of silver, bronze having come into use a century later, and gold about the middle of the 4th century b.c. The character of the coinage resembles that of Thrace; the earliest pieces are of the Phoenician, Babylonie, and Attic standards, the heavier form of the Babyionic, the Persic, appearing later. The most remarkable denominations are the Phoenician octadrachms and dodecadrachms. The largest coins are of the time of Alexander I. and somewhat earlier, and indicate the metallic wealth of the country more than its commercial activity. Philip II. adopted for gold money, which he was. the first Macedonian king to issue, the Attic weight, striking staters on that system, while he maintained the Phoenician standard for his silver coinage. Alexander the Great made the weight of the gold and silver money the same by employing the Attic system for both; and from his time no coins of kings of Macedonia in these metals were struck on any other system. The series of Roman Macedonia begins with coins of the “regions” issued by permission of the senate and bearing the name of the Macedonians, from 158 to 146 B.c.; others follow of the Roman province. The coinage of Acanthus comprises fine archaic tetradrachms of Attic weight and others of Phoenician weight and very vigorous in style, of the commencement of the period of good art. The type of their obverse is a lion seizing a bull. The money of Aeneia is chiefly interesting from its bearing the head of the hero Aeneas; and on one extraordinary coin of archaic fabric, an Attic tetradrachm, the subject is the hero carrying Anchises from Troy, preceded by Creusa carrying Ascanius; this is in date before 500 b.c., and is preserved in the Berlin Museum. The town of Amphipolis is represented by a long series. There are Phoenician tetradrachms having on the obverse a head of Apollo, facing, sometimes in a splendid style, which recalls the art of the immediate successors of Phidias, as seen, for instance, in the famous bronze female head in the British Museum. The reverse type is a flaming torch in an incuse square. There are also many Greek imperial bronze pieces of this city. The territory of Chalcidice is eminent for the excellence of some of its silver coins. These are Phoenician tetradrachms of the best period struck by the Chalcidian League (392-379 b.c., and later), Olynthus being probably the mint. The obverse bears the head of Apollo in profile crowned with laurel. It is in very high relief and treated with great simplicity, though not with the severity of somewhat earlier pieces. The delicacy of the features is balanced by the simple treatment of the hair and the broad wreath of laurel. On the reverse is a lyre. There is an early series of coins of Lete. Some are of a remote date and none later than about the time of Alexander I. The obverse type is a satyr with a nymph, and on the reverse is an incuse square divided fourfold, first diagonally and then in squares. Mende has money of Attic weight, the types being connected with Silenus, who on. a tetradrachm of fine art is portrayed reclining, a wine-vase in his hand, on the back of an ass; the reverse bears a vine. Of Neapolis (Datenon) there are early coins with the Gorgon’s head and the incuse square, which changes, as at Lete, and in the period of fine art gives way to a charming head of Nice crowned with olive. There is a very early Attic tetradrachm of Olynthus, with a quadriga, an<l an eagle within a double square, the only coin, save Philip’s gold and silver and the money of Cyrene, which repeats the idea of the great Sicilian currencies, the record of Olympic victory. Orthagoria, better known as Aristotle’s birthplace Stageira, has a few remarkable coins of good art and a peculiar style. The coins of Philippi in the three metals are mainly of the time of Philip II., who, having found a rich gold mine near Crenides, changed its name to Philippi. The gold coins are Attic staters, the silver pieces of the Phoenician or Macedonian weight, like Philip’s own money. All bear the head of young Heracles in a lion’s skin, and a tripod. Imperial pieces were struck by the city as a colonia. There is a long series of Thessalonica, beginning with Greek bronze coins, the latest of which are asses with on the obverse the Roman head of Janus in strange combination with a Greek inscription. Then follow pieces of imperial time and others with imperial effigies. Uranopolis has a few coins with very curious astronomical types, probably issued by the eccentric Alex-archus, brother of Cassander. The issues of the Thraco-Macedonians are extremely interesting. They are all just anterior to, or it may be contemporary with, Alexander I. of Macedon. The leading coins are octadrachms of the Phoenician standard. They have usually but one type, the reverse bearing a quadripartite incuse square. Their sudden appearance and heavy weight are due to the working of the silver mines on the border of Macedonia and Thrace. The usual types are a warrior leading a horse or a yoke of oxen. The coins bear the names of the Bisaltae, Getas king of the Edoni (whose only two coins, differing dialectically in their inscriptions, were found in the Tigris in 1818, and are now in the British Museum), the Orrescii, and other tribes. Besides these there are very curious Phoenician dodecadrachms of an unknown tribe, bearing the unusual type of an ox-car, in which is a figure seated, and on the reverse a triquetra.

The oldest coins of the Macedonian kings are of Alexander I., from 498 to 454 b.c., the contemporary of Xerxes. These are Phoenician octadrachms, having on the obverse a hero by the side of a horse, and coins of a lower denomination with the same or a similar type. The money of Alexander’s successors illustrates the movement of art, but it is not until the reign of Philip II. that we have an abundant coinage. He first strikes gold pieces, chiefly Attic didrachms, from the produce of his mine near Philippi. They are of fair but somewhat careless style, and bear on the obverse the head of Ares. On the reverse is a victorious Olympic biga. These coins were afterwards known as Φιλιππeιoc and the gold money of Alexander as Αλ⅛α∣'δpκoi—appellations which probably did not include larger or smaller pieces. Horace calls the gold coins of Philip “Philips” (“regale nomisma Philippos,” Epist. ii. 1, 232). The silver coinage of Philip is mainly composed of tetradrachms of the Phoenician talent. Their type of obverse is a head of Zeus, and of reverse either a mounted hero wearing a causia or a victor in the horse-race with a palm,—these last coins being the best of Philip’s, although the horse is clumsy.

The coinage of Alexander the Great, both in the number of the cities where it was issued and in its abundance, excels all other Greek regal money; but its art is, without being despicable, far below excellence. The types are not remarkable in themselves, and there is a great sameness characterizing the entire series. The system of both gold and silver is Attic. The gold coins are distaters or gold tetradrachms, staters or didrachms, hemistaters or drachms, with their half or a smaller denomination. The types of the distaters or staters, which last were the most common pieces, are for the obverse the head of Pallas and for the reverse Nice bearing a trophy-stand. The largest silver piece is the decadrachm, which is of extreme rarity. The types of the tetradrachms and most of the lower coins are on the obverse the head of Heracles in the lion’s skin and on the reverse Zeus seated, bearing on his hand an eagle. The head has been supposed to be that of Alexander, but this is not the case, although there may be some assimilation to his portrait. The great currency was of tetradrachms. The coinage was struck in different cities, distinguished by proper symbols and monograms. The classification of the series is difficult, but is gradually advancing. The bronze money is not remarkable.

The coinage of Alexander is followed by that of Philip Arrhidaeus, with the same types in gold and silver. That of Alexander IV. was alone issued by Ptolemy I. In these coins the types of Alexander were modified. Meanwhile Seleucus, Lysimachus, and Antigonus, king of Asia, struck Alexander’s money with their own names, and the tetradrachms of Macedonia were generally of this kind until the time of Philip V. The same coinage, marked by a large flat form, was reissued later by the cities of western Asia, when the Romans, after the battle of Magnesia in 190 b.c., restored the liberties which Alexander had granted. The series of Alexandrine money is interrupted by various small coinages and the later issues of Lysimachus, king of Thrace, with the first Greek regal portrait, the head of Alexander with the ram’s horn, as the son of Zeus Ammon, sometimes a work worthy of Lysippus and an excellent indication of his style. The reverse has a figure of Pallas holding a little Nice. The coins of Demetrius 1. (Poliorcetes) comprise fine tetradrachms, some of the types of which have an historic reference. They bear either on the obverse his portrait with a bull’s horn and on the reverse a figure of Poseidon, or on the one side a winged female figure (Nice or Fame) on the prow of a galley, blowing a trumpet, and on the other Poseidon striking with his trident. The latter types cannot be doubted to relate to the great naval victory which Demetrius gained over Ptolemy. The tetradrachms of Antigonus I. (Gonatas), which are of inferior style and work to those of Demetrius, have types which appear to refer in like manner to the great event of his time.

Γhe obverse type is a Macedonian buckler with the head of Pan in the midst, and the reverse type Pallas Promachos. The head of Pan is supposed to have been taken as a device in consequence of the panic which led to the discomfiture of the Gauls at Delphi. The money of Demetrius II. is unimportant, but Antigonus Doson is represented by tetradrachms with the head of Poseidon and Apollo seated on a galley. The tetradrachms of Philip V. have on the obverse a head in the helmet of Perseus, representing Philip in the character of that hero, or else the hero himself, perhaps assimilated to the king. The reverse bears a club. Other tetradrachms and smaller coins have a simple portrait of Philip. The tetradrachms of Perseus are of fair style, considering the time at which they were strack. They bear on the one side the king’s head and on the other an eagle on a thunderbolt.

The coin systems of northern Greece, Thessaly, Epirus, Corcyra, Acarnania, and Aetolia present certain difficulties which ’disappear if we consider them as originally Aeginetan, modified in the west by Corinthian, and later by Roman, influence. The coinage of Thessaly presents very few specimens of a remote period, while pieces of the best time are numerous. These are in general remarkably like the finest coins of Sicily and Italy, although the style is simpler. The prevalence of the horse and horseman is significant. The money of the Thessalian Confederacy, being of late date (196-146 b.c. ), is of little interest. The commonest types are the head of Zeus crowned with oak and the Thessalian Pallas Itonia in a fighting attitude. The coinage is resumed in imperial times. Of the town of Gomphi or Philippopolis there is a beautiful drachm, having on the obverse a female head, facing, which is probably that of a nymph as the city. The coins of Lamia are also to be noticed for their beauty. The drachms bear the head of Lamia, the mistress of Demetrius Poliorcetes, and young Heracles, who probably represents Demetrius. The series of Larissa begins with archaic pieces and some of the early period of good art, but sometimes of rather coarse execution. The small silver pieces have very interesting reverse types relating to the nymph of the fountain, and to be compared for mutual illustration with the didrachms of Terina and with some of those of Elis. These are followed by coins of fine work. The usual obverse type is the head of Larissa, the nymph of the fountain, facing, and on the reverse is generally a horse, either free or drinking. The head is treated in a very rich manner, like that of the fountain-nymph Arethusa, facing, on tetradrachms of Syracuse; indeed, the resemblance to the Sicilian type is most remarkable. If it be a copy, it is simpler and bolder than the original. The bronze money is also good. The coins of Pharsalus and Pherae are also worthy of note. Of the tyrants of Pherae Alexander is represented by coins.

The coinage of Illyria is usually of inferior or rude art; the pieces are Aeginetic, ultimately changing to Attic. Of Apollonia there is a large series. The earliest have the Corcyraean types of the cow and the calf and the floral pattern; the latest, usually, the head of Apollo and three nymphs dancing round a fire, the outer ones holding torches. Dyrrachium, which never bears on its coins the more famous name of Epidamnus, is represented by an important series. First there are Aeginetan didrachms with Corcyraean types. These are succeeded by tridrachms with Corinthian types, and, of course, on the Attic standard; and then the old types are resumed, but apparently without a return to the former weight. Dyrrachium, it must be remembered, was founded partly by Corcyraean and partly by Corinthian colonists.

The coins of Epirus are of higher interest and beauty than those of Illyria. Of the Epirots there are bronze coins of the regal period, and both silver and bronze of the republic (238-168 b.c. ), with the heads of the Dodonaean Zeus and Dione, together or apart. The city of Ambracia is represented by beautiful silver pieces, with on the one side a veiled female head and on the other a kind of obelisk. The series of Greek imperial money of Nicopolis must also be mentioned. The coinage known to us of the kings of Epirus begins under Alexander I. His coins have been found in the three metals, but they are rare. It is probable that both gold and silver were struck in Italy while he was in that country. The coins of Pyιτhus in all metals are of high interest, and remarkable for their beauty, though the style is usually florid. There can be little doubt that they were for the most part struck in Italy and Sicily, at Tarentum and Syracuse. The tetradrachm has for the type of the obverse a head of the Dodonaean Zeus crowned with oak and for that of the reverse Dione seated. A fine didrachm bears on the obverse a head of Achilles helmeted, with for the reverse Thetis on a sea-horse carrying the shield of her son. Among the copper coins of Pyrrhus we must remark the beautiful ones with the portrait of his mother Phthia.

The coinage of the island of Corcyra begins with very early didrachms and drachms of the 6th century. The types are the cow suckling the calf and the floral pattern, as at Dyrrachium. These leading subjects are varied in later times by others illustrating the Corinthian origin of the nation, its maritime power, and the fame of its wine. Not the least curious are the bronze pieces with ealleys bearing their names, as Strength, Freedom, Glory, Orderly Government, Chace, Corcyra, Cornus, Cypris, Victor of People, Victory, Youth, Pallas, Foremost, Preserver, Fame, Light-bearer. The abundant bronze series goes on under the emperors.

The coins of Acarnania are not remarkable for beauty or for 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.

In Aetolia the gold and silver coins of the Aetolian 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 Aetolia 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 Calydonian 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.

The coinage of Locris, Phocis, and Boeotia is entirely on the Aeginetic 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 accompanied 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.

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 Amphictyonie 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.

The coinage of Boeotia 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 Bceotian 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 certainly 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 Boeotia 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 Boeotia, 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 varied 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 dissolved, and the other Boeotian cities issued a coinage of some merit. In 37 ’ 9 B. c. Thebes became the chief state in Greece, and the patriotic 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 EΠAM or EΠAMI, who can scarcely be any other than the illustrious general. The battle of Chaeronea (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 Boeotia. )

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 Aeginetic, by which the Attic weights were divided into the commercial 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 AΘE. 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 modification 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 annual, 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 Propylaea, 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 Propylaea. There are also Greek imperial pieces of Megara.

The money of the island of Aegina is of especial interest, since with it Greek coinage is said to have originated. The story is that, at a time when Aegina was a dependency of Argos, Phidon 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 (δ∕3eλlσm), of which six made a handful (δpαχμ⅛), 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 Aeginetan coins are of extreme antiquity. The weight is of course on the Aeginetic 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 Achaean League, some time after 330 B.C., when we first find coins of the Achaeans, with no distinction of cities,—a purely federal coinage. The silver coins, like the later ones, are either Attic tetrobols or Aeginetic hemidrachms. Then follows the money of the ten cities of the Old League, beginning about 280 b.c. —Dyme, Patrae, Tritaea, Pharae, Aegium, Bura, Ceryneia, Leontiüm, Aegira, 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 Achaeans in a laurel-wreath. After the earliest money the reverse bears the symbols 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 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 Ç, 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 excellence and decline of art we find beautiful work, though generally wanting in the severity of the highest Greek art. Pegasus is ordinarily seen galloping, but sometimes standing or drinking, the koppa is usually retained, and the helmet of Athene, always Corinthian, is sometimes bound with an olive-wreath. The smaller coins have the same reverse, but on the obverse a charming series of types, principally female heads, mostly representing Aphrodite. There are some drachms with Bellerophon in a combatant attitude mounted on Pegasus on the one side and the Chimaera on the other. The autonomous bronze money is poor, but often of fair work, and interesting, especially when the type relates to the myth of Bellerophon. Under the Romans this city was made a colonia; and we have a large and interesting series of the bronze coins struck by it as such, including the remarkable type of the tomb of Lais. The colonies of Corinth form a long and important series, struck by Acarnanian towns with Corcyra, and in the west by Locri Epizephyrii in Italy and Syracuse. They range from the time of Timoleon, about 340 b.c., to the age of the earlier successors of Alexander, perhaps having ended in the time of Pyrrhus, probably shortly after 295 b.c. The colonies broke loose from Corinth and struck their own money, retaining the old types for commercial purposes, and Syracuse and Locri found it advisable to follow the same course, which in the case of Syracuse was not uninfluenced by gratitude to the mother-city and her noble citizen Timoleon. The coins are distinguished by the absence of the koppa and bear the names or monograms of the cities.

There are bronze coins of Patrae as an important Roman colonia, and silver and bronze money of Phlius, both of the period of good art. The coinage of Sicyon, on the Aeginetic standard dominant in the rest of the Peloponnesus, is disappointing for a famous artistic centre. It begins shortly before the period of fine art; in that age the silver is abundant and well executed, but the leading types, the Chimaera and the flying dove within an olive-wreath, are wearying in their repetition, and good work could not make the Chimaera an agreeable subject. Small coins with types of Apollo are the only subjects which suggest the designs of the great school of Sicyon.

The money of Elis, or the Eleans, is inferior to none in the Greek world in its art, which reaches the highest level of dignified restraint, and in the variety of its types, which are suggested by a few subjects. The leading types are connected, as we might expect, with the worship of Zeus and Hera and Nice, the divinities of the great Panhellenic contest at Olympia. The prevalent representations are the eagle and the winged thunderbolt of Zeus, the head of Hera, and the figure of Nice. The series begins early in the 5th century b.c. with coins, some of which are didrachms (Aeginetic), having as subjects an eagle carrying a serpent or a hare and on the reverse a thunderbolt or Nice bearing a wreath,—archaic types which in their vigour promise the excellence of later days. From 4/1 to 421 b.c., while Elis was allied with the Spartans, such types continue; the eagle and Nice (sometimes seated) are both treated with great force and beauty, and the subject of seated Zeus is remarkable for its dignity. The Argive alliance (421-400 b.c. ) seems marked by the pre-eminence given to Hera, whose head may suggest the famous statue of Polyclitus at Argos. This alliance broken, the old types recur. Magnificent eagles, some admirably designed on a shield, and eagles’ heads, the seated Nice, and fantastically varied thunderbolts mark this age. The types of an eagle struggling with a serpent and an eagle’s head are marked with the letters ΔA. Professor Gardner has conjectured that they may be the work of the great sculptor Daedalus of Sicyon, who at this very time produced a trophy for the Eleans at Olympia. The political events of the age do not seem any longer to affect the coinage. Thus the return of the heads of Hera has no historical significance that we can trace. They are remarkable for their beauty, which is still severe, while around there are marks of the luxurious style of decline, and here the eagle-types have lost their vigour. The age of Philip is soon reached, and shows a marked decline in the coinage. It closes with imperial money, some types of which have a local interest, notably two of Hadrian bearing the head and figure of Zeus, copied from the famous statue by Phidias, of which the earlier currency appears to present no reflexion.

Cephallenia gives us the early silver coins of Cranii, the money of Pale, of charming style, with the figure of Cephalus on the reverse, and that of Same, all cities of this island. Of the island of Zacynthus there are silver pieces, usually of rather coarse work, but sometimes of the style of the best Cephallenian money. The coins of Ithaca are of bronze. They are of interest on account of their common obverse type, λvhich is a head of Ulysses.

Returning to the mainland, we first notice the money of Messene, or the Messenians. The earliest coin is a splendid Aeginetic didrachm having on the obverse a head of Persephone, and excels in design the similar subjects on the money of Syracuse, from which it must have been copied, for it is of about the time of Epaminondas. Still more than the Locrian type this shows the purer style of Greece, which, copying Syracusan work, raised its character. On the reverse is a figure of Zeus Ithomatas. The other silver coins are of about the period of the Achaean League. The bronze money is plentiful, but not interesting. Lacedaemon, as we might have expected has no early coins, the silver money being, like so much of that of the Greek cities, of the age of the Achaean League. Among the types of the autonomous bronze pieces may be noticed the head of the Spartan lawgiver Lycurgus, with his name. The series of Argos m Argolis begins with coins of an early period. The standard is Aeginetic. Γhe first pieces are the drachm with a wolf on the obverse, and on the reverse A, the initial letter of the name of the people, in an incuse square; the hemidrachm, with the forepart of a wolf; and the diobolon, with a wolfs head. Among coins of the period of good art we must especially notice those which have for the obverse type the head of Hera wearing a Stephanos a design which is not equal to that of the coins of Elis, the style being either careless or not so simple. The reverse type of one of these coins, a drachm, represents Diomedes stealthily advancing with the palladium in his left hand and a short sword in his right. Of the town of Troezen there are silver coins of the best period ofart'.

Of the money of Arcadia some pieces are doubtless among the most ancient struck by the Greeks; and the types of these and later coins are often connected with the remarkable myths of this primaeval part of Hellas, showing particularly the remains of its old nature-worship. The first series to be noticed is that of the Arcadian League; it begins about 500 b.c. with hemidrachms having the type of Zeus Lycaeus seated, the eagle represented as if flying from his hand, and a female head. Of a later time, from the age of Epaminondas, there are coins with the head of Zeus, and Pan seated on the Arcadian Olympus, a series of which the didrachms are very fine. The coins of Heraea begin deep in the 6th century B.c. The earliest have for obverse type the veiled head of Hera, and on the reverse the beginning of the name of the town, sometimes between wavy ornaments. The antiquity of Mantinea is in like manner attested by its money. The silver coins of a very early time have on the obverse a bear, representing Callisto the mother of Areas, who was worshipped here, and on the reverse the letters MA, or three acorns, in an incuse square. Later coins, especially the hronze, have subjects connected with the worship of Poseidon at this inland town. The silver money of Megalopolis is important for art, as we know the city to have been founded in 370 b.c. The types are the same as those of the Arcadians of the same period, the headsof Zeus and of Pan. The silver coins of Pheneus must be noticed as being of fine work. The didrachms of the age of Epaminondas have a head of Persephone, and Hermes carrying the child Areas. The obverse type is interesting as a copy, improved on the original, of the Syracusan subject, as in Locris and Messene. As in Locris, the merit is in the greater force and simplicity of the face, here most successful, the hair being treated more after the Syracusan manner than after that of the Messenians, who simplified the whole subject. The finest coin attributed to Stymphalus is a magnificent didrachm of the age of Epaminondas, with a head of the local Artemis laureate, and Heracles striking with his club, no doubt a subject connected with the Stymphalian birds. The smaller silver coins have on the one side a head of Heracles and on the other the head and neck of a Stymphalian bird, most resembling those of a vulture. There were representations of these birds in the temple of Artemis. The series of Tegea is not important, but two of the reverse types of its bronze coins are interesting as relating to the story that Athene gave a jar containing the hair of Medusa to her priestess Sterope, daughter of Cepheus, in order that she might terrify the Argives should they attack Tegea in the absence of Cepheus, when Heracles desired his aid in an expedition agalħst Sparta.

The peculiar position of Crete and her long isolation from the political, artistic, and literary movements of Hellas have been already touched on. It is not until the age when the Macedonians and the Achaean League are striving for the leadership of Hellas that Crete appears in the field of history, but then only as the battle-ground of rival powers. The most remarkable influence of this age was when Athens, by the diplomacy of Cephisodorus, succeeded about 200 b.c. in drawing the Cretans into a great league against Philip V. of Macedon. That this project took actual shape is proved by the issue at all the chief mints of the island of tetradrachms with the well-known types of Athens, to be distinguished from the Atticizing types of other cities at this time. In the meanwhile the inborn love of adventure in her youth had been satisfied by hired service to the surrounding kingdoms, and hence grew a piratical instinct which ultimately cost the Cretans their freedom at the hand of Rome.

The oldest coins are probably of about 500 b.c., but few cities seem to have issued many until a hundred years later. Then there is a great outburst of coinage, sometimes beautiful, sometimes barbarously careless, which lasts until Alexander’s commercial policy is seen in the appearance of his money with Cretan symbols in lieu of the old autonomous money. As Alexander’s successors grew weak and no one of them could control Crete, the old rights were restored and the Cretan cities again coin their own types until the Roman conquest (67 or 66 b.c. ). The chief issue is of silver; bronze is less abundant; and gold is unknown. The Cretan types have a markedly local character, yet they copy in some instances other coinages. The chief divinities on the pieces are Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Heracles, and Britomartis, and the leading myths are those of Minos, the story of the Minotaur and the labyrinth being prominent, and also that of Europa. There is frequent reference to nature-worship as in Sicily, yet with a distinctive preference for trees, the forms of which, however, lend themselves readily to the free representation of Cretan art, which may in part explain their prominence. The weight is at first Aeginetic, falling almost to Attic; and in the resumption of the coinage after Alexander’s time it is Attic.

Of the island in general there are Roman silver coins of the earlier emperors, some of which are of fine work for the period. The inscriptions are in Latin, or partly in Latin and partly in Greek. In the autonomous civic series there are didrachms of Aptera. The obverse bears a female head wearing a Stephane and the reverse a warrior before a sacred tree. Of Chersonesus, the port of Lyctus, called on the coins Chersonasus, there are didrachms of coarse style, mainly copied from the splendid piece of Stymphalus in Arcadia. The head of Artemis is here appropriated to Artemis Britomartis, who had a temple at the place, and the reverse of Heracles striking with his club is varied by the substitution of the figure of Apollo seated. The silver money of Cnossus is of great interest. The oldest coins are archaic in style, and may be as early in date as the expedition of Xerxes. They bear the figure of the Minotaur as a bull-headed man, kneeling on one knee, and a maeander-pattern, in one case enclosing a star (the sun), in another a female head (Ariadne ?). The antiquity of these coins disproves the supposition that the Cretan labyrinth at Cnossus was an invention of the later poets. Of the early time of good art there are didrachms of Cnossus with the head of Persephone and an unknown divinity, and the labyrinthine pattern enclosing the sun or the moon or a bull’s head for the Minotaur, and at length becoming a regular maze. To this time belongs the wonderful coin in the Berlin Museum with Minos seated, his name in the field, and the head of Persephone within the maeander-pattern. In the later age of fine art a head of Hera wearing a stephanos occupies the obverse of didrachms and drachms, and the reverse has a maze through which the way may be clearly traced. The head is closely copied from the same type of Argos, and despite its beauty shows a distinct inferiority, unlike the copies of Syracuse by artists of the mainland. This series closes with Alexander’s empire, and the native coinage disappears until the league of Cephisodorus revives it with the Athenian tetradrachm of Attic weight, bearing the name of the Cnossians. It is of inferior style, and is followed by base coins with heads of Minos and Apollo, and the Labyrinth, either square as before or in a new circular form, which is interesting as showing it was a mere matter of tradition. There are interesting coins of Cydonia, some of them of beautiful style and work. One is remarkably like a coin of Aptera, and bears an engraver’s name, Neuantus,—a point showing the importance attached by the Cretans to the designs of their money. The head is that of a Maenad, and the reverse has a figure of the traditional founder Cydon, stringing his bow. The style is good, but the execution poor. A drachm presents a most beautiful repetition of the subject of Cydon. Gortys, or Gortyna, is represented by most remarkable coins, which generally allude to the myth of Europa. Didrachms of archaic style have on the obverse Europa carried by the bull and on the reverse the lion’s scalp. These pieces are followed by a remarkably fine class of spread didrachms; the best are of about 400 B. c. They have on the obverse Europa seated in a pensive attitude on the trunk of a tree, doubtless the sacred plane at Gortyna, mentioned by Pliny, which was said never to shed its leaves, and on the reverse a bull suddenly turning his head as if stung by a fly. Nothing in Greek art exceeds the skill and beauty of these designs. The truth with which the tree is sketched, one engraver even indicating the letters cut by visitors in the trunk, and the graceful position of the forlorn Europa are as much to be admired as the fidelity with which the bull is drawn, even when foreshortened, sharply turning his head, with his tongue out and his tail raised. These designs, beautiful in themselves, are strikingly deficient in fitness, and aflbrd equally strong illustrations of the excellencies and of the one great fault of the art of Cretan coins. Many pieces of the same class are of rude execution. There is a tetradrachm of the Athenian group having the symbol of a butting bull. Later silver coins have the head of Minos. The coins of Hierapytna are remarkable for bearing the representation of a date-palm. Of Itanus there are remarkable coins, the earlier, some of which are of good style, with the subject of a Tritonian sea-god (Glaucus?) and two sea-monsters, changed for a head of Athene and an eagle, the Triton frequently appearing in the field as a symbol. Lyctus, on the coins Lyttus, is represented by strangely rude pieces, with the types of a flying eagle and a boar’s head which is curiously foreshortened. The coins of Phaestus form a most interesting series. Among the didrachms are some of admirable work, with on the obverse Heracles slaying the Hydra with his club and on the reverse a bull. Others have on the obverse Heracles seated on the ground, resting. Another noticeable obverse type is the beardless Zeus seated in a tree, with his Cretan name EEΛXAN0Σ, where the E stands for the digamma. On his knee is a cock in the attitude of crowing, showing that he was a god of the dawn. The most remarkable coins of Phaestus are, however, those that bear representations of Talus, the man of brass, said to have been made by Hephaestus or Daedalus. One of these is a didrachm, on which he is portrayed as a winged youth, naked, bearing in each hand a stone, and in a combatant attitude. This figure is accompanied by his name. A similar design is seen on a bronze coin. The reader will recollect that Apollonius Rhodius {Argonaut., iv. 1638 sq.} relates that Talus prevented the Argonauts from landing in Crete by hurling stones at them, until he was destroyed by the artifice of Medea.

The important town of Polyrrhenium, or Polyrrhenia (but one p on the coins), is represented by carefully-executed coins with a head of Zeus and a bull’s head. A later piece has a remarkable obverse type, a λvhiskered head of Apollo, probably a Macedonian sovereign in that character. This is of Attic weight. Praesus has on its earlier coins the Gorgon’s head and an archer, or an archer and an eagle; later, Zeus seated, and, after the Cretan fashion, foreshortened. The coins of Priansus comprise didrachms of an unusual style and type, a Read of a goddess or nymph, the hair, bound by narrow bands crossed diagonally, filling the large field. Priansus also shows the remarkable type of Persephone seated beside a date-palm, placing her right hand on the head of a serpent, in reference to the myth of the birth of Zagreus. As usual, the figure is foreshortened. The reverse has a standing figure of Poseidon. Rhaucus has Poseidon beside his horse. The rare didrachm of Sybrittia, or Sybrita, may fitly close the series; the obverse has a charming subject, Dionysus seated on a running panther, and the reverse Hermes drawing on his right buskin,— a delightful figure. Another beautiful type is a seated Dionysus.

The coinage of Euboea is all on the native standard, of which the Attic was a variety. It includes some of the very earliest Greek money. The older coins comprise tetradrachms, didrachms, and smaller pieces; the later are uniformly tetrobols. The pieces which bear the name of the Euboeans date from the fine period to the fall of Hellenic liberty, the silver lasting only to Alexander’s time. They bear the head of a nymph and that of an ox. One variety is very beautiful. The great cities have a far more interesting series. Carystus begins in the time of the Persian War with the type of the cow and calf, as in Corcyra, and its special badge is the cock. Chalcis, the mother of Western colonies, has already in the 6th century a long series with the wheel-type and an incuse diagonally divided, and later, a nymph’s head and an eagle devouring a serpent. Eretria begins as early as Chalcis, but the obverse type is the Gorgon’s head. This is succeeded by the same type and a panther’s head, and fine late archaic coins bear the cow and the cuttle-fish. Of Histiaea the usual type is the head of a Maenad and a female figure seated on the stern of a galley.

Among the other islands classed after Euboea, Amorgos must not be passed by, as a bronze coin of Aegiale, one of its towns, presents the curious type of a cupping-glass. The silver money of Carthaea and Coressus in Ceos is extremely old, beginning in each case in the 6th century and ending early in the 4th. The weight is Aeginetic, and there are didrachms and smaller coins. The usual types of Carthaea are an amphora and then a bunch of grapes; that of Coressus is a cuttle-fish and dolphin. N ax os is represented by early Aeginetic didrachms and coins of the fine period, the latter being chiefly bronze pieces of remarkably delicate and good work. The types are Dionysiae. Of Paros there are early Aeginetic didrachms with the type of a kneeling goat and beneath a dolphin. Of the third and second centuries b.c. there are Attic didrachms with a head, possibly of Artemis, at first of a charming style, and a goat on the reverse. There are very archaic Aeginetic didrachms of Siphnos. Some of the bronze pieces are of the best period and very fine. Ot Tenos there are silver coins of the age of the kings. The head of the bearded Ammon occurs on tetradrachms following the Attic standard, and on smaller pieces that of the younger Ammon, both heads laureate as well as horned; the reverse type is Poseidon.

The coinage of Asia begins with that of Asia Minor. It falls into certain great classes—first, the ancient gold and electrum, Lydian and Greek, in time succeeded by electrum or gold and silver, all struck in the west and mainly on the coast. Then the Persian dominion appears in the silver money of the satraps, circulating with the gold and silver of Persia, and the Greek money is limited to a few cities of the coast, none save the electrum of the great mint of Cyzicus uninterrupted by the barbarian. With the decay of the barbarian empire the renewed life of the Greek cities is witnessed by a beautiful coinage along the coast from the Propontis to Cilicia. On Alexander’s conquest autonomy is granted to the much-enduring Hellenic communities, and is again interrupted, but only partially, by the rule of his successors, for there was no time at which Asia Minor was wholly parcelled out among the kings, Greek or native. The Romans, after the battle of Magnesia (190 B.C.), repeated Alexander’s policy so far as the cities of the western coast were concerned, and there is a fresh outburst of coinage, which, in remembrance, follows the well-known types of Alexander. When the province of Asia was constituted and the neighbouring states fell one by one under Roman rule, the autonomy of the great cities was generally reduced to a shadow. Still the abundant issues of imperial coinage, if devoid of high merit, are the best in style of late Greek coins, and for mythology the richest in illustration.

The oldest money is the electrum of Lydia, which spread in very early times along the western coast. This coinage, dating from the 7th century b.c., has an equal claim with the Aeginetic silver to be the oldest of all money. Probably the two currencies arose at the same period, and by interchange became the recognized currency of the primaeval marts; otherwise we can scarcely explain the absence of Asiatic silver, though it is easy to explain that of European electrum or gold. The electrum of the coins is gold—the precious metal washed down by the Pactolus—with a native alloy of a fourth part of silver. Its durability recommended it to the Lydians, and it had the advantage of exchanging decimally with gold, then in the ratio 13 - 3 to silver. But this commercial advantage allowed the issue of electrum coins on silver standards, while it was natural to coin them on those of gold; hence a variety of weight-systems perplexing to the metrologist. The first coins were undoubtedly struck by a Lydian king, probably as early as about 700 b.c. They follow the Babyionic silver standard. The obverse is plain and merely marked with lines, the original rough surface of the die, while the reverse has three depressions, an oblong one flanked by two squares. Later the same people issued money on the Phoenician silver standard. This double currency, as Head suggests, was probably intended for circulation in the interior and in the coast towns to the west, the Babyionic weight being that of the land trade, the Phoenician that of the commerce by sea. Ultimately Croesus abandoned electrum, and, reducing the Phoenician weight by one-fourth, the proportion of silver in the electrum, he produced a Babyionic gokl stater, and again by similarly reducing the Babyionic weight he obtained a Euboic gold stater. His silver was Babyionic only, the silver stater exchanging as the tenth of the Euboic gold stater. These results are explained by the metrological data given earlier in this article. The Greek marts of the western coast were not long in imitating the example of Lydia; hence a series of early electrum staters, on the Phoenician weight, of Miletus, Ephesus, Cyme, Chios, Clazomenae, Lampsacus, Abydos, and Samos, with smaller pieces which add other mints to the list. The Euboic weight naturally found its way into the currencies, but was as yet limited to Samos. Phocaea, Teos, and Cyzicus, with other towns, followed from a very early period the Plιocaic standard, which for practical purposes may be called the double of the Euboic. Consequently their stater was twice as heavy as the Euboic gold stater. They alone before Croesus issued gold money, which was superseded at Phocaea and Cyzicus by electrum. This is the main outline of the native coinage of Asia Minor before the Persian conquest. Its later history will appear under the several great towns, the money of Persia being treated in a subsequent place.

The first countries of Asia Minor are Bosporus and Colchis, the coins of the cities of which are few and unimportant. The autonomous coinages of the cities of Pontus are more numerous, but none of them are archaic or deserve to be characterized as fine. There are also imperial pieces. The bronze coins are sometimes large and often thick. The only place meriting a special notice is Amisus, which almost alone of the cities of Pontus seems to have issued autonomous silver money. This is continued under the emperors in the form of Roman denarii and larger pieces. The common subjects of the bronze money of this place relate to the myth of Perseus and Medusa, a favourite one in this country.

The regal coins are of the old kingdoms of Pontus and of the Cimmerian Bosporus, of the two united as the state of Bosporus and Pontus under Mithradates VI. (the Great), and as reconstituted by the Romans when Polemon I. and II. still held the kingdom of Mithradates, which was afterwards divided into the province of Pontus and the kingdom of Bosporus. The early coinage of the kingdom of Bosporus is of little interest. Of that of Pontus there are tetradrachms, two of which, of Mithradates IV. and Pharnaces I., are remarkable for the unflinching realism with which their barbarian type of features is preserved. Mithradates VI., king of Bosporus and Pontus, is represented by gold staters and tetradrachms. The portrait on the best of these is fine despite its dramatic quality, characteristic of the later schools of Asia Minor. The kings of Bosporus struck a long series of coins for the first three centuries after the Christian era. Their gold money is gradually depreciated and becomes electrum, and ultimately billon and bronze. They bear the heads of the king and the emperor and are dated by the Pontic era.

In Paphlagonia we must specially notice the coins of the cities Amastris and Sinope. The silver pieces of the former place bear a youthful head in a laureate Phrygian cap, probably representing Men or Lunns,—Amastris, the foundress, being seated on the reverse. On the late bronze money the bust of Homer occurs. There are also bronze coins of the imperial class. The silver pieces of Sinope aie plentiful, ihe types are the head of the nymph Sinope and, as at Istrus, an eagle preying on a dolphin. Bithynia is represented by a more important series. Of the province generally there are Roman silver medallions of the weight of cistophori (to be presently described), with Latin inscriptions, and imperial bronze pieces with Greek inscriptions. There is a long series of imperial bronze of Apamea as a colonia. The ordinary silver coins of Chalcedon strikingly resemble on both sides those of Byzantium a circumstance confirmatory of the statement that the two cities were co Ionized at nearly the same time from Megara. Of Cius also called Prusias ad Mare, there are gold staters and smaller imperial silver pieces. Hadriani and Hadrianutherae issued imperial bronze money. Of Heraclea there are silver coins of good style; these are of the Persic standard. The obverse type is a head of Heracles either bearded or beardless, in the lion’s skin; the most interestin·’«· reverse type is a female head wearing a tiara on which are three turrets, probably that of the town personified. Of the tyrants of Heraclea there are silver coins of Clearchus, of Timotheus and Dionysius ruling together, and of Dionysius ruling alone. Of the imperial class there is a large series of Nicaea, and there are many coins of Nicomedia. The series of Bithynia closes with the money of its kings, consisting of Attic tetradrachms and bronze pieces. The tetradrachms bearing the name of Prusias are of Prusias I. and II. The bronze coins with the same name, some of which are fine, cannot be otherwise classed than to Prusias I. or II., since we do not know by which of the two they were issued. Of Nicomedes II. and III. there are only tetradrachms.

The fine Greek coinage of Asia may be considered to begin with Mysia. Cyzicus is in numismatics a most important city. The famous electrum Cyzicene staters were struck here for nearly a century, from 478 to 387 B,c., as Head conclusively argues (A⅛∞. Chron., 1876, p. 277). During that whole period they were not only the leading gold coinage in Asia Minor but the chief currency in that metal for the cities on both shores of the Aegean; for it must be remembered that their alloy of silver was not allowed any value. The actual weight is of the Phocaic standard, just over 248 grains, so as to be equivalent to a Babyionic gold stater. The division was the hecta or sixth. The abundance of the staters and hectae and the variety of their types, which usually are common to both denominations, led some numismatists to suppose that Cyzicus was a central mint striking for neighbouring cities their own coinage, but our present knowledge of the types of these cities shows that this was not the case. But it is certain that the staters of Cyzicus served as gold for other great marts which struck little or no money in that metal, and contented themselves with issuing the hecta; hence an instinct that they were striking for the use of others may have led the Cyzicene moneyers to use great freedom in the choice of subjects. Many they invented and some they borrowed, retaining for themselves the distinctive badge of the tunny-fish beneath the type. This type occupied the obverse of the coin, while the reverse was invariably the quadripartite incuse square in four planes of the so-called mill-sail pattern. The coins are very thick and the edges are rude. The art is frequently of great beauty, though sometimes careless. After the earlier examples it shows the dominant influence of painting, being characterized by flowing lines and an intensity of expression in some of the finest examples, and always recalling painting or relief rather than sculpture in the round. The subjects are heads, figures, groups, and animals. The silver coinage of Cyzicus is distinctly local. It comprises beautiful tetradrachms of the Rhodian standard. The obverse bears a head of Persephone with a veil on the back, wound round her head, and a wreath of ears of corn. This is an example of the best Greek art, equally simple, delicate, and graceful, and in the expressive style of the Ionian school. Above the head is the in scription ∑ΩTEIPA, which may be compared with ΚΟΡΗ ΣΩTEIPA KYZIKHNΩN, on a late copper coin, accompanying a head which is probably that of the younger Faustina in the character of Persephone. The reverse type of the finest tetradrachms is a lion’s head in profile above a fish. Both late autonomous and imperial coins in bronze are well executed and full of interest, the two classes running parallel under the earlier emperors.

Lampsacus is represented by a long series of coins. There are archaic and fine silver coins with a janiform female head, and on the reverse that of Athene in a Corinthian helmet, besides a few of other types. Contemporary with the later silver are electrum staters of Rhodian weight with a half-Pegasus and peculiar quadripartite incuse square. These are succeeded by splendid gold staters with various types of obverse and the half-Pegasus on the reverse. The most remarkable type is a bearded head with stι∙eaming hair in a conical cap, bound with a wreath, singularly pictorial in treatment as well as in expression, and roughly executed as if by a great artist unused to medal work. In contrast to this is a most carefully executed head of a Maenad with goat’s ear, still markedly in a painter’s style. This head is in repose; that of another Maenad with human ear is marked by its expression of frenzy. Of Parium there are very early silver coins, interrupted and resumed in the period of good art. The leading type is the Gorgon’s head.

The money of the great city of Pergamus or Pergamum is chiefly of a late time. There are, indeed, small gold and silver pieces of the good period, the former being very rare; the leading type is an archaic figure of Pallas. The silver coinage is next supplied by the money of the kings of Pergamum, followed by cistophori, which began under the kingdom. The bronze pieces of the city are numerous, both autonomous and imperial, the two classes overlapping, and there are medallions of the emperors. The local worship of Aesculapius is especially prominent under the Roman rule. The chief coin's of the kings are Attic tetradrachms, with on the obverse a laureate head, supposed to be that of Philetaerus, the founder of the state, and on the reverse a seated Athene, the common type of Lysimachus, from whom Philetaerus revolted. This type is but twice varied by the heads of later kings. The inscription is always ΦIΛETAIPOY, a monogram sometimes indicating the name of the king by whom the coin was issued. The absence of the regal style is noticeable, and, though in the usual type the diadem is generally shown as wound round the laurel-wreath, it does not always appear. There are also unimportant bronze coins of the kings. The cistophorus was so called from its obverse type, the cista mystica, a basket from which a serpent issues, the whole enclosed in an ivy-wreath. The reverse type represents two serpents, and between them usually a bow-case. The half and the quarter of the cistophorus have on one side a bunch of grapes on a leaf or leaves of the vine, and the club with the lion’s skin of Heracles within an ivy-wreath. They were tetradrachms equal in weight to three Attic drachms or three denarii, and the half and the quarter would be exchangeable with Roman coins, three quinarii and a quinarius and sestertius respectively. These coins became abundant when the kingdom of Pergamum was transformed into the province of Asia, and are struck at its chief cities, Pergamum, Parium, Adramyttium, Thyatira, Sardis, Smyrna, Ephesus, Tralles, Nysa, Laodicea, and Apamea. They have at first the names of Greek magistrates, afterwards coupled with those of Roman proconsuls or propraetors. The silver medallions of Asia, the successors of the cistophori, range from Mark Antony to Hadrian and Sabina. They bear no names of cities, but some may be attributed by their references to local forms of worship. The obverse bears an imperial head, the reverse a type either Greek or Roman. The art is the best of this age, more delicate in design and execution than that of any other pieces, the Roman medallions excepted.

The coinage of theTroad is interesting from its traditional allusions to the Trojan War. Of Abydos there is a fine gold stater, with the unusual subject of Nice sacrificing a ram, and the eagle, which is the most constant type of the silver money,—a series chiefly noticeable for the coarse style and bad fabric of the late Attic tetradrachms. One of the few imperial coins commemorates the legend of Hero and Leander. The late tetradrachms of Alexandria Troas bear the head of Apollo Smintheus, and on the reverse his figure armed with a bow; the inscription is ΑΠΟΛΛΩΝΟΣ ZMIΘE∩Σ AΛEΞ^ ANΔPE∩N. There is a long series of the town as a colonia, of extremely poor work. Dardanus has remarkable silver coins, both early and fine. Ilium Novum strikes late Attic tetradrachms with a head of Athene, and on the reverse the same goddess carrying spear and distaff, with the inscription ΑΘΗΝΑΣ ΪΛΙΑ.ΔΟΣ. On the autonomous and imperial bronze we notice incidents of the tale of Troy, as Hector in his car, or slaying Patroclus, or fighting; the other side, for this coin is autonomous, shows the wolf and twins, and again the flight of Aeneas. Of Scepsis, which is said to have been the capital of a Dardanian kingdom for a long period between the fall of Troy and the age of Alexander, there are early silver coins, and some of its bronze money is of good style. The island of Tenedos is represented by very early coins, and others of the fine and late periods. The usual obverse type of all the silver pieces is a Janus-like combination of two heads, probably those of a Zeus and a Hera; and the reverse type of all but the oldest is a two-headed axe.

In Aeolis the most noteworthy coins are the late tetradrachms of Cyme and Myrina, both of the time of decline, yet with a certain strength which relieves them from the general weakness of the work of that age. Cyme has the head of the Amazon Cyme, and a horse within a laurel-wreath; Myrina, a head of Apollo and his figure with lustral branch and patera. The rest of the coins of these and other towns are bronze, autonomous and imperial.

Lesbos is remarkable for having coined in base as well as pure silver, its early billon coins being peculiar to the island, and not easily classed to the cities like the silver. They are of various weights, as if the alloy had not been reckoned at first, but afterwards admitted, unlike the electrum of the coast, in which the silver was always excluded from the value. Methymna has very interesting archaic silver coins, with the boar and the head of Athene, her helmet adorned with a Pegasus rising above her forehead. There are later coins of about 400 b.c. and about Alexander’s time. The types are the head of Athene and the lyre. The weight is Attic. Of Mytilene there are few coins until late in the Persian dominion.

The types are the head of Apollo and the lyre. The style is fine for the period, with the strongly expressive quality that marks the contemporary western Asiatic currencies, and the execution is careful. There is a long and important series of the imperial time, including very interesting commemorative coins, some probably of persons of legend as Nausicaa, or of remote history as Sappho, others of benefactors of the city as Theophanes the friend of Pompey, from whom he obtained for this his native place the privileges of a free city. The usual style for these persons is hero or heroine, but Theophanes is called a god, and Archedamis, probably his wife, a goddess.

The money of Ionia is abundant and beautiful. Clazomenae is the first city of interest. Here we observe a very early tetradrachm of Attic weight with the types of a lion gnawing his prey, and the forepart of a winged sow. Drachms and smaller coins follow with the forepart of the sow and an incuse. Then there is the break frequently noticeable in Asia Minor, and the coinage begins anew with splendid coins of the age before Alexander, having for types the head of Apollo, three-quarter face, and a swan. The chief pieces, the gold drachm and a half or octobol, and the silver stater or tetradrachm, present two types of the head of Apollo, very grand on the gold and the silver, with the signature of Theodotus, the only known Asiatic engraver, and richly beautiful on the other silver piece. These coins are marked by the intense expression of the school of western Asia Minor. Colophon has a very early Attic didrachm, followed by transitional Persic coins with the head of Apollo and the lyre, next the common break, during which the famous pieces with a regal portrait, to be noticed under Persia, were probably issued, and then, about Alexander’s time, an over-refined repetition of the earlier type.

The money of Ephesus is historically interesting, but very disappointing in its art, which is limited by the small range of subjects and their lack of beauty. The leading type is the bee; later the stag and the head of Artemis appear. Thus the subjects relate to the worship of the famous shrine. The oldest coins are electrum and silver, both on the Phoenician standard. The type is a bee and the reverse is incuse. The silver coinage continues with the same types, unbroken by the Persian dominion, until in 394 b.c. a remarkable new coin appears. When Conon and Pharnabazus defeated the Lacedaemonian fleet and liberated the Greek cities of Asia from Spartan tyranny a federal coinage was issued by Rhodes, Cnidus, Samos, and Ephesus, with their proper types on the reverse, but on the obverse the infant Heracles strangling two serpents; these are Rhodian tridrachms. About this time the Rhodian standard was introduced, and a series of tetradrachms began with the bee, having for reverse the forepart of a stag looking back, and behind him a date-palm. This type continues till 301 b.c. on the Rhodian standard, which is then abandoned, and the Attic supersedes it for a short time. Bronze now begins. The head of Artemis as a Greek goddess next occupies the obverse, and the mint of Ephesus also issues tetradrachms of Lysimachus. He subsequently gave the city the name of Arsinoe, his wife, and a few coins record this short-lived change. The next coins repeat the head of Artemis, and the forepart of the stag and the palm-tree again occupy the reverse. The head is specially beautiful, and the whole coin of most careful work. The Ptolemaic rule is commemorated by the splendid octadrachm of Queen Berenice II. struck here. At this time the Attic standard was abandoned, and the Rhodian, then very popular in the commerce of the eastern Mediterranean, was adopted. The city afterwards fell into the hands of Antiochus III. About this time Alexandrine tetradrachms were here minted; it would seem most reasonable to date them from the peace of 189 b.c., when the Romans endeavoured to conciliate the cities of the coast, but there are reasons for supposing that they began earlier with a monetary alliance between Ephesus and the great Phoenician mart Aradus. The Attic weight was thus restored, and there is a long issue of drachms on that standard, with the types of the bee, and the stag standing on the nearer side of the palm-tree. To the same age belong the Ephesian tetradrachms of the kings of Pergamum, to whose territory the Romans had assigned Ephesus, and undated cistophori. When in 133 b. c. the Roman people inherited the kingdom of Pergamum, an issue of dated cistophori began at Ephesus, which was the chief city of the Roman province of Asia. This is not interrupted by the revolt, when Ephesus took the side of Mithradates (87-84 b.c. ), which, however, is marked by a series of gold Attic didrachms and a solitary coin of strange weight, which may be a half-aureus issued by Sulla (84 b,c.), as Mommsen ingeniously supposes. The Roman rule is next marked by the issue of proconsular cistophori. After the disturbance caused by the civil wars these cease, and there are only bronze pieces, which we may suppose to be of the latest days of the republic. The imperial money follows, of far higher interest than the autonomous. There are many representations of the temples of the city, including that of the famous shrine of Artemis, which shows the bands of sculpture on the columns, as well as many other remarkable subjects, particularly the Zeus of rain seated on Mount Prion, a shower fallin" from his left hand, while below are seen the temple of Artemis and the river-god Caÿster; on another coin the strange Asiatic figure of the goddess, frequent in this series, stands between the personified rivers Caÿster and Cenehrius (see Head’s Ephesus).

Erythrae has fine coins, mainly transitional, with a horseman about to mount his steed, and a flower. These are Persic, and after a long pause there is a series of Rhodian weight of about Alexander’s age, and later Attic, having types connected with Heracles. The series of autonomous bronze is large. The money of the Ionian Magnesia begins with the issue of Themistocles, when he was dynast under Persian protection. In the decline of the Oriental power the city strikes her own money, with the types of an armed horseman and a humped bull butting, surrounded by the labyrinth pattern which symbolizes the river Maeander. The weight is Persic. After a long pause we observe the currency recommencing with spread tetradrachms of the decline of art, more delicately executed than those of Cyme and Myrina, with a bust of Artemis and a figure of Apollo standing on a maeander and leaning against a lofty tripod, the whole in a laurel-wreath. The great city of Miletus is disappointing in its money. The period of its highest prosperity is too early for an abundant coinage, yet in the oldest electrum issues we see the lion of Miletus. It is not, hoλvever, until the confederacy with Athens after the battle of Mycale that there is a common silver coinage, with the lion’s head and a star, of Attic weight. Later money with the same types seems to show the influence of thé Carian princes. It closes with beautiful coins bearing the head of Apollo facing and the lion looking back at a star, with the inscription EΓ ΔΙΔΥΜΩΝ ΙΕΡΗ, showing, whatever be the word understood, that this was the “sacred” money of the famous temple at Didyma. Next come fine coins of about Alexander’s time, differing from the last in having the head in profile. The weight is equally Phoenician. The types continue through a series of various standards with very rare Attic gold staters. Phocaea is represented by two very interesting currencies: an electrum series of hectae like that of Cyzicus, but of inferior purity, characterized by a seal, the badge of the town, beneath the type; and also a widespread early silver coinage, apparently common to the Western colonies of the city. The autonomous money is wholly anterior to the Persian conquest. Smyrna first strikes late Attic tetradrachms, with the turreted head of Cybele or the city or the Amazon Smyrna, and an oak-wreath sometimes enclosing a lion. A rare silver coin presents on the reverse the seated figure of Homer, also occurring in the autonomous bronze, of which there is very much, partly of imperial time as well as a long series of imperial bronze. Among the bronze coins we notice those with the head of Mithradates. The earlier imperial coins are of delicate work. Those of the young Vespasian are historically interesting.

Of Teos there are early Aeginetic didrachms, bearing on the one side a seated griffin with curled wings and on the other a quadripartite incuse square. These ceased at the moment when the population left the town, destroyed by the Persians, and fled to Abdera, where we recognize their type on the coinage of the time. There are much later coins of less importance.

Chios and Samos, islands of Ionia, are represented by interesting currencies. Chios struck electrum and abundant silver. The type was a seated sphinx with curled wing, and before it stands an amphora, above which is a bunch of grapes; the reverse has a quadripartite incuse. The coins begin before the Persian conquest (490 b.c. ), and are first archaic and then of fine style. There is apparently a gap in the later Persian period. Afterwards there is a cessation of money until Sulla’s time, when silver is again struck and bronze seems to begin.

The coinage of Samos is artistically disappointing, but as a whole has many claims to interest. The earliest money must have included electrum, but we are unable to discriminate between the rival claims of Lesbos and Samos; some pieces, however, cannot reasonably be doubted to belong to Samos. The silver begins before 494 b.c., when history comes to our aid to make a marked division. The types are the well-known lion’s scalp and bull’s head, of Oriental origin, both probably connected with the worship of Hera. They are continued in the next period, and the Athenian conquest (439 b.c. ) is only marked by the introduction of the olive-spray as a constant symbol on the reverse and the more important change from degraded Phoenician to Attic weight. Notwithstanding the regularity of their coin type, the Samians, having joined the anti-Laconian alliance after Conon’s victory in 394 b.c., struck the coin with Heracles strangling the serpents already noticed under Ephesus; the Rhodian weight is thus introduced. We next notice an Alexandrine tetradrachm of the class of those issued after the battle of Magnesia. There is nothing further of interest until the long series of imperial money, which, though wanting in beauty of style, is not without interesting types. Of the mythological subjects the most remarkable is the Asiatic figure of the Samian Hera, which clearly associates her with the group of divinities to which the Ephesian Artemis belongs. Very noticeable also are the representations of Pythagoras, seated or standing, touching a globe with a wand (see Professor Gardner’s Samos).

The money of Caria does not present any one great series. Autonomous silver coins are not numerous except at Cnidus, and rarely of good style. Antiochia has late Attic silver pieces; as this city was founded, by Antiochus I., its coinage is important as fixing the date of similar money of Miletus. There are imperial coins of this town, and of Aphrodisias, worthy of notice. Cnidus is represented at first by archaic coins going down to about 480 b.c. Their weight is Aeginetic, and the types are a lion’s head and the head ot Aphrodite. There are, after a break, coins of Rhodian weight about 400 b.c., others preceding Alexander, and others, again, after his age. An imperial coin represents the famous statue of Aphrodite by Pιaxiteles. Of Halicarnassus there are small silver pieces of the age of good art, and others of subsequent times, including that of the Carian kings, and the silver money continues after Alexander. Among the imperial types the head of Herodotus is noteworthy, there is late silver money of Iasus with the head of Apollo, and a youth swimming beside a dolphin around which his arm is thrown. It is interesting to compare this type with the similar subjects of Tarentum. Idyma has silver pieces of fine style on which the head of Apollo is absolutely facing, as sometimes at Catana in Sicily; the reverse type is a fig-leaf. Myndus on its late silver perhaps shows in the head-dress of Isis a trace of the Ptolemaic occupation. Tabae has also late silver; and of Termera we have the rare coin of its tyrant Tymnes, dating about the middle of the 5th century and struck on the Persic system.

The Carian kings prove their wealth by their series of coins, which bear the names of Mausolus, Hidrieus, and Pixodaτus, Artemisia, the widow of Mausolus, being absent. The weight is Rhodian; the types are the three-quarter head of Apollo, and Zeus Labrandeus standing, holding the labrys or two-headed axe. Mausolus strikes tetradrachms, Pixodarus gold of Attic weight. His silver is the best in the series, and clearly shows the Ionian style in its quality of expression.

Calymna heads the islands of Caria. Its money begins with curious archaic Persian double drachms bearing a barbarous helmeted male head and on the reverse a lyre incuse. Later there are coins of about 400 b.c. The series of Cos begins with small archaic pieces, the type a crab and the reverse incuse. Next come fine coins of transitional style and Attic weight, with the types of a discobolus before a tripod, and a crab. The wrestlers of Aspendus may be compared with the remarkable obverse type. The common break then interrupts the issue, and a new coinage occurs before the time of Alexander. The weight is Rhodian, the types the head of Heracles and the crab. After Alexander there is another currency which ceases about 200 b. c. It is resumed later with the new types of the head of Aesculapius and his serpent. This continues in Roman times. The bronze of that age comprises a coin with the head of Hippocrates and on the reverse the staff of Aesculapius. Xenophon’s head likewise occurs, and the portrait of Nicias tyrant in Cos (c. 50 b.c. ) on his bronze. Imperial money ends the series. Of the island of Megiste there are charming little silver pieces of about 400 b.c. with Rhodian types, the head of Helios in profile and the rose.

The island of Rhodes, great in commerce and art, has a rich series of coins. The want of variety in the types—at the city of Rhodes almost limited to the head of Helios and the rose—is disappointing, but happily the principal subject could not fail to illustrate the movements of art, one of which had here its centre, and the continuity of the money affords valuable metrological evidence. The city of Rhodes was founded c. 408 b.c. on the abandonment by their inhabitants of the three chief towns of the island, Camirus, Ialysus, and Lindus. The money of Camirus seems to begin before 480 b.c. The type is the fig-leaf, the weight Aeginetic, later degraded or changed to Persic. The coins of Ialysus, of the 5th century, follow the Rhodian standard. Their types are the forepart of a winged boar and an eagle’s head of a vulturine type. The money of Lindus, apparently before 480 b.c., is of Phoenician weight, with the type of a lion’s head. The people of the new city of Rhodes adopted another standard, the Attic, and very shortly abandoned it, except for gold money, using instead that peculiar weight which has been called Rhodian but may better be considered to be heavy Phoenician; this they retained until the last years of their independent coinage, when they resumed the Attic. The types are the three-quarter face of Helios and the rose. The first series was issued from the building of Rhodes to 304 B.C., the chief coins being the gold stater and the silver tetradrachm. There is a grandeur and noble outlook in the countenance of Helios which well befits his character, but the pictorial style is evident in the form of the hair and the expression, which, with all its reserve, has a dramatic quality. From 304 to 186 b.c. there is a change of type, and the head of Helios is radiate. The profile head which now also occurs, and the constant pictorial handling of the hair, not, as before, in its outlines only, but also in its masses, show the qualities of Lysippus. It is perplexing to note that the standard of weight is below that of those coins which Ptolemy I. struck for Alexander IV. on the Rhodian weight; but this difficulty disappears if we regard the standard as Phoenician, and both the Rhodians and Ptolemy as borrowers. The Alexandrine tetradrachms, which were issued after the battle of Magnesia, find a place in the Rhodian mintage.

Small coins follow this currency. In 166 b.c. favourable political circumstances cause a new issue of money. The Attic gold staters of this age have a strikingly dramatic style, pointing to the great local school; the silver, with the head of Helios in profile,—in the gold it is three-quarter face,— is still marked by careful execution. In the latest coins, from 88 to 43 B.C., the Attic standard, now universal, whether the chief coin was called drachm or denarius, again appears. During the age after Alexander there is an abundant bronze coinage, with some pieces of unusual size. The series closes with a few imperial coins ranging from Nerva to Marcus Aurelius.

The early coinage of Lycia introduces us at once into a region of Asiatic mythology, art, and language, raising many questions as yet without an answer. The standard of the oldest coins is Persic, and it falls perhaps under Athenian influence, until it becomes equivalent with the Attic. The Lycian character belongs to the primitive alphabets of Asia Minor, which combine with archaic Greek forms others which are unknown to the Greek alphabet, and it expresses a native language as yet but imperfectly understood. The art is stiff and delights in animal forms, sometimes of monstrous types, which recall the designs of Phoenicia and Assyria. The most remarkable symbol is the so-called triquetra, an object resembling a ring, to which three or four hooks are attached. It is supposed to be a solar symbol like the swastika. The oldest money, probably dating from about 480 b.c., has a boar or his fore-part and an incuse. This is succeeded by a series in which the hooked ring is the usual reverse type. It bears Lycian inscriptions, which may usually denote tribes; one certainly indicates the town of Tlos. This coinage probably reaches as late as Alexander’s time. It is followed by silver and bronze money of the Lycian League before Augustus and under his reign, but ceasing in that of Claudius,—the usual types of the chief silver piece, a hemidrachm, being the head of Apollo and the lyre. Besides this general currency there are some special ones of towns not in the League. The imperial money rarely goes beyond the reign of Augustus, and is resumed during that of Gordian III. There is a remarkable coin of Myra of this emperor, showing the goddess of the city, of a type like the Ephesian Artemis, in a tree; two woodcutters, each armed with a double axe, hew at the trunk, from which two serpents rise as if to protect it and aid the goddess. Phaselis is an exceptional town, for it has early Greek coins, the leading type being a galley.

The coinage of Pamphylia offers some examples of good art distinctly marked by the Asiatic formality. Aspendus shows a remarkable series of Persic didrachms, extending from about 480 b.c. to Alexander’s time. The oldest coins have the types of a warrior and the triskelion or three legs, more familiarly associated with Sicily; it is probably a solar symbol. One has an extraordinary reverse type, in which the triskelion is engraved upon an advancing lion, also, held to have a solar meaning. These coins are followed by a long series with the types of two wrestlers engaged and a slinger. The main legend is almost always in the Pamphylian character and language. There are also very curious imperial types. The money of Perga is very interesting. It begins in archaic style, and is resumed after the age of Alexander with Greek types of the Artemis of Perga. Her figure in a remarkable Asiatic form occurs in the long imperial series. Bronze coins earlier in date than the silver money with the Greek types have the Pamphylian title of the goddess, read by W. Μ. Ramsay {Hellenic Journal), F ΑΝΑΣΣΑΣ ΠPEIIAΣ, “of the queen of Perga.” Side has at first Persic didrachms of about 480 b.c., their types the pomegranate and dolphin and mystical eye, or pomegranate and dolphin and head of Athene; then there are satrapal money of about 400 b.c. and late Attic tetradrachms, their types being the head of Athene and Nice, of about the first century b.c., for they are imitated by Amyntas, king of Galatia.

The money of Pisidia is chiefly imperial. There is a long series of this class of the colonia Antiochia. The autonomous coins of Selge have the wrestlers and the slinger of Aspendus in inferior and even barbarous copies. Of Isauria and Lycaonia a few cities strike coins of imperial class or time.

Cilicia, a coastland, is numismatically of high interest. Celenderis, a colony of Samos, has archaic coins of Aeginetic weight, their type a goat, the reverse being incuse. These are followed by a splendid coinage of transitional and fine art, with a horseman seated sideways on the obverse and on the reverse a goat kneeling on one knee. The latest, about 400 b.c., are free from stiffness, and the horseman may be favourably compared with the similar types of Tarentum. The weight is the Persic didrachm. Mallus has a most interesting series of silver coins, some with curious Asiatic types. Of Nagidus there are Persic didrachms of good style, one interesting type being Aphrodite seated, before whom Eros flies crowning her, with, on the other side, a standing Dionysus. Soli has silver coins of the same weight, the types being the head of Athene, one variety imitated from remote Velia, and a bunch of grapes; they are anterior to Alexander. The coinage of Tarsus begins with rough and thick tetradrachms of Attic weight, evidently issued soon after Alexander’s reign, and for no long time subsequently. The types are the Baal of Tarsus and a lion. The autonomous bronze of the Seleucid age shows the remarkable subject of the pyre of Sandan, the local form of Heracles; and there is a long and curious imperial series.

The coinage of the great island of Cyprus is, as we might expect from its monuments, almost exclusively non-Hellenic in character. The weight-system, except of gold, which is Attic, is Persic, save only in the later coins of the kings of Salamis, who strike on the reduced Rhodian standard. The art is usually very stiff’ down to about 400 b.c., with types of Egypto-Phoeuician or Phoenician or of Greek origin. The inscriptions are in the Cyprian character, belonging to the interesting group of alphabets of Asia Minor, of which the Lycian and Pamphylian are instances. The character has been read, and the attributions of the coins are thus taking shape. The prevalent types are animals or their heads, the chief subjects being the bull, eagle, sheep, lion, the lion seizing the stag, the deer, and the mythical sphinx. The divinities we can recognize are Aphrodite, Heracles, Athene, Hermes, and Zeus Ammon. But the most curious mythological types are a goddess carried by a bull or by a ram, in both cases probably Astarte, the Phoenician Aphrodite. The most remarkable symbol is the well-known Egyptian sign of life. The coins appear to have been struck by kings until before the age of Alexander, when civic money appears. There are two well-defined currencies, that of the kings of Salamis, who claimed a Greek origin, and that of the Phoenician dynasty of Citium. The coins of the Salaminian line are in silver and gold. The earlier have Cyprian, the later Greek inscriptions, the types generally being native, though after a time under Hellenic influence. They are of Evagoras I., Nicocles, Evagoras II., Pnytagoras, and Nicocreon, and the coinage is closed by Menelaus, brother of Ptolemy I., who, of course, does not take the regal title. The kings of Citium from 448 to 332 b.c., Baalmelek, Azbaal, Melekiaton, and Pumiaton, strike silver and in one case gold, their general types being Heracles, and the lion seizing the stag. Bronze begins soon after 400 b.c., and of the same age there are autonomous pieces, one of Paphos in silver, and several of Salamis in bronze. There is Greek imperial money from Augustus to Caracalla. The most remarkable type is the temple at Paphos, represented as a structure of two stories with wings. Within the central portion is the sacred stone, in front a semicirculaι ’ court.

The earliest coinage of Lydia is no doubt that of the kings, already described. The next currency must have been of Persian darics (gold) and drachms (silver), followed by that of Alexander, the Seleucids, and the Attalids of Pergamum, and then by the cistophori of the province of Asia. There is an abundant bronze coinage of the cities, autonomous from the formation of the province, and of imperial time, but mostly of the imperial class. The largest currencies are of Magnesia, Philadelphia, Sardis, Thyatira, and Tralles. The art is not remarkable, though good for the period, and the types are mostly Greek.

The coinage of Phrygia has the same general characteristics as that of Lydia. Among noteworthy types must be noticed Men or Lunus, the Phrygian moon-god, and the legendary Minos. There are curious types of Apamea, surnamed Kibotos or the Ark, and more anciently Celaenae. One of Severus represents the legend of the invention of the double pipe, a type already described. Of the same and later emperors are coins bearing the famous type of the ark of Noah and the name N∩E. The town of Cibyra is remarkable for a silver coinage, of which the large pieces have the weight of cistophori. They are of the first century b.c., and were probably struck by one or more tyrants of the four confederate cities of which Cibyra was the head, a state which came to an end 84 B.c.

Galatia has little to offer of interest. Trajan issued bronze imperial coins for the province, and there is imperial money of Ancyra and Pessinus, besides other series of less importance. The only remarkable regal issue is that of Amyntas, Strabo’s contemporary, who struck tetradrachms, imitating the late money of Side.

With the coinage of Cappadocia we bid farewell to Greek art and enter on the domain of Oriental conventionalism, succeeded by inferior Roman design coarsely executed. There is one large imperial series, that of Caesarea, which numismatists have unduly increased by the introduction of many uncertain coins, all of which cannot even be proved to be Asiatic. The issues range from Tiberius to Gordian HI., and are in silver and bronze. The most common type is the sacred Mount Argaeus, on which a statue is sometimes seen,—a remarkable type curiously varied. There are scanty issues of a few other towns. There is an interesting series of coins of the kings of Cappadocia, who struck Attic drachms, and far more rarely tetradrachms. The usual names are Ariarathes and Ariobarzanes, the first being that of the old line who claimed descent from one of the Persian chiefs who slew the Magian. The earliest coins are of Ariarathes IV. (220-163 B.C.). The rare tetradrachms of Orophernes, a successful claimant in the next reign, bear a fine portrait. There are also tetradrachms of Ariarathes V. and of another king of the same name, a son of Mithradates of Pontus, put by him on the Cappadocian throne. The coins of Archelaus, the last king set up by Antony, have a good head on the obverse. Of Armenia there are a few silver and bronze coins of late sovereigns.

The great series of Syrian money begins with bronze coins of Trajan, struck, according to his custom, for the province. From these we pass to the money of the Seleucid kings of Syria, only rivalled for length and abundance by that of the Ptolemies, which it excels in its series of portraits, though it is far inferior in its gold money and wants the large and well-executed bronze pieces which make the Egyptian currency complete. The gold of the Seleucids is scarce, and their main coinage is a splendid series of tetradrachms bearing the portraits of the successive sovereigns. The reverse types are varied for the class of regal money. The execution of the portraits is good, and forms the best continuous history of portraiture for the third and second centuries before our era. The reverses are far less careful. The weight is Attic, but the cities of Phoenicia were ultimately allowed to strike on their own standard. Seleucus I. began by striking gold staters and tetradrachms with the types of Alexander the Great. The same king, like his contemporaries, then took his own types: for gold staters, his head with a bull’s horn, and on the reverse a horse’s head with bull’s horns; for tetradrachms, Alexander’s head in a helmet of hide with bull’s horn and lion’s skin, and Nice crowning a trophy, or the head of Zeus, and Athene fighting in a car drawn by four or two elephants with bull’s horns. The Zeus and elephant-car type is remarkable for presenting in some cases the names of Seleucus I. and fiis son Antiochus I. as colleagues. Antiochus I., like his father, first struck tetradrachms with Alexandrine types, and then with his own head, Heracles seated and Apollo on the omphalos occupying the reverse. The portrait of Antiochus has a characteristic realism, though marked by the deep recessing of the eye which is a characteristic of the school of Lysippus. The tetradrachms assigned to Antiochus II., Seleucus II., Antiochus Hierax (a doubtful attribution), Seleucus I II., and young Antiochus his son are not specially noteworthy. Antiochus III. is represented by a fine and interesting series. He alone of the Seleucids seems to have struck the great octadrachm in gold in rivalry of the Ptolemies. His portrait is vigorous, and the elephant which varies the seated Apollo on the reverse of his silver tetradrachms relieves the heraldic dryness of that type. Thêre are rare copper coins of the rebel satraps Molon and Achaeus. The regal series is continued under Seleucus IV., and again becomes interesting with the money of Antiochus IV. (Epiphanes). His portrait is extremely characteristic, marked by the mad obstinacy which is the key to the tyrant’s history. The most remarkable coin is a tetradrachm with the head of Antiochus in the character of Zeus, an instance of audacity unexampled in coinage. In his time mints became numerous in the bronze coinage, and there is a remarkable series in that metal with Ptolemaic types, marking his short-lived usurpation in Egypt. Passing by his son Antiochus V., we note a great change in the coinage of Demetrius I. The silver tetradrachms now bear both mints and dates, a custom that generally prevails henceforward. In one type the heads of Demetrius and Queen Laodice occur side by side. One of these coins in the British Museum is struck on a ietradrachm of Timarchus, the revolted satrap of Babylon, who takes the style “Great King.” With Alexander I. (Balas) Tyre and Sidon begin to strike royal tetradrachms on their own Phoenician weight. The money of Demetrius II. follows, then that of the young Antiochus VI., with the most carefully executed portrait in the whole series, which, despite its weakness, has a certain charm of sweetness that marks it as a new type in art. The same artist’s hand seems apparent in the fine portrait of the cruel usurper Tryphon, whose features have a beauty of expression that must surely be ideal, and also in the picturesque spiked Macedonian helmet with a goat’s horn and cheek-piece which occupies the reverse, on which is written after “King Tryphon” the strange title “autocrator.” Antiochus VII. continues the series with, amongst other coins, the solitary bronze piece of Jerusalem, bearing the lily and the Seleucid anchor. On his money of Tarsus we note the first appearance of the pyre of the local Oriental divinity. The restored Demetrius II. now reappears, the Phoenician money with his beardless head, the rest usually with the beard he had grown in his Parthian captivity. Alexander II. (Zebina) follows, and then Cleopatra, widow of Demetrius II., Alexander I., and Antiochus VII., next appears as colleague of her son Antiochus VIII. Her coarse features are in keeping with the vileness of her character. Antiochus VIII. alone amid the subsequent Seleucids has an interesting coinage, and the empire closes with the coarse money of the Armenian Tigranes, his portrait with the lofty native tiara, and for reverse Antioch seated, the Orontes swimming at her feet.

There is a copper coinage of the cities of Commagene, Samosata, and Zeugma, and less important mints. The money of Samosata is of the time of the kings of Commagene and also imperial, this showing the type of the city derived from the famous statue of Antioch. The series of Zeugma is imperial, and has the subject of a temple on a mountain. The money of the kings of Commagene is in bronze, of late date, and not of much interest.

Cyrrhestica has bronze coins of a few cities, nearly all imperial, the chief mints being Cyrrhus and Hierapolis. The last bear thé inscription ΘΕΑΣ ∑YPIAΣ IEPOΠOAITΩN, and have figures of the goddess seated on a throne flanked by lions or riding on a lion, thus directly connecting her with Cybele.

Of Chalcidene there are bronze coins of Chalcis and of the tetrarchs, and Palmyrene shows only the small bronze pieces of I almyra, the money of Zenobia and the family of Odenathus being found in the series of Alexandria.

Seleucis and Pieria, the brother states (on the coins ΑΔΕΛΦΩΝ ΔΗΜΩΝ), have bronze coins, dated (149-147 b.c. ) and undated. But the bulk of the money of this territory is of the great city of Antioch on the Orontes. This long series, second only to that of Alexandria in quantity, is of far less interest from the want of variety in the types, but it is curious chronologically. The coinage is both autonomous bronze before and of Roman times, and imperial base metal and bronze. The base metal money is at first of debased silver, then of potin, and at last of bronze washed with silver. The imperial bronze coins have at the same time both Greek and Latin inscriptions, the last with S.C. Trajan combines the Greek inscription with the Latin S.C., and when the city had been made a colonia by Caracalla this is indicated in Greek inscriptions from Elagabalus downwards. No less than four eras are used. The era of the Seleucids, the dates being from 97 to 37 b.c., occurs on the autonomous money; so also the Pharsalian era, from 38 to 22 b.c., and on imperial coins as late as Titus; the Actian era on autonomous coins, from 6 b.c. to 13 a.d., continuing under the early emperors; and the Caesarian era on the autonomous class, from 55 to 158 A.D. The mass of imperial coins and all after Titus are dated by the tribunitian years of the emperors. The leading types are the figure of Antioch seated, the river Orontes swimming at her feet, from the famous statue by Eutychides, and the eagle on a thunderbolt, a palm in front. Under Hadrian the eagle is represented carrying an ox’s leg, a reference to the story of the foundation of the city when an eagle carried off part of the sacrifice and deposited it on the site which was consequently chosen. There are few other types. The art is rude, though certain base metal coins show a largeness and decision in the heads, while wanting Hellenic refinement. The imperial series is very full and has an historical value as showing what emperors ruled Syria. It includes money of Sulpicius Antoninus, the Uranius Antoninus of Roman gold also struck in Syria. The series ends with Valerian, though it begins anew in the Roman provincial money of the reform of Diocletian, to be noticed later.

Of Apamea there are bronze coins of the age of the Seleucids, the elephant type which occurs being appropriate. At Emesa in the bronze imperial money Sulpicius Antoninus reappears, one of his coins having for reverse the characteristically Syrian type of a sacred conical stone in a temple. The money of Gabala is autonomous and imperial, with, in this class, curious mythological types. Laodicea has an important series. It begins with Phoenician tetradrachms and bronze money of the later Seleucids. The tetradrachms have a turreted and veiled female bust of the city, a favourite Syrian and Phoenician type. These autonomous coins are followed by an imperial coinage like that of Antioch; from Caracalla downwards Laodicea is a colonia; the inscriptions become Latin, then, very strangely, Greek on the obverse of the coins and Latin on the reverse. Seleucia has a similar autonomous and imperial currency, but does not become a colonia. There is a curious type of an apparently open shrine of Zeus Casius containing a sacred stone.

In Coele-Syria there is bronze of Damascus, late autonomous and. imperial; the city becomes a colonia. The imperial money of Heliopolis, a coloiιia, shows a great temple in perspective, another temple containing an ear of corn as the central object of worship, and a view of the Acropolis with the great temple upon it, and steps leading up the rock.

The coinage of Phoenicia is a large and highly interesting series. The autonomous money is here important, and indicates the ancient wealth of the great marts of the coast. The earliest coins were struck during and shortly after the Persian rule, and the most important classes have not been certainly fixed. It is therefore needful to speak of them before describing the attributed money of the cities. These coins are of Phoenician weight, except one class, which follows the Persic standard. The great currency is of silver octadrachms. The types, limited in number, are Oriental in character; the leading one is the war-galley; the king of Persia also occurs, and the fish-god Dagon. The art is hard, but has a force that reminds us of archaic Greek; it is, however, Oriental. The inscriptions are in the Phoenician character. Three great classes are distinguished. Octadrachms range from about 400 B,c. to Alexander’s time. The types are a war-galley in full sail and the king in a car; then for the obverse the war-galley beneath the walls of a fort, and below two lions. Didrachms with a similar obverse have for reverse the king slaying a lion. Octadrachms follow with the war-galley and the king in his car apparently followed by a vassal. These coins have been assigned to Sidon. A series of tetradrachms is of less importance. The obverse has a dolphin or the king as an archer on a sea-horse, the reverse an owl with the Egyptian symbols of sovereignty, the crook with the flail across it. These are after 400 b.c. and have been given to Tyre, but the Egyptian influence would perhaps suggest some town nearer the southern border of Palestine. A third class of money of the same age is of Persic weight. The earliest pieces have a head supposed to be of Melkarth and a war-galley, the later examples bearing dates. The dated series continues, but the obverse type changes to Dagon. These are assigned to Aradus. The series bearing the names or symbols of cities would not be difficult to class were it not for their constant interruption by Ptolemaic and Seleucid coins and by the issue of Alexandrine tetradrachms. Berytus has bronze, both autonomous and of the city as a colonia. The types of interest are the founding of the colonia, Poseidon, not always of a purely Greek type, Poseidon and the nymph Berytus, the temple of the same divinity, and the eight Phoenician gods or Cabiri. To Byblus we may class with certainty a Phoenician currency, that of the native kings from about 400 b. c. to Alexander’s age. The imperial coinage presents a very curious perspective representation of a temple in Graeco - Phoenician style, with a conical edifice in the court. Caesarea ad Libanum shows in its imperial money a strange type of Elagabalus, a half-figure of the Syrian goddess in a shrine. She wears a cap like a papyrus head and is enwrapped in shapeless drapery. The shrine is of Egyptian style, and a sceptre with a bird upon it is beside the goddess. Marathus has a very fine Phoenician tetradrachm of 226 b.c., with the head of the city turre ted and a youth holding an aplustre and seated on bucklers. This is a work of Greek design and style, as is also a small coin of the year following with the head of Queen Berenice II., then reigning. The copper is dated from 198 to 153 b,c.

Tlιe undoubted money of Sidon begins with Alexandrine gold and silver, dated shortly after the king’s reign. This was followed by other Alexandrine money, interrupted by that of Ptolemy II., Arsinoe II., and Ptolemy III. Ptolemy IV. also struck here and Antiochus IV. in bronze; and later Seleucids issued tetradrachms from 151 to 114 b. c. The era of the autonomy of Sidon was 111 b.c. There are tetradrachms dated by this reckoning with the head of the city and an eagle on a rudder, across him a palm. In the bronze we observe the type of Europa earned by the bull. Some pieces of this class have Phoenician as well as Greek inscriptions. The imperial money shows a curious shrine on wheels. In the time of Elagabalus Sidon is characterized as a colonia. The type of a temple of Astarte as a local Aphrodite is worth notice. The series closes with Julia Maesa. Tripolis has an interesting but limited autonomous and imperial series. The worship of the Dioscuri is here associated with Asiatic religion. Architecturally these coins are highly curious.

The early money that can be classed with certainty to Tyre exhibits similar historical vicissitudes to that of Sidon. Before she gained her independence the Seleucids struck here from 149 to 125 B. c., and in that very year the autonomous era begins. The tetradrachms dated by this era bear the head of the Tyrian Heracles in a Greek form, and the eagle on a rudder, across him the palm. The latest coin of this series known to us is a didrachm of 66 a.d. There is also autonomous bronze. The imperial class begins with Severus, and under him the constitution of the colonia is shown; but the most interesting type is a serpent coiled round an egg, between a date-palm (the phoenix or tree of Phoenicia) and a murex, the shell which produced the Tyrian purple. The series ends with Gallienus. Aradus has Alexandrine coins, and acquired its independence in 258 B. c. From this date it struck, first its chief coins with Alexandrine types, then drachms with the types of Ephesus, the bee, and the stag on this side of the date-palm, and lastly tetradrachms with the bust of the city and Nice holding an aplustre and a palm within a wreath. These are of heavy Phoenician weight. The imperial coinage ranges from Tiberius to Gordian III.

In Galilee there are a few autonomous and imperial coins of Ptolemais, which was a great mint under the earlier Ptolemies; and other towns are represented. In Peraea there is an imperial series of Gadara. Samaria has money of Caesarea, both autonomous and imperial, the last for the most part colonial, and also imperial of Neapolis, among the types of which occurs the interesting subject of Mount Gerizim surmounted by the Samaritan temple. The coinage of Judaea is an interesting series. The money of Jerusalem is of high interest, and more extensive than appears at first sight. Here was struck the coin of Antiochus VII., with the native lily as a type, the series of the Maccabaean princes, that of the Roman procurators, and the bronze coins countermarked by the tenth legion, quartered by Titus in the τuins of the city. One of these bears the remarkable symbol of a pig. After the reduction of Judaea in the reign of Hadrian, Jerusalem was rebuilt as a colonia with the name Aelia Capitolina. The earliest coin commemorates the foundation. The coinage lasts as late as Hostiliam Ascalon strikes autonomous silver and bronze, including remarkable tetradrachms with the portraits of Ptolemy Auletes, of his elder son Ptolemy XIV., and of his daughter Cleopatra. There is also money of Gaza of some importance, and of Joppa, both previously mints of the earlier Ptolemies.

The independent Jewish coinage begins with the famous shekels. They have been assigned to various periods, but the preponderance of evidence would class them to Simon Maccabaeus, to whom the right of coining was granted by Antiochus VII. The series is of shekels and half-shekels, of the weight of Phoenician tetradrachms and didrachms. The obverse of the shekel bears the inscription “the shekel of Israel,” and for type the pot of manna, or it may be a sacred vessel of the temple, above which is the initial of the word year, and the letter indicating the year of issue. The reverse reads “Jerusalem the Holy,” and the type is a flowering branch, either Aaron’s rod that budded or a native lily. The half-shekel differs in having the inscription “half-shekel” on the obverse. The types are markedly peculiar; the obverse inscription is equally so, for the regular formula of the neighbouring cities would give nothing but the name of the city; but the reverse inscription is like that of Tyre and Sidon, for instance, “of Tyre sacred and inviolable,” of Sidon the same. This agreement is confirmatory of the assignment to Simon Maccabaeus. This coinage bears the dates of years 1, 2, 3, 4 (rare), and 5 (one specimen only). There is great difficulty as to the date. It may be reckoned from the beginning of Simon’s actual rule (142 b.c. ), or from that of his official rule, which is stated to have been used by the Jews as an era (141 b.c.), or from the decree of Antiochus VII. granting him the right of coinage (c. 140-139 b.c. ). On the whole, the evidence in favour of the official date is best. Any one of the three modes of dating would allow five annual issues. There is another explanation which must not be hastily dismissed. It may be that the computation is by sabbatical years, and the fact that there are two types of year 1 lends some colour to this supposition, though if it be admitted there would be a gap of six years between the first and second issues, as both types of year· 1 have an inscription modified on the coins of years 2 to 5. There are bronze “half-shekels” and “quartershekels” of the year 4. These may be later. The certain coins of the successors of Simon are small bronze pieces of John Hyrcanus, of Judas Aristobulus, of Alexander Jannaeus, who strikes bilingual Hebrew and Greek and also Hebrew coins, showing his native name to have been Jonathan, and of Antigonus, who has the Hebrew name Mattathiah. The Maccabaean coinage is followed by that of the Herodian family, equally of bronze, the two most important issues being those of Herod the Great and Herod Agrippa II. The money of the procurators of Judaea, in part parallel with the Herodian, is of small bronze coins, struck between 6-7 a.d. and 58-59 a.d., the latest period of their administration being as yet unrepresented. These are followed by two important classes, the money of the first revolt (66-70 a.d.) and that of the second (suppressed 135 A.n.). Both risings caused the issue of native silver coinage, some of which may be assigned with certainty to each, while the assignment of others is doubtful. Of the first revolt are silver and bronze pieces with the name of Eleazar the priest, silver of Simon, and large and smaller bronze pieces with the name of Simon the prince of Israel. Of the second revolt are restruck denarii with the name of Simon, which appears to have been that of the leader surnamed Bar-cochab or Bar-coziba. Of the first or second revolt are shekels with the name of Simon, the obverse type a gate of the temple, and on the reverse a bundle of branches and a citron, symbols of the feast of tabernacles. Though these differ, it is rash to assign one variety to the earlier and another to the later revolt. Besides this native currency there are coins struck in Palestine by Vespasian, Titus, and Domitian. (See Madden’s Jewish Coinage, new ed. )

Of Roman Arabia there are bronze imperial coins of Bostra and less important mints. In Mesopotamia the colonia of Carrhae deserves notice, and the city of Edessa, which issues imperial money as a colonia, and has a series of coins of its kings, striking with Roman emperors in silver and bronze. Curiously, this and the colonial issue are long contemporary. The colonial coinages of Nisibis and of Rhesaena, which became a colonia, close the group. Assyria is remarkable for the imperial money of the ancient city of Nineveh, which appears as a colonia with the name Niniva Claudiopolis. The money of Babylon struck by the usurpers Molon and Timarchus has been noticed under the Seleucids.

The coins of Africa are far less numerous than those of the other two continents, as Greek, Phoenician, and Roman civilization never penetrated beyond Egypt and the northern coast to the west. The series of Egypt is first in geographical order. As yet no coins have been here assigned of a date anterior to Alexander. The old Egyptians kept their gold, electrum, and silver in rings, and weighed them to ascertain the value. During the Persian rule the Persian money must have been current, and the satrap Aryandes is said to have issued a coinage of silver under Darius I. In the papyri of this age the argenteus of the temple of Ptah is mentioned, and this has been thought to be a coin of Persian type generally assigned to Phoenicia. (Revillout, in Revue Égyptologique.') With Alexander a regular Greek coinage must have begun, and some of his coins may be of Egyptian mints. With Ptolemy I. the great Ptolemaic currency begins which lasted for three centuries. The characteristics of this coinage are its splendid series of gold pieces and the size of the bronze money. The execution of the earlier heads is good; afterwards they become coarse and careless. At first the fine pieces were issued by the Phoenician, Cyprian, and other foreign mints, the Egyptian work being usually inferior. While the Seleucids were still striking good coins, the Ptolemies allowed their money to fall into barbarism in Egypt and even in Cyprus. The obverse type is a royal head, that of Ptolemy I. being the ordinary silver type, while that of Arsinoe II. was long but not uninterruptedly continued on the gold. The head of Zeus Ammon is most usual on the bronze coinage. A type once adopted was usually retained. Thus Ptolemy I., Arsinoe II., Ptolemy IV., Cleopatra 1., have a kind of commemoration in the coinage on the analogy of the priesthoods established in honour of each royal pair. The almost universal type of reverse of all metals is the Ptolemaic badge, the eagle on the thunderbolt, which, in spite of variety, is always heraldic. For art and iconography this series is far inferior to that of the Seleucids. The weight after the earlier part of the reign of Ptolemy I. is Phoenician for gold and silver and either Attic or Egyptian for the bronze. The chief coins are octadrachms in gold and tetradrachms in silver, besides the abundant bronze money. Ptolemy I. appears to have issued his money while regent for Philip Arrhidaeus; it only differs in the royal name from that of Alexander; but as yet it has not been possible to separate Ptolemy’s coinage from that of the other generals. He then struck money for Alexander IV. on the Attic standard with the head of Alexander the Great, with the horn of Ammon in the elephant’s skin and Alexander’s reverse. He soon adopted a new reverse, that of Pallas Promachos, and next lowered the coins to the Rhodian standard. This money he continued to strike after the young king’s death until he himself took the royal title, when he issued his own money, his portrait on the one side and the eagle and thunderbolt with his name as king on the other, and adopted the Phoenician standard. This type in silver, with the inscription “Ptolemy the king,” is thenceforward the regular currency. He also issued pentadrachms in gold, and he or his successor octadrachms in silver. Ptolemy II. (Philadelphus), the richest of the family, continued his father’s coinage, and, having acquired the cities of Phoenicia, struck money there with his father’s title Soter, while the Egyptian coinage merely bore the title of king: the one was a commemorative coinage, the other, though bearing the portrait of Ptolemy I., was issued in the name of the reigning sovereign. Philadelphus probably began the issue of the gold octadrachms with the busts of Ptolemy I. and Berenice I., Ptolemy II. and Arsinoe II., and certainly struck beautiful octadrachms in gold and decadrachms in silver of Arsinoe II., the gold being long afterwards continued. The Phoenician octadrachms and tetradrachms are dated by the king’s reign. Philadelphus also began the great bronze issues of the system which includes the largest coin, sometimes exceeding 1400 grains in weight. Ptolemy III. (Euergetes I. ) continued his father’s coinages, after a while abandoning the dates in Phoenicia. He also struck fine gold octadrachms with his own portrait. His queen Berenice II., striking in her own right as heiress of the Cyrenaica and also as consort, but with the royal title only given to heiresses in the Ptolemaic line, issued a beautiful currency with her portrait, both octadrachms and decadrachms like those of Arsinoe, and a coinage for the Cyrenaica of peculiar divisions. Under Ptolemy IV. (Philopator) the coinage in its scantiness bears witness to the decline of the state, but the gold octadrachms are continued with his portrait and that of Arsinoe III. Ptolemy V. (Epiphanes) still strikes octadrachms with his portrait, and begins the continuous series of the tetradrachms of the three great cities of Cyprus, which, bearing regnal years, afford invaluable aid in the classing of his and the later coinages. Among the money of the regency of Cleopatra I. must be noticed a copper coin with her portrait. Contemporaneously with it begins the series of Ptolemy VI. (Philometor), broken by the invasion of Antiochus IV. (Epiphanes). This and the money of Philometor’s brother and successor Ptolemy Physcon are only remarkable for the many dates they bear, and.so with the coinage of succeeding kings, all showing a gradual degradation of art and ultimately a great debasement in metal. In the latest series, the money of the famous Cleopatra VII., it is interesting to note the Egyptian variety of her head, also occurring on Greek imperial money and on that of Ascalon. In Egypt we have the best executed and one of the youngest portraits, and it shows that her face was marked by strong characteristics of acuteness and mobility rather than of beauty.

Under the Roman rule the imperial money of Alexandria, the coinage of the province of Egypt, is the most remarkable in its class for its extent and the interest and variety of its types; and it deserves a more careful study than it has received. It begins under Augustus and ends with the usurper or patriot Achilleus, called on his money Domitius Domitianus, overthrown by Diocletian, thus lasting longer than Greek imperial money elsewhere. In the earlier period there are potin coins continuing the base tetradrachms struck by Auletes, and bronze money of several sizes. The types are very various, and may be broadly divided into Greek, Graeco-Roman, and Graeco-Egyptian. The Graeco-Roman types have the closest analogy to those of Rome herself; the Graeco-Egyptian are of high interest as a special class illustrative of the latest phase of Egyptian mythology.

These native types do not immediately appear, but from the time of Domitian they are of great frequency. The money of Trajan, Hadrian, and Antoninus Pius is abundant and interesting. A coin θf Antoninus, dated in his sixth year, records the beginning of a new Sothiac cycle of 1460 years, which happened in the emperor’s second year (139 a.d.). The reverse type is a crested crane, the Egyptian bennu or phoenix, with a kind of radiate nimbus round its head, and the inscription ΑΙΩΝ. Under Claudius II. (Gothicus) and thenceforward there is but a single kind of coin of bronze washed with silver. In this series we note the money of Zenobia, and of the sons of Odenathus, Vabalathus and Athenodorus.

Coins of the nomes of Egypt were struck only by Trajan, Hadrian, and Antoninus Pius. Their metal is bronze, and they are of different sizes. They were struck at the metropolis of each nome, and their types relate to the local worship, and so illustrate the Egyptian religion under a form modified by Greek influence. The inscriptions are the names of the nomes. There is an exceptional coin of the town of Pelusium.

Passing by the unimportant coinage of the Libyans, we reach the interesting series of the Cyrenaica, the one truly Greek currency of Africa. It begins under the line of Battus (640-450 b. c. ), and reaches to the Roman rule as far as the reign of Augustus. There are coins without the name of any city, which we may consider to be of the Cyrenaica generally, and others of Cyrene, Barca, Euesperides, and smaller towns. The weight of the gold always, and of the silver until some date not long after 450 b.c., is Attic; afterwards it is Phoenician, of the Samian variety. The ruling types are the silphium plant and its fruit, and the head of Zeus Ammon, first bearded then beardless. The art is vigorous, and in the transitional and fine period has the best Greek qualities. It is clearly an outlying branch of the school of central Greece. The oldest coins are of the class which is without the name of any city. So archaic are they that they may vie in antiquity with the first issues of Lydia and of Aegina, and date in the 7th century b.c. The money of Cyrene begins later, it may be a little before the fall of the kings in 450 b. c. It comprises a fine gold series of Attic staters with the types of the Olympian Zeus, more rarely Zeus Ammon, and a victorious quadriga. Barca has a smaller coinage than Cyrene. It comprises a wonderful tetradrachm (Phoenician), with the head of Ammon bearded, boldly represented, absolutely full face, and three silphiums joined, between their heads an owl, a chameleon, and a jerboa. The money of Euesperides is less important. The Ptolemaic currency of the Cyrenaica has been already noticed.

Syrtica and Byzacena offer little of interest. Their coins are late bronze, first with Punic inscriptions, then in imperial times with Latin and Punic or Latin. Latin and Greek are used in the same coins at Leptis Minor in Byzacena.

In Zeugitana the great currency of Carthage is the last representative of Greek money, for, despite its Orientalism, its origin is Hellenic, and of this origin it is at first not unworthy. Its range in time is from about 400 B. c. to the fall of Carthage in 146 B. c. The earliest coins are Attic tetradrachms of the class usually called Siculo-Punic. It has been usual to consider these coins as having been wholly struck by the Carthaginians in Sicily, like the undoubted Sicilian money of their settlements there and those absolute imitations of Syracusan money which may be as reasonably classed to the island. But those who insist on the attribution of the whole so-called Siculo-Punic class to Sicily leave Carthage without any but a provincial coinage for at least half a century. It is far more reasonable to infer that the earliest coinage of Carthage was struck for the whole dominion, that with purely Sicilian types being limited to Sicily. The next issues are of gold and electrum and silver, degenerating into potin. The weights are extremely difficult. In the silver money the Phoenician standard is almost universal, and we note the drachm, didrachm, tetτadrachm, hexadrachm, octadrachm, decadrachm, and dodecadrachm. Coins are also found which appear to follow the Persic standard, unless they are octobols and their doubles. While the silver is thus explicable, the gold and electrum money is very puzzling, and its very varying weights can only be explained by the theory that silver was the standard, and gold was constantly fluctuating in its relation. The earlier types are the horse or half-horse crowned by Nice and the date-palm, the head of Persephone and the horse and palm-tree, a female head in a cap, in splendid style, and a lion and a palm, and a head of young Heracles and a horse’s head with a palm. It will be noted that the horse and the palm-tree are most constant. On the later coins the obverse is uniformly occupied by the head of Persephone and the reverse by the horse, sometimes with the palm, the horse’s head and Pegasus being rare varieties. The bronze money imitates the later silver. The few inscriptions are extremely difficult. One that seems certain is ΠCΠΠ Γ∏p, the “new city,” Carthage. The art of the earlier coins is sometimes purely Greek of Sicilian style. There is even in the best class a curious tendency to exaggeration, which gradually develops itself and finally becomes very barbarous. Roman Carthage has a bronze coinage which is insignificant. There are a few other towns which issued money with Roman legends, Utica, however, having first Punic and then Latin inscriptions. The denarii of Clodius Macer, who revolted in 68 A.D., are curiously illustrative of his policy, which was to restore the Roman republic.

The cities of Numidia have Punic inscriptions, and there are interesting coins of Juba I., his denarii presenting his portrait of a characteristic Libyan type. Of Mauretania there are civic coins, chiefly using Punic characters, and an interesting regal series, mainly denarii, of Bogud II., Juba II. with his consort Cleopatra, daughter of Mark Antony and the famous Egyptian queen, and of Ptolemy their son, the last of the great family of the kings of Egypt.

II.— Roman Coins.

The Roman coinage is of two great classes,—the republican, commonly called the family coinage, and the imperial; the first lasted from the origin of money at Rome to the reform of Augustus in 16 b.c., and the second from this date to the fall of the Western empire in 476 a.d. The origin of the republican coinage is one of the hardest problems in archaeology. The evidence of the money is at variance with that of the ancient writers, and in setting these aside we are at variance with the best authorities of our time; but the general principles of criticism must be maintained here as in other matters of early Roman story.

The oldest money of Rome was of bronze, and it is stated that it was first cast as aes rude. This statement is confirmed by the discovery of shapeless masses of bronze, evidently broken off from large quadrilateral masses, and then rendered of a roughly uniform weight. To the aes rude succeeded the aes signatum, the stamped bronze. This step is attributed to Servius Tullius by ancient authority; it is said that he adopted the types of a sheep, ox, or pig; and large masses of bronze have been found which present animal types, including the pig. These are held to represent the coinage traditionally attributed to the regal age, though it is admitted that they are for the most part contemporary with the first circular money, the libral, the origin of which Mommsen dates about 450 b.c. All the masses, however, which bear a distinct type are clearly later than 300 b.c., as is proved by their style; and in the case of the elephant type we are forced, by the first appearance of the animal in Italy under Pyrrhus, to adopt a still later date. Moreover, the date of 450 is too early for the origin of the circular money; consequently the idea of any trace of the supposed regal coinage must be abandoned, though the late ingot may be descended from a currency intermediate between the aes rude and the libral circular money. The first regular Roman coinage consists of a series of cast pieces, the as of a pound weight, libral, and its chief divisions, the semis (half), triens (third), quadrans (fourth), sextans (sixth), and uncia (twelfth). The as was not cast of full weight; the older specimens usually weigh from 11 to 9 unciae, on an average 10. The origin of this system is assigned by Mommsen to the decemvirs, on the ground of their legal institution, and particularly from the condition in the Lex Julia Papiria (430 b.c.) that fines should not be paid in cattle but in money. Admitting the law to be correctly stated in its original form, it proves no more than that money was current in Rome. The libral coinage cannot, either in style or in types, possibly be much anterior to 350 b.c. It is easy to mistake barbarism for archaism, but a practised eye will see that the types of these coins do not present a trace of archaism, and are imitations of the types which originated in the latter part of the 5th century, and were in fashion in the fourth. The heads of Jupiter and the beardless Hercules are of this class. We must therefore suppose that the fines were paid in metal by weight or in Greek money, which if it was bronze no doubt was also weighed.

At first there was no corresponding gold or silver, but the pound of bronze was held to be equal to a scruple of silver. Campanian gold and silver money with the name of the Romans or Rome was next struck to supply the want. The silver is of Greek weight, with types usually connected with Roman legend. From one of the earlier reverses being distinctly borrowed from the money of the Syracusan tyrant Agathocles, who began to reign in 317 b.c., we cannot date the first issue before about 300 b.c. The scanty gold in two or three groups is evidently of later dates; it presents great metrological difficulties. The libral as fell in course of time from a weight of 10 to one of 8 unciae, and was at length reduced to a weight of 4, or that of a triens, and thus became triental. This is shown by the colonial coins of Italy to have occurred about 269 B. c., probably in that very year, when the silver coinage of Rome began. The dupondius (2 asses), tressis (3), and decussis (10) were now issued at Rome, also the semuncia (.⅞ oz.) and the quadruncia (⅛ oz. ). Casting was ultimately abandoned and all coins struck, and by about 254 b.c., or soon after, the triental system became sextantai; the multiples of the as and divisions of the uncia now cease. The silver coinage was first issued in 269 b. c.; it consisted of the denarius of 4 scruples or 72 grains (72 denarii being struck to the pound), the quinarius of 2 scruples, and the sestertius of 1. As the old as libralis was equal to 2⅜ triental asses, the new sestertius was equal to the as libralis; as the coin was still in circulation this was inevitable, and the words sestertius and aes grave are used synonymously. The relative value of silver to bronze being thus maintained, the silver sestertius was exchanged for the old as of 10 unciae, which was a real coin, whereas the new as of 4 unciae (triental) was a mere token. The value in the bronze, X, was inscribed on the denarii instead of IV. The bronze money soon became a token currency. The victoriatus was issued in 228 b.c., not much after the denarius; it was of 3 scruples, or three - fourths of the heavier coin, and was intended to serve in the provinces for the Illyrian drachms of light Attic weight; it could pass at Rome. The first purely Roman gold money is that of Sulla, probably struck in Greece. Julius Caesar struck similar coins in 49 B.c. To Octavian is due the settlement of the gold coinage. In 217 b.c. the standard was reduced; the denarius was struck at 80 to the pound, and the as became uncial. The denarius remained stationary for nearly three centuries, and its purity was maintained. The fate of the divisions of the denarius is too complicated to be here noticed, but it may be remarked that in 104 b.c. the quinarius appeared with the type of the victoriatus, which had disappeared, but with its own mark Q. When the as fell from sextantai to uncial, the value changed from one-tenth to one-sixteenth of the denarius, but, as troops were still paid at 10 asses to the denarius, the X almost always appears as the mark of value on the silver piece. By this reduction the relation of silver to bronze fell to less than half the original value still current in accounts, and became 1 to 112. Thus the bronze money represented more than double its metal value. In 89 b.c. the semuncial as was introduced, and from 80 b.c. bronze coinage ceased until Augustus issued his new currency in that metal.

The Roman coinage was struck both in the city and elsewhere. Consequently the Roman, Italian, and other issues must be carefully discriminated. In the city the right of striking was delegated to the monetary triumvirs, who could coin individually or together, but as a rule they acted independently. The earlier bronze and silver coins have fixed types. The obverse types are—for the as the head of Janus Bifrons, for the semis that of Jupiter, the triens Pallas, the quadrans Hercules, the sextans Mercury, and the uncia Roma. The reverse type is always a prow. The marks of value are—for the as I, for the semis S, and a certain number of balls equivalent to the value in ounces for the lower denominations. The original types of the denarius were for the obverse the head of Roma with a winged helmet and the mark of value X behind, and for the reverse the Dioscuri on horseback charging. In 100 b.c. a new type is introduced for the obverse, and a new reverse appears a century earlier, but the great abundance of types dates from 93 B. c. These are so characteristic that it is necessary to notice them particularly. The primary religious motive is to be traced in them as in the types of Greek money, but their having been selected to distinguish families instead of cities or peoples gives them a character of their own. It is this character which ultimately rendered the introduction of contemporary portraits almost a matter of course. The subject of the obverse is usually the head of a divinity, or a personification, or a traditional or an historical personage, ultimately one living, and the reverse bears a mythological, symbolical, traditional, or historical subject.

The following are the chief classes to which the types may be reduced :—·

1. Head or figure of a divinity worshipped at Rome; as head of Jupiter (fam. Petillia), figures of the Dioscuri (Junia) or of a divinity worshipped by the family or individual striking the coin, as head of Neptune (Pompeia, coin of Sextus Pompeius).

2. Sacred natural or artificial object; as pontifical implements (Antonia). This class is not large; sacred animals rarely occur.

3. Head or figure of a personification of a country or town; as heads of Hispania (Carisia), Roma (Julia), Alexandria (Aemilia).

4. Head or figure of an allegorical personage; as heads of Pavor (Hostilia), Pallor (id.), Honos and Virtus (Fufia, Mucia).

5. Fabulous monster; as Scylla (Pompeia).

6. Head or figure of an ancestral personage; as head of Numa (Calpurnia), Ancus Marcius (Marcia).

7. Events connected with ancestors; as figure of Marcus Lepidus, as TVTOR REG[IS], crowning Ptolemy Epiphanes (Aemilia).

8. Places connected with historical exploits, and of a votive character; as pharos of Messene (Pompeia, of Sextus, probably commemorating the sea-fight oft' Messene, 38 b.c. ).

9. Symbolical representations of contemporary events; as a general welcomed on landing by a country or city (Minatia).

10. Heads of living personages exercising dictatorial power, or in very high authority; as head of Sulla (Cornelia).

11. Representations connected with military matters; as legionary standards (Antonia).

Besides the principal designs there are symbols and numerals, generally to be regarded as having been indicative of successive issues from the mint. The inscriptions, which are in the nominative, are usually on the obverse the name of the personage represented and on the reverse the name of the person who issued the coin; the latter sometimes occurs on the obverse. Some of the most curious types strikingly illustrate Roman instinct. Being the choice of a multitude of persons of different families, they have an individuality lacking to the money of the Greek cities, which gave little choice to the coining authority or to the artist, and to the Greek royal coinages, which slipped speedily into heraldry. The family coins show a delight in recording the achievements of the house, and sometimes are so personal as to rank with modern medals, the spirit of which is even outdone in such a subject as Sulla’s dream. With the Greeks the historical sense is latent until the age of the kings, and then does not pass beyond portraiture and at first a scanty symbolical commemoration of events; with the Romans, even before portraits are introduced, the desire to record events is intensely strong. Thus we have not only such legendary subjects as the rape of the Sabines and Tarpeia crushed beneath the bucklers, which may be classed with the Greek mythical types, but also past historical events, as Marcus Aemilius Lepidus crowning Ptolemy Epiphanes, to whom he was governor, and Paullus Aemilius raising a trophy, while Perseus, king of Macedon, and his two children stand before him, and also events of the present, as the reverse type of Brutus, the cap of liberty between two daggers with the inscription EID MAR, and on a piece of Sextus Pompey the pharos of Messene above a Roman galley and for reverse Scylla striking with a rudder. The special mythology and superstition of Rome is not less fully illustrated, as well as the coming in of Greek ideas, in such a manner that many types thoroughly Greek alternate with purely Roman ones. The art of the republican coins reflects that of contemporary Greek money, but is never equal to the better style of the late Hellenic issues.

i. The history of the imperial coinage is full of metrological difficulties. These arise from the conditions fixed by Augustus (16-15 b.c. ), by which the emperor alone coined gold and silver, the senate alone bronze. Consequently the senate was wholly at the mercy of the emperor. Augustus struck the aureus at 40 to the pound, equal to 25 denarii at 84 to the pound. He introduced a new bronze coinage in two metals, the sestertius of 4 asses and dupondius of 2, both in fine yellow bronze (orichalcum), and the as semis and quadrans in common red bronze. The finer coins were struck on the standard of the as of a quarter of an uucia, the inferior ones on that of the half uncia. This gives the following proportionate values :— [table]

The as is nearly equal in size and weight to the dupondius, but is distinguished by its metal and inferior fabric. All the bronze bears the letters S.C., senatus consulto. Emperors not acknowledged by the senate are without bronze money; thus we have no specimens of Otho or Pescennius Niger.

Nero reduced the aureus to √ 5 th of the pound, and the denarius to i ⅛th, its purity being officially reduced. Under Trajan there was a further debasement of the denarius. Marcus Aurelius fixed the aureus, which had recovered its weight,' at ⅛th of the pound; the denarius had already been further debased, and under Septimius Severus it was half alloy. Caracalla introduced a new Coin, called after him the argenteus Antoninianus. It was struck at √ τ ,th to ⅛th of the pound, and seems to have been originally a double denarius struck on a lower standard. The characteristic of this coin is that the head of the emperor is radiate as Sol, that of the empress on a crescent as Luna. Under Elagabalus the taxes were paid in gold alone; this was ruinous, for the treasury paid in debased silver at nominal value, which had to be used to purchase gold by the taxpayer at real value. Under Severus Alexander there was the latest large issue of denarii and sestertii. The senate made another effort to continue a bronze currency by striking under Philip the large bronze quinarius or Philippus aereus, while the base metal argenteus had become a piece of bronze washed with silver. At length in the time of Gallienus the argenteus contained no silver whatever, Aurelian (270-275 A. D.) attempted a reform of the coinage by which the previous coin was reduced from its nominal to its intrinsic value. The coins were now of tinned bronze and marked with their real value, 20 or 21 denarii of account, the signs XXI, KA (Greek), and XX being used as indexes of value. These coins replace at once the base silver and the bronze, which now disappear. The moneying right of the senate had become illusory by the depreciation of silver, which had ceased to have any real value. Aurelian entirely suppressed this right; Tacitus and Florian restored it for a few years, after which the S.C. disappears from the coinage. The reform of Aurelian caused an outbreak at Rome which was of a serious character, but it was maintained by him and by Tacitus. Aurelian also suppressed all local mints but Alexandria. It was the work of Diocletian to restore the issue of relatively pure money in the three metals. Before 293 A. D. the coinage of silver recommences with the denarius of the standard of Nero, ⅛th of the pound, marked with the figures XCVI. Between 296 and 301 A. D. two tinned bronze coins were struck, the follis and the centenionalis. The follis was marked XXI, like the similar but very much smaller coin of Aurelian. The denarius was the unit of reckoning.

Constantine, probably in 312 a.d., desiring to rectify the gold coinage, which had long been quite irregular in weight, reduced the chief gold piece to 7 ⅛d of the pound, and issued the solidus, a piece destined to play a great part in commercial history. It was never lowered in weight, though many centuries later it was debased, long after it had become the parent of the gold coinages of Westerns and Easterns alike throughout the civilized world. The index LXXII is sometimes found on the first solidi; and after 367 a.d., when the edict of Constantine was renewed, the Greek equivalent OB was constantly used. Under Constantius II. (360 a.d.) and Julian the silver denarius or argenteus was suppressed, and the siliqua of 7 ⅛^th of the pound took its place. The follis having been withdrawn by Arcadius and Honorius, was reissued a century later by Zeno, with XI. to indicate the value of 40 denarii. It will be seen that a fuller system of bronze was originated by Anastasius, the Byzantine emperor.

Under Augustus the Roman monetary system became the official standard of the empire, and no local mint could exist without the imperial licence. Thus the Greek imperial money is strictly Roman money coined in the provinces, with the legends and types of the towns. Many cities were allowed to strike bronze, several silver, and one, Caesarea in Cappadocia, gold. The silver becomes limited about Nero’s time, but lasts under the Antonines. Afterwards there are a few currencies of base metal. The bronze increased in mints and quantity in the second century, but, through the debasement of the Roman silver, one city after another ceased to strike about the middle of the third. Only Alexandria and Antioch survived by following the tactics of Rome with their own base metal coins. Purely Roman gold and silver λvas coined in certain of the provinces, in Spain and Gaul, and at the cities of Antioch and Ephesus. When the base silver had driven the Greek imperial bronze out of circulation, Gallienus established local mints which struck in pure Roman types. Diocletian increased the number of these mints, which lasted until the fall of the empire of the West, and in the East longer. These mints were, with others added later, Londinium (or Augusta), Camulodunum, Treviri, Lugdunum, Arelate (or Constantina), Ambianum, Tarraco, Carthago, Roma, Ostia, Aquileia, Mediolanum, Siscia, Serdica, Sirmium, Thessalonica, Constantinopolis, Heraclea, Nicomedia, Cyzicus, Antiochia (ultimately Theupolis), and Alexandria. A few were speedily abandoned.

The obverse type of the imperial coins is the portrait of an imperial personage, emperor, empress, or Caesar. It begins under Julius Caesar, though the republican money goes on under Augustus, in whose reign the privileges of the moneyers ceased. The type only varies in the treatment of the head or bust,—if male, laureate, radiate, or bare; if female, sometimes veiled, but usually bare. The reverse types of the pagan period are mythological of divinities, allegorical of personifications, historical of the acts of the emperors. Thus the coins of Hadrian, besides bearing the figures of the chief divinities of Rome, commemorate by allegorical representations of countries or cities the emperor’s progresses, and by actual representations his architectural works. The inscriptions are either simply descriptive, such as the emperor’s names and titles in the nominative on the obverse, or partly on the obverse and partly on the reverse, and the name of the subject on the reverse; or else they are dedicatory, the imperial names and titles being given on the obverse in the dative and the name of the type on the reverse. Sometimes the reverse bears a directly dedicatory inscription to the emperor. The inscriptions on the earlier imperial coins from Tiberius to Severus Alexander are generally chronological, usually giving the current or last consulship of the emperor and his tribunitian year. In the latter part of the third century the mints are indicated by abbreviations in the exergue of the reverse, with also the ntfmber of the issue. There are sometimes signs of value in the field of the reverse. These characteristics apply to the pagan empire; under the Christian empire there are modifications, mainly in the character of the reverse types. These are generally allegorical and free from pagan intention, though then-source is pagan, as in the common types of Victory. Purely Christian types are rare. The most remarkable is the Christian monogram formed of the Greek letters XP. The inscriptions are simpler, and in the reverses necessarily show the same change as the types. Of great interest is the inscription HOC SIGNO VICTOR ERIS, on coins dating not long after the victory of Constantine over Licinius. There is some variety in both types and inscriptions, but little that is absolutely new.

The art of Roman imperial coins, although far inferior, to that of Greek, is well worthy of study in its best ages, for its intrinsic merit, for its illustration of contemporary sculpture, and on account of the influence it exercised on mediaeval and modern art. These coins were first designed under the revival of Greek art, during the influence of the New Attic school. The Romans had properly no art of their own. Their greatest temples and the statues of their gods were copies or imitations by Greeks of Greek originals, besides such earlier statues as were brought from Greece. The Greeks who were first called in to work for their masters were the artists of a school which was emphatically imitative, not in any way inventive, and their successors were debased by the false taste of their patrons.

There is a marked inferiority in the Roman coinage to the Graeco-Asiatic work of the same times. With a tendency to follow the dramatic styles, the artists who worked at Rome had power enough to produce fine and highly characteristic portraits, of which the famous bust, miscalled Clytie, is the most striking example. Thus, though the grandeur and the purity of design and execution of the older masters are gone, we have in their place a strikingly faithful portraiture, which is deeply gratifying to the historical sense. The best age is the Augustan, which may be said to last through the rule of the Claudian emperors, and is decidedly under New Attic influence. This is succeeded by the second, that of the Antonines, from Trajan to Commodus. The Augustan work is larger and more refined, that of the Antonines more elaborate and laborious. Then follows a swift decline, with a temporary revival in the age of Diocletian and Constantine, when an attempt, necessarily weak, was made to improve the art of the coins; thenceforward it slowly declined. In the Augustan age two manners may be recognized, the Greek and the Graeco-Roman, the one repeating earlier works, the other portraying living persons and events. Under the Antonines we notice, as a distinct reaction against the poor idealism of the age, which even occasionally endeavoured to treat portraits in an ideal style, a vigorous realism which looks like the actual parent of the Italian Renaissance in its classical phase. Midway between these stands the realistic style of the age. Among the finest examples of art in the Roman coinage are the portraits of Livia as Pietas, Justitia, and Salus, and that of the elder Agrippina. For stern realism the head of Nero is most remarkable, the growth of whose bad passions may be seen in the increasing brutality of his features and expression. The medallion series is full of charming subjects, though when they have been treated by Greek artists of earlier ages the contrast is trying; the most satisfactory are the representations of older statues; the purely new compositions are either poor inventions, or have a theatrical air that removes them from the province of good art.

III.— Mediaeval and Modern Coins of Europe.

The period of the mediaeval and modern coins of Europe must be considered to begin about the time of the fall of the Western empire, so that its length to the present day is about 1400 years. It is impossible to separate the mediaeval and modern coins, either in the entire class, because the time of change varies, or in each group, since there are usually pieces indicative of transition which display characteristics of both periods. The clearest division of the subject is to place the Byzantine coinage first, then to notice the characteristics of its descendants, and lastly to sketch the monetary history of each country.

The Byzantine money is usually held to begin in the reign of Anastasius (491-518 a.d.). The coinage is always in the three metals, but the silver money is rare, and was probably struck in small quantities. At first both the gold and the silver are fine, but towards the close of the empire they are much alloyed. The gold coin is the solidus of Constantine, with its half and its third, the so-called semissis and tremissis. The chief silver coin was the miliarision, of a lower weight than the solidus, and its half, the keration. Heraclius, in 615 A.D., coined a larger piece, the hexagram, weighing 105 grains. This coin was discontinued, an>l afterwards the miliarision and keration were coined until the conquest of Constantinople by the Latins. The silver money of the restored Greek empire is obscure. In 498 Anastasius introduced a new copper coinage, bearing on the reverse, at and about his time, the following indexes of value as the main type: Μ, K, I, E, Δ, Γ, B, and A, or 40 nummi, 20, 10, 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1. These coins bear beneath the indexes the abbreviated name of the place of issue. Justinian I. added the regnal year in 538 A.D., his twelfth year. The money of this class presents extraordinary variations of weight, which indicate the condition of the imperial finances. The Alexandrian coins of this class begin under Anastasius and end with the capture of the city by the Arabs. They have two denominations, IB and S, or 12 and 6, and there is an isolated variety of Justinian with ΛΓ (33). The Alexandrian bronze never lost its weight, while that of the empire generally fell, and thus some of the pieces of Heraclius, while associated with his sons Heraclius Constantinus and Heracleonas, have the double index IB and Μ. The Vandals of Carthage had a peculiar double system of their own with the indexes XLII, XXI, XII, and IIII. Under Basil I. the bronze money appears to have been reformed, but the absence of indexes of value makes the whole later history of the coinage in this metal very difficult. There was one curious change in the aspect of the money. Early in the 11th century the solidus begins to assume a cup-shaped form, and this subsequently became the shape of the whole coinage except the smaller bronze pieces. These novel coins are called nummi scyphati. The types, except when they refer simply to the sovereign, are of a religious, and consequently of a Christian character. This feeling increases to the last. Thus, on the obverse of the earlier coins the emperors are represented alone, but from about the 10th century they are generally portrayed as aided or supported by some sacred personage or saint. On the reverses of the oldest coins we have such tynes as a Victory holding a cross, but on those of later ones a representation of Our Saviour or of the Virgin Mary. Subsequently some allegorical religious types are introduced, as that of the Virgin Mary supporting the walls of Constantinople. The principal inscriptions for a long period almost invariably relate to the sovereign, and express his name and titles. The secondaιy inscriptions of the earlier coins indicate the town at which the piece was struck, and, in the case of the larger bronze pieces, the year of the emperor’s reign is also given. From about the 10th century there are generally two principal inscriptions, the one relating to the emperor and the other to the sacred figure of the reverse, in the form of a prayer. The secondary inscriptions at the same time are descriptive, and are merely abbreviations of the names or titles of the sacred personages near the representations of whom they are placed. From the time of Alexius I. (Comnenus) the principal inscriptions are almost disused, and descriptive ones alone given. These are nearly always abbreviations, like the secondary ones of the earlier period. The language of the inscriptions was at first Latin with a partial use of Greek; about the time of Heraclius Greek began to take its place on a rude class of coins, probably local; by the 9th century Greek inscriptions occur in the regular coinage; and at the time of Alexius I. Latin wholly disappears. The Greek inscriptions are remarkable for their orthography, which indicates the changes of the language. Of the art of these coins little need be said. It has its importance in illustrating contemporary ecclesiastical art in the West, but is generally inferior to it both in design and in execution.

Besides the regular series of the Byzantine empire, in which we include the money assigned to the Latin emperors of Constantinople, there are several cognate groups connected with it, either because of their similarity, or because the sovereigns were of the imperial houses. There are the coinages of the barbarians to be next noticed, and the money of the emperors of Nicaea, of Thessalonica, and of Trebizond. The last group consists of small silver pieces, which were prized for their purity; they were called Comnenian aspers (άσττρα Κομνήνατα), the princes of Trebizond having sprung from the illustrious family of the Comneni.

The coinage of the other states of Christian Europe will be best understood if we view it generally in successive periods, afterwards more particularly describing the currencies of the chief countries. The periods have been well defined as—(1) transitionary period, from Roman to true mediaeval coinage, from the fall of Rome (476) to the accession of Charlemagne (768); (2) true mediaeval age, during which the Carlovingian money was the currency of western Europe, from Charlemagne to the fall of the Swabian house (1268); (3) early Renaissance, from the striking of the florin in Florence (1252) to the classical Renaissance (1450); (4) the classical Renaissance, from 1450 to 1600; (5) the modern period. (C. F. Keary in the Antiquary, 1883.)

1. The Roman money was adopted and imitated by the barbarian conquerors of the empire. They struck in gold, silver, and bronze, gold being the favourite metal. The names of the kings soon appear upon the silver and bronze, but the gold money is at first a copy of the Byzantine, then monograms of kings appear, and at last their names in full save when the money in the Frankish series is of civic issues. The currencies of this period are those of the Ostrogoths in Italy, the Vandals in Africa, the Visigoths in Spain, the Franks in Gaul, and the Lombards in Italy. The most important coinages of this age are of gold.

2. The inconvenience of gold money when it represents a very large value in the necessaries of life must have caused its abandonment and the substitution of silver by the Carlovingians. The denier (denarius) or penny of about 24 grains was at first practically the sole coin. The solidus in gold was struck but very rarely, perhaps as a kind of proof of the right of coining. The Byzantine solidus or bezant was used and probably the equivalent Arab gold. The Arab silver piece, the dirhem, was almost exactly the double of the denier, and seems to have been widely current in the north. The new coinage spread from France, where it was first royal and then royal and feudal, to Germany, Italy, where the Byzantine types did not wholly disappear, England, Scandinavia, Castile, and Aragon. In Germany and France feudal money was soon issued, and in Italy towns and ecclesiastical foundations largely acquired the right of coinage from the empire, which was elsewhere rare. The consequence of the extended right of coinage was a depreciation in weight, and in the middle of the 12th century the one-sided pennies called bracteates appeared in Germany, which were so thin that they could only be stamped on one side. The types of this whole second coinage are new, except when the bust of the emperor is engraved. The most usual are the cross; and the church as a temple also appears, ultimately taking the form of a Gothic building. There are also sacred figures, and more rarely heads in the later age.

3. The true herald of the Renaissance was the emperor Frederick II. In restoring the gold coinage, however, he followed in the steps of the Norman dukes of Apulia. With a large Arab population, these princes had found it convenient to continue the Oriental gold money of the country, part of the great currency at that time of all the western Moslems, and Roger II. also struck Latin coins of his own as DVX APVLIAE, the first ducats. Frederick II., continuing the Arab coinage, also struck his own Roman gold money, solidi and half solidi, with his bust as emperor of the Romans, Caesar Augustus, and on the reverse the imperial eagle. But the calamities which overwhelmed the Swabian house and threw back the Renaissance deprived this effort of any weight, and it was left to the great republics to carry out the idea of a worthy coinage,— a necessity of their large commercial schemes. The famous gold florin was first issued in 1252. The obverse type is the standing figure of St John the Baptist, the reverse bears the lily of Florence. The weight was about 54 grains, but the breadth of the coin and the beauty of the work gave it dignity. The commercial greatness of Florence and the purity of the florin caused the issue of similar coins in almost all parts of Europe. Venice was not long in striking (in 1280) a gold coin of the same weight as the florin, but with the types of a standing figure of Christ, and the doge receiving the gonfalon at the hands of St Mark. It was first called the ducat, the name it always bears in its inscription; later it is known as the zecchino or sequin. Though not so largely imitated as the florin, the extreme purity of the sequin was unquestioned to a time within the memory of living persons. Genoa likewise had a great gold currency, and the other Italian states struck in this metal. It is significant of the power of the Italian republics that the later Mameluke sultans of Egypt found it convenient or necessary for their position between Europe and India to adopt the weight of the florin and sequin for their gold money. Many varieties of gold money appear in course of time in France, England, and to a less extent in other countries. The need for a heavier silver coinage caused the issue of the large denier (grossus denarius), afterwards called the gros and groat. This coin appears in the 14th century, and at the same time the large German bracteates are issued. The types are now very various and distinctly worthy of the art of the time, which as yet is purely decorative and conventional, so that portraits are not possible. The religious intention also is gradually giving way to the desire to produce a beautiful result, and the symbol of the cross is varied to suit the decorative needs of the coin. Heraldic subjects also appear, and in the shield, which is frequently a reverse type, we see the origin of the usual modern reverse of the most important coins.

4, 5. With the classical Renaissance we find ourselves in the presence of modern ideas. The elaborate systems of coinage of the various states of Europe are soon to begin, and the prevalence of a general currency to become for the time impossible. Silver money now gains new importance with the issue of the thaler or dollar in Germany, in 1515. This great coin speedily became the chief European piece in its metal, but as it was coined of various weights and varying purity it failed to acquire the general character of the denier. The style of this age is at first excellent. The medals gave the tone to the coinage. Art had wholly thrown off the rules of the age before and attained the faculty of portraiture and the power of simply representing objects of nature and art. Great masters now executed medals and even coins, but speedily this work became a mere matter of commerce, and by the beginning of the modern period it was fast falling into the poverty and barbarism in which it has ever since remained. The details of the numismatics of these two periods belong to the notices of the money of the several countries.

A word must be added on money of account. While the denier was the chief and practically the sole coin, the solidus passed from use as a foreign piece into a money of account. The solidus was the German schilling (shilling), which contained usually 12 deniers. As there were 20 shillings to the pound of silver, we obtain the reckoning by £ s. d., librae, solidi, and denarii. The pound as a weight contained 12 ounces, and its two-thirds was the German mark of 8 ounces.

It would be interesting, did space permit, to notice fully the art of this entire class, to examine its growth, and to trace its decline, but, as with that of Greek and Roman coins, we must mainly limit ourselves to the best period. This is a space of about a hundred and fifty years, the age of the classical Renaissance, from the middle of the 15th century to the close of the 16th. The finest works are limited to the first half century of this period, from a little before 1450 to about 1500, in Italy, and for as long a time, beginning and ending somewhat later, in Germany. The artists were then greater than afterwards, and medal-making had not degenerated into a trade; but with the larger production of the period following the work was more mechanical, and so fell into the hands of inferior men. The medals of this first period may not unworthily be placed by the side of its sculpture and its painting. Not only have some of its medallists taken honourable places in a list where there was no room for ignoble names, but to design medals was not thought an unworthy occupation for the most famous artists. There are, as we should expect, two principal schools, the Italian and the German. The former attained a higher excellence, as possessing not merely a finer style but one especially adapted to coins or medals. The object which the artists strove to attain was to present a portrait or to commemorate an action in the best manner possible, without losing sight of the fitness of the designs to the form and use of the piece on which they were to be placed. For the successful attainment of this, purpose the style of the later pre - Raphaelites was eminently suited. Its general love of truth, symmetrical grouping, hard drapery, and severely faithful portraiture were qualities especially fitted to produce a fine portrait and a good medal. It is to be noted that their idea of portraiture did not depend on such a feeling for beauty as influenced the Greeks. Rather did it set before it the moral attainments and capabilities of the subject. The German art, a product of engravers in metal, is really goldsmith’s work, except in Albert Diirer’s case. Thus it is not so suitable to numismatic designs. The portraits of the German coins and medals are sometimes even more characteristic than those of the Italian, and the groups often show great vigour; but both are less appropriate. They display also too great a profusion of detail, by which the effect of the boldness of the outlines is frequently lost; yet they have much originality and vigour, and will reward an attentive study. Both these schools, but especially the Italian, afford the best foundation for a truly excellent modern medallic art. The finest coins and medals of Italy and Germany have an object similar to that which it is sought to fulfil in the English, and their nearness in time makes many details entirely appropriate. Thus, without blindly imitating them, modern artists may derive from them the greatest aid.

There are some delicately beautiful Italian medals of the 16th century, too closely imitated from the Roman style. A vigorous realistic school, the only great one of modern times, arose in France before the close of the 16th century and lasted into the next. It was rendered illustrious by Dupre and the inferior but still powerful Warin. From this age until the time of Napoleon there is nothing worthy of note. The style of his medallists is the weak classical manner then in vogue, but yet is superior to what went before and what has followed.

It is not intended here to enter in any detail into the various divisions of the subject already treated in its main outlines. The questions that would require consideration are of too complicated and technical a nature to be illustrated within reasonable limits; the principal matters of inquiry may, however, be indicated.

The money of the Iberian Peninsula begins with the Visigothic series, which consists of gold pieces. The money of Portugal is regal, and not of great interest except as affording indications of the wealth and commercial activity of the state in the early part of the 18th century. The coinage of Spain is almost without exception regal, but a more curious class than that of Portugal. The coins of the early contemporary kingdoms, such as those of Aragon, and of Castile and Leon, are especially worthy of examination. We may mention as of a very peculiar character a large gold piece in the coinage of the latter state, called the Dobla de la Vanda, from its bearing the shield of the famous order of knighthood of the Vanda or Band. Of this there are examples assigned to John I. (1379-90) and John II. (1406-54). The money of the sole monarchy is less worthy of notice. The city of Barcelona is represented by coins bearing the names of various kings. The medals of Spain are not important.

The coinage of France forms a large series. It begins with the money of the Merovingian dynasty. This consists almost wholly of gold pieces, imitated from those of the late Roman and Byzantine rulers, as already mentioned, the commonest denomination being the tremissis, or third part of the sou d’or (solidus). The coins are rare, Snd bear either the names of a king and a city or of a moneyer and a city. They are barbarous in their art. Under the princes of the Carlovingian dynasty the principal coins are deniers, and after a time oboles also, gold money being extremely rare. They bear the name of the king and that of the city where they were struck, and have a more original character than the earlier pieces, although they are still barbarous. The money of the Capetian house begins with coins like those of the line preceding it. By degrees the coinage improves. In the 13th century gold pieces were issued. There are several denominations of these and of silver coins, but to some different names are applied for various types with the same weight, as the denier Parisis of Paris, and the denier Tournois of Tours, both of base metal. At the time of Philip VI. the coins are fine. The modern coinage may be considered to begin under Henry II., whose portrait is of good.work. During this period there is no very remarkable feature in the current money, except the occurrence in the 17 th century of the pieces of the sort termed pied fort, which we must regard as a kind of pattern. The seignorial coins of France during the Middle Ages are important. The medals are far more interesting than the modern coins. Their interest begins in the age of the last Λ alois kings and Henry IV.; there is a long and historically important series of Louis XIV., and another of a new artistic character under the first republic and the reign of Napoleon I. Almost every great event, from the beginning of the power of that emperor until his fall, is commemorated in this last series, unequalled in its class for completeness. The designs, notwithstanding their false classical style and that mannerism which appears to be essential to modern French art, are executed with great care and skill.

The English coinage begins with two uncertain classes, which, wherever struck, certainly formed the currency of the country during the interval from the departure of the Romans, about 450 A.D., until the issue of money with royal names by the Saxon kings, towards the end of the 8th century. One of these classes consists of imitations of the latest Roman copper money, and the other of the small silver pieces to which the name of sceattas is applied, having rude types which are sometimes of Roman origin, but sometimes original, and occasionally with Runic inscriptions. The former were first issued and then the latter. The regular coinage begins no doubt under the so-called Heptarchy. There is money of the kingdoms of Mercia, Kent, the East Angles, and Northumbria. The chief coins are silver pennies, but sceattas also occur; and of Northumbria there are stycas, which are pieces of a base metal in the composition of which copper is the largest ingredient. The most interesting coins of this group are those of Offa, king of Mercia; these are silver pennies, remarkable for their quaint designs and their relatively careful execution. Of this period, but extending into the earlier part of that of the sole monarchs, there are coins issued by the archbishops of Canterbury and York. The money of the sole monarchs, whether Saxons or Danes, is strictly a continuation of that of the Heptarchy; it consists almost wholly of silver pennies, which latterly were cut into halves and quarters to form halfpennies and farthings. Under the Normans and earlier Plantagenets the same coinage continues; but under Edward III. there is regular gold money, of which the chief piece is the noble of six shillings and eightpence; and the silver groat now appears. The obverse type of the noble, representing the king in a ship, probably commemorates Edward’s victory over the French fleet off Sluys in 1340. At this time there is a visible improvement in the art of the coinage, which moves with the succession of styles until the close of the Tudor age. Of Henry VIII. we have gold and silver coins of most existing denominations, as well as of earlier ones long since abandoned. The finest piece is the sovereign, a large flat coin of gold, bearing on its obverse the figure of the king (whence its name) on his throne. The reign of Queen Elizabeth marks the transition from the Gothic to the modern style and the introduction of the new method of coining with the use of the mill. The coinage of Charles I. presents great varieties owing to the civil war. The scarcity of gold in the royal treasury during the troubles induced the king to coin twenty-and ten-shilling pieces of silver, in addition to the crowns and smaller denominations. One of the most remarkable of his pieces is a crown struck at Oxford. It bears on the obverse the king on horseback, with a representation of the town beneath the horse, and on the reverse the heads of the “Oxford Declaration.” Of equal interest are the siege-pieces of many castles famous in the annals of those days. The coinage of the Commonwealth is of a plainness proper to the principles of those who sanctioned it. The great Protector, however, caused money to be designed of his own bearing his head. It is not certain that this was ever sent forth, and it is therefore put in the class of patterns. Simon, the chief of English medallists, designed the coins which are unequalled in the whole series for the vigour of the portrait (a worthy presentment of the head of Cromwell) and the beauty and fitness of every portion of the work. Henceforward there is a decline in the coinage, although skill is perceived in the portrait of William III., whose grand features could scarcely have failed to stimulate an artist to more than a common effort. Queen Anne’s money is also worthy of note, on account of the attempt, on Dean Swift’s suggestion, to commemorate current history on the copper coinage, which led to the issue of the famous farthings. These have been the cause of an extraordinary delusion, to the effect that a very small number (some say three) of these pieces were strack, and that their value is a thousand pounds each, instead of usually some shillings. In consequence many imitations have been forged, and such are constantly brought to collectors by unfortunate labourers and the like, who imagine that they possess the greatest numismatic treasure in the world. After this there is little to remark, except the baseness of the art of the coins under the first three Georges, until the genius of Pistrucci gave a worthier form to the currency. Besides the regal coinage there is scarcely any baronial money, the class being represented by a few pieces, generally struck by personages of the royal house, and all belonging to the period of the close of the Norman line and the beginning of the Plantagenet.

The English medals are far more interesting for their bearing on events than as works of art. The best are almost all by foreigners, but the fine pieces of the Simons form notable exceptions. The medals of the Tudors are good in style, and show some excellent portraits, in particular those by Trezzo and Stephen of Holland. There is one of Mary Queen of Scots by Primavera, representing her in middle life, which is perhaps her most characteristic portrait. Elizabeth’s are of historical importance, and the same is the case with the richer series of the Stuart period, often of fine style. These include works by Warin, the Simons, and the Roettiers, besides the excellent coin engravers Briot and Rawlins. The most curious pieces are those popular issues relating to current events, such as the so-called “Popish plot.” From this time there are no works deserving notice except military and naval medals, the historical interest of which makes some amends for their poverty of design and execution. The English tokens form a curious class. They are of two periods: the earlier, wl⅛ich are generally of copper, were issued at the middle of the 17th century and somewhat later; the later, which are mainly of copper, were struck during the scarcity of the royal coinage in this metal at the end of the last century, and during the earlier years of the present century. Both were chiefly coined by tradesmen, and bear their names. The colonial money of England was until lately unimportant, but now it is not unworthy of the wealth and activity of the dependencies. The money struck by the English kings for their French dominions forms a peculiar class, mainly French in its character, termed the Anglo-Gallic. This may be used to fill some gaps in the regal series of England; for instance, it supplies us with money of Richard I., of whom no English coins bearing his name are known.

The coinage of Scotland is allied to that of England, although generally ruder; but it seems to have been more influenced in the early period from England, and towards its close from France. The oldest pieces are silver pennies or sterlings, resembling the contemporary English money, of the beginning of the 12th century. In the 15th and 16th centuries there is an important coinage, both in gold and silver, not the least interesting pieces being those of Queen Mary, many of which bear her portrait. The indifferent execution of the coins of this period is traceable to the disturbed state of the kingdom.

The money of Ireland is more scanty and of less importance than that of Scotland. The pieces most worthy of notice are the silver pennies of the early Danish kings. Of later times there is little that is interesting, except the forced currency of James II. during his attempt to maintain himself in the island.

Belgium occupies the next place in our arrangement. Its coinage comprises many pieces struck by foreign rulers, and has little of an independent character in either the regal or the seignorial class. It closely resembles the money of France and Germany. The series of Holland is similar in character until the period of the revolt of the provinces. The medals are highly interesting, more especially those which were struck by the Protestants in commemoration of current events. Most of these are of silver, but a few are in gold. There is also a remarkable series of bronze medallets or jettons, which form a continuous commentary on history during the 16th and early part of the 17th centuries. Both are interesting, as largely illustrating not only local events but also those of the chief European states. Such are the pieces recording the raising of the siege of Leyden, likened to the destruction of Sennacherib’s army, the assassination of. William the Silent, and the discomfiture of the Armada, affording striking indications of the zeal, the piety, and the confidence in the right which built up the great political structure of the Dutch republic. After this time the medals lose much of their interest.

The money of Switzerland illustrates the varying fortunes of this central state, and the gradual growth of the stronghold of European freedom. First we have the gold money of the Frankish kings, among whose mints Basel, Lausanne, St Maurice, Sitten (Sion), and Zurich already appear. The silver deniers, which Charlemagne made the coinage of the empire, are issued by fewer mints; the dukes of Swabia struck coins in Switzerland, and the empire granted during the 10th and to the 13th century the right of coinage to various ecclesiastical foundations, bishoprics, and abbeys. Bern and Zofingen were allowed mints by the emperor Frederick II., and the civic coinage of Switzerland then began in the period of the bracteates. Other towns gained the same right, as well as the counts of Kyburg, Hapsburg, &c. The 14th century witnessed the rise of the Swiss confederation, and by degrees the cantons struck their own money. These, together with the coins of some few sees and abbacies, form the bulk of Swiss money of the mediaeval and modern periods. The separate cantonal coinage, interrupted by the French occupation, was finally suppressed in 1848, when a uniform currency was adopted by the whole republic. The monetary systems of the cantonal and ecclesiastical mints were extremely complicated. This was partly due to the variety of coins, partly to the debasement practised by the ecclesiastical mints. Geneva had a peculiar system of her own.

The most interesting coinages are those of Basel (the see, canton, and city), Bern, a large series, the see of Chur, the abbey of St Gallen, the great issue of Geneva (the bishopric, the city, and the canton), the see of Lausanne, Lucerne, the Forest Cantons, the bishopric of Sitten, and the long currency of Zurich. Some of the earlier large coins of the Middle Ages, particularly thalers, are interesting for their bold work and their sacred and heraldic subjects. Throughout the Swiss series we are awakened to a higher than archaeological sentiment by the traditions and records of two great periods, the age when the Irish missionaries planted the faith in the wild valleys of the Alps, and the days when the cantons fought for freedom and smote their powerful oppressors on every side. The medals of Switzerland are mostly of modern times, and lack beauty and historical value.

Italy, with Sicily, has peculiar features. Here the barbaric coinages . were mixed with the Byzantine issues which marked the recovery of the Eastern empire, and left a lasting influence in the north at Venice, and in the south at Beneventum. Later the Arab conquest left its mark in the curious Oriental coinages of the Normans of Sicily and the emperor Frederick II., mixed after his fashion with Latin coinage. Tlιe earliest money is that of the barbarians, Ostrogoths and Lombards, and local Byzantine issues in Sicily. This is followed by the deniers of Charlemagne and his successors, supplanted by the gold currencies of the Normans and Frederick II. The age of the free cities is marked by the great coinages of Florence, Venice, and Genoa, while the Angevin and Aragonese princes coined in the south, and the popes began to issue a regular currency of their own at Rome. The Italian princes of the next period coined in Savoy, and at Florence, Modena, Mantua, and other cities, while Rome and the foreign rulers of the south continued their mintages, Venice and Genoa of the republics alone surviving. The Italian monetary systems have already been touched on in the introductory notice. For art the series is invaluable. First in Italy the revival influenced the coins, and in them every step of advance found its record. The Italian medals are without rivals in the works of modern times.

Following the geographical order which is best suited to the Italian coinage, we first notice the money of Savoy, which is inferior in art to that of the rest of the country. It begins in early times, and merges in the class of the Sardinian kingdom, which becomes the kingdom of Italy. Genoa is the first of the great republics. She struck gold money from the time of the general origin of civic coinage in that metal; these are ducats and their divisions, and afteι , a time their multiples also. In the 17th century there are very large silver pieces. In the money of Mantua there first occur really fine coins of Gianfrancesco III. (1484-1519) and Vincenzo II. (1626-1627), these last splendid examples of the late Renaissance, in large pieces of gold and silver; the portrait is fine, and the hound on the reverse a powerful design. The vicissitudes of the story of Milan find their record in no less than nine groups of money—Carlovingian deniers, money of the republic, then imperial again, next of the Visconti family, succeeded by that of the Sforza line, next of Louis XII. of France, of the restored Sforza, of Charles V. by Spanish right and his successors of Spain, and lastly of Austria. There are extremely fine coins of the 15th century, showing great beauty in their portraits. The money of Florence is disappointing in its art. The Athens of the NIiddle Ages had the same reason as her prototype to preserve as faithfully as might be the types and aspect of her most famous coin, the gold florin, and thus those who expect to see in this series the story of Italian art will be much disappointed. The silver florin was first struck in 1181. It is heavier than the denier, weighing about 27 grains, and bears the lily of Florence and the bust of St John the Baptist. These are thenceforward the leading types, the flower never changing, but the representation of the saint being varied. On the gold florin the Baptist is represented standing, while in the contemporary silver florins he is seated. In the 14tlι century the arms of a moneyer appear in the field, two such officers having had the right of striking yearly, each for six months. The coins of the duchy from 1532, in spite of their new types, are not a fine series; the best are those of Alessandro, designed by Cellini.

Venice as a mint even surpasses Florence in conservatism, and, the early style being distinctly Byzantine, this is the more striking in a great artistic city. We find Venice as an imperial mint issuing Carlovingian deniers, but the doges begin to coin, placing their own names on their currency, in the 12th century. The most famous silver coin, the matapane, was first struck in the brilliant time of Enrico Dandolo (1192-1205). This coin is a grossus weighing about 33 grains, with on the obverse St Mark giving the standard or gonfalon to the doge, both figures standing, and on the reverse the seated figure of the Saviour. The famous Venetian zecchino or sequin, the rival of the florin of Florence, appears to have been first issued under Giovanni Dandolo (1280-1289). On the obverse St Mark gives the gonfalon to the kneeling doge, and on the reverse is a standing figure of the Saviour within an oval nimbus. The matapane slightly changes after the second third of the 14th century, and at its close becomes a new coin, the grossetto. Niccolo Trono (1471-1473) introduces his portrait on most of his coins, but this custom is not continued. By the latest part of the 15th century large silver coins appear. The archaic style changes in the beginning of the 16th century, but there is no later movement. The large silver pieces increase in size, and large gold is also struck; the last doge, Ludovico Manin (1788-1797), issued the 100-sequin piece in gold, a monstrous coin, worth over £40. The doges of Venice issued a peculiar silver token or medallet, the osella, five of which they annually presented to every member of the Great Council. Antonio Grimani instituted this custom in 1521, and it lasted to the end of the republic. Two dogaressas struck similar medallets. Their types are usually allegorical; some are commemorative. As a class they resemble the Dutch copper jettons, but are less historical and hence less interesting.

The series of the coins of Rome is rather of historical than of artistic merit. The popes begin to strike money with Adrian I. (772-794 A.D.), whose deniers are in a Byzantino-Lombard style that characterizes the coinage of Beneventum. Before the papal coinage closes the senate asserts the right to a mint. We then see on the silver the style of the senate and Roman people, and ROMA CAPUT MUNDI. Some coins have the figures of St Paul and St Peter, others Rome seated and a lion. Charles of Anjou, king of Sicily, strikes as a senator. The gold ducat of about 1300 imitates the types of the Venetian sequin. St Peter here gives the gonfalon to a kneeling senator. The arms of the moneying senator next appear in the field. There are small copper pieces of the famous tribune Rienzi. The papal coinage is resumed at Avignon; and Urban V., on his return to Rome, takes the sole right of the mint. The subsequent coins, though they have an interest from their bearing on the history of art, are disappointing in style. There is indeed a silver coin of Julius II. struck at Bologna and attributed to Francia, with a very fine portrait. We haw beautiful gold coins of Giovanni Bentivoglio, lord of Bologna, who employed Francia at his mint, and we know that the artist remained at his post after Julius II. had taken the city. There are also pieces of Clement VII. by Cellini, vigorous in design but careless in execution. The papal portraits are highly characteristic and interesting. It is, however, in the fine series of papal medals that we find a worthier artistic record.

The coinage of Sicily, afterwards that of the Two Sicilies, or Naples and Sicily, begins with the Normans. Theirs is a curiously mixed series. The gold money is almost wholly Arabic, though Roger II. struck the Latin ducat, the earliest of its class; the silver is Arabic, except the great Latin scyphati of Roger II. with Roger III.; the copper is both Latin and Arabic. The gold series of the emperor Frederick II. shows the first sentiment of reviving classical art, its work being far in advance of the age. These are Latin coins; he also struck small Arabic pieces in gold. Under Conrad, Conradin, and Manfred there is an insignificant coinage, copper only, but with Charles of Anjou (1266-1285) the gold money in purely mediaeval style is very beautiful, quite equal to that of his brother St Louis of France. After this time there is a great issue of gigliati, silver coins with for reverse a cross fleurdelisée cantoned with fleurs-de-lis. These coins acquired a great reputation in the Levant, and were even struck by the emirs of Asia Minor. With Alphonso, the founder of the Aragonese line, we note the old style of the coins, which are in singular contrast to his fine medals. Good portraiture begins on the money of Ferdinand I., his successor. The later coinage is interesting only for its illustration of the varying fortunes of the Two Sicilies. There is a curious early gold coinage of the Lombard dukes of Beneventum, which follows the Byzantine type.

Italian medals are next in merit to the works of the Greek dieengravers. Their true beginning and highest excellence are under Vittore Pisano, the Veronese painter, who worked from 1439 to 1449. They are of two classes, the finer and more original, struck in the 15th century, and the more classical of the 16th, after which the style declines rapidly. In spite of classical influence, the earlier medals are independent works, marked by simple vigorous truthfulness. The designs are skilful and the portraits strongly characteristic, but deficient in beauty. As the art became popular the execution of medals passed into the hands of inferior artists, and by degrees striking became usual for the smaller pieces; at the same time, a slavish imitation of the classical style weakened or destroyed originality and stamped the works with the feebleness of copies. Yet the delicacy of design and technical skill of these later medals often give them an undeniable charm. The great medallists of the first age are Pisano, Matteo de’ Pasti, Enzola, Boldu, Sperandio, Gentile Bellini, Bertoldi, Gambello, Filippino Lippi, and Francesco Francia, who in style belongs to the next age, in which must be mentioned Pomedello, Benvenuto Cellini, Leone Leoni, Giovanni Cavino “the Paduan,” Pastorino of Siena, Giacomo da Trezzo, and Pietro Paolo Galeotto, called Romano. Among the most important works are all the medals of Pisano, particularly those of Alphonso the Magnanimous, with the reverses of the boar-hunt and the eagle and lesser birds of prey, those of Sigismondo di Malatesta, his brother surnamed Novello, Lionelle d’Este, John λ III. (Palaeologus), Nicolo Piccinino, Inigo d’Avalos (marquis of Pescara), Gianfrancesco di Gonzaga (marquis of Mantua), Ludovico III. of the same family, the great humanist Vittorino da Feltre, and of the artist himself, a portrait eminently witnessing his fidelity to nature. He is great in portraiture, great in composition and design, and marvellously skilful in depicting animals. Pisano alone represents the moral qualities of his subject in their highest expression and even capability. That he has high ideal power is seen at once if we compare with his portrait Pasti’s inferior though powerful head of Sigismondo di Malatesta. Pasti’s medal of Isotta, wife of Sigismondo, is also noteworthy; likewise Gentile Bellini’s head of Mehemet II., the conqueror of Constantinople,—interesting works, lacking Pisano’s technical skill. In the later age Cavino executed a wonderful series of imitations of Roman sestertii, which have been frequently mistaken for originals. In art these Italian works frequently surpass the originals in spite of a degree of weakness inseparable from copies. A comparison of the Italian with the Roman pieces is thus most instructive. The works of Pastorino of Siena are especially charming. Historically the Italian medals supply the defects of the coinages of Florence and Rome, and in a less degree of Venice. The papal series is invaluable as a continuous chronicle of art.

The money of Germany is like that of Italy far too various for it to be possible here to do more than sketch some of its main features. The metrological systems are Merovingian, Carlovingian, that of the bracteates, and those of the later mediaeval and modern issues in a complicated form. There are several classes, the coinages of the emperors, the electors, the smaller lords, the religious houses, and the free towns. The art is behind that of Italy in time, and on the whole far inferior to it in merit. Some of the later mediaeval examples are of good style, and the Renaissance is ushered in by some beautiful pieces. Yet other coins of this very time are surprisingly barbarous, and there is an immediate decline in the better works. The imperial money, even when limited to what is strictly German by the exclusion of the issues of the French and Italian mints, forms a large series. It begins with the deniers of Charlemagne; and, except the solidus of Louis I., for a long time there is no gold. The true bracteates begin under Frederick I.; the money of Frederick II. is chiefly of Sicily and Italy, and his gold Sicilian coins do not belong to the German series. Under the house of Austria there are fine dollars of Maximilian I., and a splendid double dollar· on which the emperor appears as a horseman. It is after this time that art declines. Passing in review the currencies of the chief states, we are arrested by the historical dollars of Louis I., king of Bavaria, which have the merit of an excellent purpose. The series of Brandenburg, ultimately merging in that of Prussia, is not noteworthy but for some fine early medals. Brunswick shows the exceptional great mining-thalers, generally spread coins, multiples of the dollar 1⅜, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, and 10. Cologne has a representative series. Striking under the Merovingian kings and the Carlovingian emperors, it continued an imperial mint until the reign of Otho IV. (1198-1218). The archbishops began to coin under Bruno (953-965), and only ceased in 1801. The city had also the right of coinage after the emperors ceased to exercise it, but her money is unimportant. The wealthy mart of Hamburg is chiefly remarkable for the great gold pieces of the 16th and 17th centuries, of the weight of 2∣, 5, and 10 ducats, with the types of the city and the fleet and allegorical subjects. The city of Magdeburg shows a variety of bracteates. Mainz has the same features as Cologne, Merovingian and Carlovingian money, the imperial mint going on to the reign of Sigismund, who granted the city the right of coinage in 1420, so that a few civic coins were issued before the privilege was surrendered to the archbishops in 1462. The archbishops have a series of coins from 1021 to 1813. These comprise remarkable large bracteates of the 12th century, with curious ecclesiastical types, combining figures of saints and prelates with architectural detail. Of Nuremberg there is a long gold series, but the artistic fame of the city is not supported by her coinage. The electors palatine have a series in which we note the florin of Rupert IV. (1356-1390), followed by ducats. The money of the archbishops of Salzburg comprises some early pieces, but ranges mostly from the end of the 15th century, and is strong in gold. The Saxon lines are well represented. They begin with large bracteates of the 12th or 13th century, but the most interesting coins are of the age of the Reformation, bad in style and execution, but bearing characteristic portraits. The grandmasters of the Teutonic Order struck money second in importance to that of the knights of St John issued at Rhodes and Malta. The archbishops of Treves coined similar issues to those of their brethren of Cologne and Mainz to the year 1803.

The German medals stand in importance next to those of Italy. They have this distinctive peculiarity of origin, that their first artists, instead of being, as in Italy, painters or sculptors, were goldsmiths, the craftsmen of Nuremberg and Augsburg. Consequently minute work and love of chasing make them technically inferior as medals to the Italian works, though these qualities are balanced by great vigour and truthfulness. Later in origin than the rival school, the German dates from the early part of the 16th century. Albert Dürer is the greatest medallist, and his medals are wholly superior to those of a mere worker in metal. Heinrich Reitz is next in merit. The portrait of Albert Diirer , s father by the artist, and a female bust in very low relief, are of high excellence. For historical interest the heads of Luther, Erasmus, Charles V., Maximilian and Mary of Burgundy are very noteworthy. The subject of German medals has not yet been sufficiently studied.

The coins of the Scandinavian states, Norway, Denmark, and Sweden, are almost wholly regal, there being few ecclesiastical and civic pieces. The origin of the types is clearly English and due to the Danish conquest of England. The Norwegian series begins with the pennies of Harold Hardrada, slain at Stamford Bridge; there are next bracteates, and then coins of the Danish kings. The money of Denmark begins with pennies of Cnut (Canute), which are like bis English mintage; so also are those of Hardicanute, but Magnus and Svend Estridsen have some very Byzantine obverse types, which is curious in connexion with the relations of the Norsemen to the Byzantine emperors. Later coins are of German types and barbarous work. A good mediaeval style begins with Erik of Pomerania. Later coins are not remarkable. Sweden has very few early coins, their denominations being the penny and the bracteate. There are good mediaeval coins of Albert of Mecklenburg (1363 -1387). The money of Gustavus Adolphus is historically interesting. Under Charles XII. there is highly curious money of necessity. The daler is struck as a small copper coin, sometimes plated. The types include the Roman divinities. At the same time and later there was a large issue of enormous plates of copper, stamped with their full value in silver money as a countermark.

The Russian coinage begins in the 15th century. It consists of very curious little silver pieces struck under Byzantine influence. Gold is common in the reign of Peter the Great and of fair style, though the silver is at first of the old barbarous type. Nicholas introduced a platinum coinage of about two-fifths the value of gold. The series of Poland begins in the 11th century with bracteates. There is a regular coinage from Uladislaus Jagello (1382-1434). The town of Dantzic, while part of the kingdom, is remarkable for the issue of large gold pieces with the kings’ portraits and civic reverses, the most important being of the 16th and 17th centuries. Hungary has its own coinage from Stephen I. (1000-1038). Under Charles Robert of Anjou (1308-1342) the florin is introduced, and appears also with the type varied as a ducat. The money of the illustrious John Hunyady as regent is of high interest. The abundance of gold about this time and onwards shows the metallic wealth of the land. The Hungarian money of the house of Austria presents no noteworthy features. The coinage of the Transylvanian princes of the 16th and 17th centuries is chiefly of ducats, witnessing, like the Hungarian, to the wealth of the soil. There are early coins of the patriarchate of Aquileia and of the kingdom of Servia, now revived after four centuries and a half of subjugation, whence the only interest of the modern money as well as of that of Roumania and Greece.

There is a most interesting class of coins struck during the Middle Ages within the limits of the present Turkish empire, the money of the Crusaders and other Latin princes of the East. The multitude of states thus designated have been classed by Schlumberger, the authority on the subject, in the following order, the chief divisions of which are here given :—first group, principalities of Syria and Palestine, counts of Edessa, princes of Antioch, kings of Jerusalem, counts of Tripoli, fiefs of Jerusalem, crusaders who struck imitations of Arab coins, kings of Cyprus, lords of Rhodes, grandmasters of the order of St John at Rhodes, to which may be added the later grandmasters at Malta; second group, Latin emperors of Constantinople, Frankish princes and lords of Greece and the Archipelago whose power was due to the crusade of 1204, such as the princes of Achaia, the dukes of Athens, Neapolitan kings who struck money for their Eastern possessions, Latin lords of the Archipelago, the Genoese at Chios, the Gattilusi at Mytilene, the Genoese colonies, the Venetian colonies, the Turkoman emirs of western Asia Minor who struck Latin coins. The most important currencies are the copper of the counts of Edessa, the billon and copper of the princes of Antioch and the kings of Jerusalem, the silver and copper of the counts of Tripoli, and the gold imitations of Arab dinars, the currency in that metal of the crusaders of Palestine. These Bisantii Sarracenati, or Saracen bezants, are at first imitations of Fatimite dinars, known to have been struck by Venetian moneyers at Acre, and probably at Tyre and Tripoli also. After these coins had been current for nearly a century and a half they were forbidden on account of their Mohammedan aspect by Pope Innocent IV. The Venetians then issued gold and silver coins with the same aspect but with Christian inscriptions. The kings of Cyprus issued a really good coinage in the three metals and in billon. The last money of the kingdom is the fixed currency of the gallant Bragadin during the war which lost the island to the republic. The coinage of the order of St John begins on the conquest of the island of Rhodes and the suppression of the Templars; the earliest coins known are of Foulques de Villaret, the first grandmaster at Rhodes in the earliest years of the 14th century, and the last of the Rhodian series are of Villiers de ΓIsle-Adam, the gallant defender of the island who was forced to capitulate to the Turks and sail for a new home in 1523. The coinage is of fine gold, silver, billon, and copper. On the establishment of the order at Malta in 1530 it is resumed there till the capture of the island by the French at the close of last century; it has little interest except as showing the wealth of the order. The other currencies of the crusaders, notwithstanding their great historical interest, are far less remarkable numismatically.

Of the money of America little need be said here. Neither the coinages of the Spanish and Portuguese dependencies, and of the states which succeeded them, nor those of the English colonies and of the United States, present much that is worthy of note. In style they all resemble those of the parent countries, but, originating in the decline of art, they are inferior in style and work. They are most remarkable in the south for the abundance of gold and silver. The chief coin is the dollar. Some coins are of historical interest, and there are a few rarities, such as the colonial money of Lord Baltimore struck for Maryland, the pine-tree coins of Massachusetts, and the hog-money of Bermuda.

IV.— Oriental Coins.

Oriental coins may be best classed as ancient Persian, Arab, modern Persian and Afghan, Indian, and Chinese, and other issues of the far East. The first place is held by the money of the old Persian empire, the Parthians, and the Sasanians. The conquests of the Arabs introduce a new currency, carried on by the Moslem inheritors of their empire. The modern Persian and Afghan money, though of Arab origin, is distinguished by the use of the Persian language with Arabic. The Indian currencies, though Greek, Sanskrit, Arab, and Persian in their inscriptions, must be grouped together on account of their mutual dependence. They rise with the Bactriau kings, whose Greek types are gradually debased by the Indo-Scythians and Guptas; these are followed by a group of currencies with Sanskrit legends; next follow the money of Arab conquerors and the great series of the Pathans of Delhi and subsidiary dynasties, with Arabic inscriptions; the main series is continued in the currency of the Moguls, who largely use Persian, and the last series is closed by local currencies mainly with Sanskrit or Arabic legends. The Chinese coinages form the source and centre of the group of the far East, which, however, includes certain exceptional issues. The order throughout is historical, each empire or kingdom being followed by the smaller states into which it broke up, and then by the larger ones which were formed by the union of these fragments.

The Persian coinage was originated by Darius I. (Hystaspis) about the time that he organized the empire in satrapies (516 b.c. ). The regular taxation thus introduced made a uniform coinage necessary. Avoiding the complex gold system of Croesus, which was intended to accommodate the Greek cities in commercial relation with Lydia, Darius chose two weights, the gold stater of Croesus of 126 grains and the silver drachm of 84. He raised the weight of both, the gold to about 130 grains and the silver to 86. Thus one gold piece was equal to twenty silver. The gold coin was called the daric, the silver the siglus. The metal was very pure, especially that of the daric. Thus not only were the Lydian gold and silver coins of inferior weight thrown out of circulation, but the Persian gold, from its purity, became dominant, and was the chief gold currency of the ancient world so long as the empire lasted. The issuing of gold was a royal prerogative. Silver money was coined not only by the king but in the provinces by satraps, who used local types, and by tributary states. The following classes must be distinguished: (1) regal, (2) provincial with regal types, (3) satrapal, (4) of tributary states. The art of Persian coins varies according to the locality, from the beautiful work of the west coast of Asia Minor to the more formal style of Cilicia and the thoroughly hieratic stiffness of Phoenicia and Persia.

The regal coinage is of darics and double darics in gold and of sigli in silver. The obverse type is the king as an archer, the reverse an irregular oblong incuse. The darics show differences of style, and must extend through the whole period of the empire. The sigli no doubt run parallel with them. Both these denominations are uninscribed. The double darics are of late style, and nearly all bear either Greek letters or monograms or symbols, sometimes both. They are undoubtedly of the last age of the empire or subsequent to its fall.

The provincial coins with regal types appear to be mostly Phoenician; the most important classes have been already noticed. But they also occur beyond this territory, as at Malins in Cilicia, where the Persian regal archer is combined with the reverse of Heracles strangling the Nemean lion, with the inscription MAΛ.

The satrapal coinage is very important and interesting. It belongs mainly to Cilicia. The most remarkable series is that with a bearded head wearing a tiara, with various reverses, certainly struck at Colophon, Cyzicus, and Lampsacus, and in one instance bearing the name of the satrap Pharnabazus, but usually the word “king” in Greek. The coin of Colophon shows a splendid portrait, one of the finest instances of Ionian work. It has been held to represent Artaxerxes II. (Mnemon), but has been lately assigned to Pharnabazus on the ground that the head-dress is not the proper regal kidaris. This is an objection, yet it seems inconceivable that the king of Persia would have countenanced the issue of the portrait of a satrap at a time when no Greek dynast dared to place his head on his own coinage. Of other satrapal issues those of Datames, of Tiribazus, and Cilician issues, struck at Tarsus, are specially noteworthy. Their inscriptions are Aramaic.

The coinages of the tributary states have been in part noticed in their geographical order; it is difficult to separate them from the provincial issues with regal types.

The conquest of Alexander did not wholly destroy the independence of Persia. Within less than a century the warlike Parthians once subjects of Persia, revolted (249-8 b.c. ) against the Seleueids and formed a kingdom which speedily became an empire, ultimately the one successful rival of Rome. Their money is Greek in standard and inscriptions, as well as in the origin of types. The coins are silver, following the Attic weight, the chief piece being the drachm, though the tetradrachm is not infrequent; there are also bronze coins, but none in gold are known. The drachm has the head of the king on the obverse, diademed or with a regal head-dress, and on the reverse the founder Arsaces seated, holding a strung bow. the later tetradrachms varying this uniformity. Every kind is styled Arsaces, to which many of the later sovereigns add their proper names. The inscriptions are usually long, reaching a climax in such as BAΣIΛEΩΣ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΝ ΑΡΣΑΚΟΥ ΜΕΓΑΛΟΥ ΔΙΚΑΙΟΥ ΕΠΙΦΑΝΟΥΣ ΘΕΟΥ ΕΥΠΑΤΟΡΟΣ ΦΙΛΕΛΛΗ-ΝΟΣ of the 11th Arsacid, Mithradates III., where we see the double influence of Persian and Seleucid styles and the desire to conciliate the Greek cities. Very noticeable are the coins which bear the portraits of Phraataces (14th king) and his mother, the Italian slave Musa, with the title queen (ΘΕΑΣ ΟΥΡΑΝΙ ΑΣM0YΣHΣ BAΣIΛIΣΣHΣ).

The Persian line of the Sasanians arose about 220 a.d., and wrested the empire from the Parthians in 226-7, under the leadership of Ardashir or Artaxerxes. This dynasty issued a national and thus Oriental coinage in gold and silver. The denominations follow the Roman system, and there are but two coins, equivalent to the aureus or solidus and the denarius. The obverse has the king’s bust, usually wearing a very large and elaborate head-dress, varied with each sovereign, and on the reverse the sacred fire-altar, ordinarily flanked by the king and a priest. The attachment which Ardashir, the founder, bore to Zoroastrianism established this national reverse type, which endured through the four hundred years of the sovereignty of his line. The inscriptions are Pahlavi

The Arab coinage forms the most important Oriental group. It has a duration of twelve centuries and a half, and at its widest geographical extension was coined from Morocco to the borders of China. When the Arabs made their great conquests money became a necessity. They first adopted in the East imitations of the current Persian silver pieces of the last Sasanians, but in Syria and Palestine of the Byzantine copper, in Africa of the gold of the same currency. Of these early coins the Sasanian imitations are very curious with Pahlavi inscriptions and shorter ones in Arabie (Cufic). The regular coinage with purely Moslem inscriptions begins with the issue of a silver coin at Basrah, in 40 a.h., by the caliph 'Ali; after subsequent efforts thus to replace the Sasanian currency, the orthodox mintage was finally established, in 76 A. h., by 'Abd al-Melik. The names of the denominations and the weight of that of gold are plainly indicative of Byzantine influence. There were three coins. The dinar of gold took its name from the aureus or denarius aureus, of which the solidus must have been held to be the representative, for the weight of the Arab coin, 66 grains and a fraction, is clearly derived from the Byzantine gold piece. The dirhem of silver is in name a revival of the Greek drachm; it weighs at most 45 grains and a fraction. The copper piece is the fels, taking its name from the follis of the Greek empire. Commercially the gold easily exchanged, and the silver soon passed as the double of the Carlovingian denier. For long these were the only coins issued, except, and this but rarely, half and quarter dinars. There are properly no types. There was indeed an attempt in the early Byzantino-Arab money to represent the caliph, and in the course of ages we shall observe some deviations from the general practice of Islam, particularly in the coinage of the atabegs and in Mohammedan coinages not of the Arab group, the modern Persian and that of the Moguls of Delhi. The inscriptions are uniformly religious, save in some Tatar coinages and that of the Turks. In general the coins are for the first five centuries of their issue remarkably uniform in fabric and general appearance. They are always flat and generally thin. The whole of both sides of the coins is occupied by inscriptions in the formal Cufic character, usually arranged horizontally in the area and in a single or double band around. Towards the fall of the caliphate a new type of coin begins, mainly differing in the greater size of the pieces. There are new multiples of the dinar and ultimately of the dirhem, and the silver pieces frequently have their inscriptions within and around a square, a form also used for gold. The Cufic character becomes highly ornamental, and speedily gives way to the flexuous naskln. of modern writing. The inscriptions are religious, with the addition of the year by the era of the Flight, the month sometimes being added, and the mint occurs uniformly on silver and copper, but does not appear on the gold until after the fall of the Omayyad dynasty. Subsequently the official name of the caliph occurs, lhe religious part of the inscriptions is various, the most usual formulai being the profession of the Moslem faith: “There is no deity but God; Mohammed is the apostle of God,” to which the Shiites or folloλvers of 'Ali in Persia and Africa add “ *Ali is the friend of God.” The Moorish coins give long formulae and religious citations and ejaculations, and they, like the money of the Pathans of Delhi of the Indian class, have occasionally admonitions urging or suggesting the purer use of wealth. As Arab and other dynasties arose from the dismemberment of the caliphate, the names of kings occur, but for centuries they continued to respect the authority of their religious chief by coining in his name, even in the case of the shadowy 'Abbasids of Egypt, adding their own names even when at war with the caliph, as thouglι they were mere provincial governors. After the fall of the caliphate some new denominations came in, chiefly of heavier weight than the dirhem and dinar, but the influence of the commercial states of Italy made the later Egyptian Mamelukes, the Turks, and the later Moors adopt the gold sequin. In more modern times the dollar found its way into the Moslem coinage of the states bordering on the Mediteιτanean. It can be readily seen that Arab coins have no art in the same sense as those of the Greeks. The beautiful inscriptions and the arabesque devices of the pieces of the close of the Middle Ages have, however, a distinct artistic merit.

The Omayyad coins owe their only historical value to the evidence which the silver affords of the extent of the empire at different times. The first separation of that empire dates from the overthrow of this dynasty by the 'Abbâsids, speedily followed by the formation of the rival Omayyad caliphate of the West with its capital at Cordova. The 'Abbâsid money has the same interest as that which it succeeded, but its information is fuller. Towards the fall of the line it becomes very handsome in the great coins, which are multiples of the dinar. The Spanish Omayyads struck silver almost exclusively. Their rise was followed by that of various lesser lines—the Edrisids (Ae.) and Aghlabids (A r chiefly) in western Africa, the Beni Τύΐΰη (À), and, after a short interval, the Ikhshidids (A r ), both of Turkish origin, in Egypt. Meanwhile a new caliphate arose in western Africa which subdued Egypt, the Fatimite of the line of Αli, and for a while the allegiance of the Moslems was divided between three rival lines, the Omayyads of Spain, the Fatimites of Africa, and the 'Abbâsids of Baghdad. The Fâtimites introduced a new type of dinar, with the inscriptions in concentric circles, and struck little but gold. In the interim the Persians, who had long exercised a growing influence at the court of Baghdad, revived their power in a succession of dynasties which acknowledged the supremacy of the caliphate of Baghdad, but were virtually independent. ' These were the Tahirids, Saffarids, Sâmânids, Ziyarids, and Buweyhids, who mostly struck silver, but the last gold also. As the Persians had supplanted the Arabs, so they were in turn forced to give place to the Turks. The Ghaznawids formed a powerful kingdom in Afghanistan (A r , Ae), and the Seljιιks established an empire (A τ ), which divided into several kingdoms, occupying the best part of the East. Of these dynasties the Seljuks of Bum or Asia Minor first strike a modern type of Arab coinage (√R). The Seljuk dominions separated into many small states, the central ruled by atabegs or generals, and the similar Turkoman Urtukees. The atabeg money and that of the Turks of the house of Urtuk are mainly large copper pieces bearing on one side a figure borrowed from Greek, Roman, Byzantine, and other sources. They form a most remarkable innovation. In the same age the great but short-lived empire of Kharezm arose in the far East. The first caliphate to disappear was that of Spain, which broke up into small dynasties, some claiming the prerogative of the caliphates. They chiefly struck base silver (billon) coins. The Christian kings gradually overthrew most of these lines. In the meantime various Berber families had gained power in western Africa and the Murabits (Almoravids) and Muwahhids (Almohadis) crossed the straits and restored the Moslem power in Spain. They struck gold money of fine work, and that of the later Muwahhids is remarkable for its size and thinness. At the fall of the Muwahhids the only powerful kingdom remaining was the Arab house of Granada, which, supported by the Berbers of Africa, lingered on until the days of Ferdinand and Isabella. The Fatimite dynasty was supplanted by the Kurdish line of the Eiyùbis, the family of Saladin, who ruled Egypt, Syria, and Mesopotamia, with a number of vassal states, some governed by princes of their own family, some by the older lines of the atâbeg class which they allowed to survive. In Egypt the Eiyιibi coinage is of gold, elsewhere of silver and copper. The caliphate of Baghdad, which latterly was almost limited to that town, though its abundant heavy gold coinage at this very time indicates great wealth, was overtlιrown by the new power of the Mongols (1263 A.D.), who established a group of empires and kingdoms, comprising the whole Eastern world eastward of the Euphrates and thence extending northward and reaching into Europe. The most important of these states for their money are that of the Mongols of Persia, founded by Hulagu, the conqueror of Baghdad, and that of the khans of the Golden Horde. Both struck silver, but there is also gold coinage of the Mongols of Persia, who more frequently use the Mongol character for their names and titles than is done under the kindred line. The power of the Mongols was held in check by the Mameluke kings of Egypt, slave-princes, who struck money in the three metals. The Mongol power waned, but was revived by Timur, who during his rule (1397) recovered all that had been lost. He and his successors struck silver, copper, and brass money. The Turks, whose power had been gradually growing, after a desperate struggle with Timur, gradually absorbed the whole Mohammedan world west of the Tigris, except only Morocco, where they had but a momentary dominion. Their money, of gold, silver, base metal, and bronze, is devoid of historical interest. In Tunis and Morocco a group of Berber lines long maintained themselves, but at length only one survived, that of the sherifs of Morocco, claiming Arab descent, now ruling as the sole independent Moslem dynasty of northern Africa. Its recent coinage is singularly barbarous. It may be remarked that Tunis and Egypt have long coined Turkish money in their own mints, the more western state latterly adding the name of its hereditary prince to that of the sultan.

The coins of the shahs of Persia have their origin with Isma’il (1502). They are struck in the three metals, and are remarkable for the elegance of their inscriptions, sometimes in flowing Arabic, sometimes in the still more flexuous native character. The inscriptions are at first Arabic; after a time the religious formulae are in this language and the royal legend in Persian, usually as a poetical distich. The Persian series is also remarkable for the autonomous issues of its cities in copper, the obverse bearing some type, usually an animal. The coins of the Afghans form a class resembling in inscriptions those of the Persians, and equally using Persian distichs. They commence with Ahmad Shah Durani.

The Indian series begins with the money of the Greek kings of western India, commonly known as Bactrian,—a misnomer, only the earlier sovereigns having ruled Bactria. Between Alexander’s money and the Graeco-Indian series there is a curious class, the very rare gold and silver of Andragoras, dynast of Parthia, and the silver of an Indian prince, Sophytes. The Graeco-Indian weight is at first Attic; coins are struck of gold, silver, bronze, and rarely nickel. The gold stater is limited to the earlier kings; the silver tetradrachm is struck at first with divisions; the Persic didrachm and drachm ultimately supersede it; the bronze is either round or of the square form peculiar to India. The types are Greek and very various. The inscriptions are at first Greek, but at an early time a native Indian inscription appears as a concession; it occupies the reverse of bronze, and in time of silver money, and gives a translation of the Greek inscription. The character used is of two Indian alphabets, the common one being styled Bactrian Pali. Diodotus, the first Graeco-Indian king, revolted against the Syrian ruler about 250 B.c.; his money is Greek in its art. Under Euthydemus I., the next king, begins that peculiar style which gives these coins their special interest. It is realistic and vigorous, in portraiture reminding us of the best Italian medals. This is in part due to the leading away of the artists from Greek models to portray another race, for the heads are unmistakably Indian; but it is also significant of an innate strength not to be traced in the portraits of the Ptolemies and the Seleucids. Here we plainly see the first impulse of Greece in the formation of Indian art, after it had been influenced by working in a new atmosphere. The portrait of Demetrius in an elephant’s skin is very remarkable, and should be compared with the wholly ideal treatment of that of Alexander on the coins of Alexander IV. struck in Egypt. After one reign later the order of kings becomes obscure, but the style gives the relative ages of groups, which must be the money of contemporary lines. Agathocles is noticeable for having struck commemorative coins of Alexander the Great, Diodotus, and Euthydemus I. Another characteristic portrait is that of Antimachus in the petasus or Greek hat. Eucratides struck the only Greek gold medal known to us, the great piece weighing twenty staters, now in the French cabinet. The later Greek money is of less interest; it ends with Hermaeus, perhaps about 50 b.c. Then follows a group of dynasts with barbarous names, who adhere more or less closely to Greek originals. A Parthian class breaks in in consequence of the conquests of Mithradates I. The Indo-Scythian class, which is of much interest, is fixed approximately to periods by finds in which aurei occur ranging from the earlier Roman emperors to the Antonines. This coinage is of gold and bronze, silver being almost unknown. The weights are Roman. The types are usually the figure or the bust of the king, and on the reverse a divinity. The inscriptions are first Greek and the ordinary Indian of the Graeco-Indian coins, then, strangely, Greek only, barbarous enough. Cad-phises strikes the double aureus and the aureus. Under Canerces and his successors we notice aurei with an uncommon variety of divinities of Indian, Persian, Greek, and Roman mythology, as well as Buddha. The Gupta series is contemporary with the Indo-Scythian. It was struck in Kanauj, in the centre of northern India. It is a remarkable gold coinage, good and debased, as well as bronze. The mythological types are Indian alone, interesting and in good native style, which now first appears on coins in a pure form. The inscriptions are in Sanskrit letters. There is a series of silver coins struck in Cacch (Cutch) by the Sah kings of Saurastran; they are derived from the later money of the Graeco-Indian class. The types are royal portraits and Buddhist emblems, &c., of no great interest.

Quite as early as the invasion of Alexander, if not earlier, is a most curious class of square silver and bronze coins, punch-marked with a variety of devices, which circulated in northern India, and probably originated the square bronze coinage of the Graeco-Indian kings.

The Arabs in the first days of conquest had subdued Sind, and founded an independent state on the banks of the Indus; but it is hard to subdue India from this direction, and the strangers decayed and disappeared. The Pathan kings came of the Ghuri stock which rose on the ruins of the empire of Ghazneh. Mohammad ibn Sam made Delhi his capital, and here he and his successors, Pathans or slave-kings, ruled in great splendour, latterly rivalled by a line of Pathans of Bengal. Of the Pathans of Delhi we have an abundant coinage, the principal pieces being the gold mohur of about 168 grains, and the silver rupee of about the same weight, besides many pieces of bronze, and at one period of base metal. The coins are large and thick, with the profession of Islam or the style of the caliph on one side, on the other the name and titles of the reigning king. Mohammad ibn Taghlak struck coins with a great variety of inscriptions, some in the name of the shadowy 'Abbasid caliphs of Egypt, whose successors were for a time similarly honoured by later sovereigns. Towards the close of the rule of the Pathans several dynasties arose in central and southern India and struck similar money, the kings of Guzerat, of Malwa, and of the Deccan. The Pathan lines closed with Shér Shah, an Afghan, the last ruler of Bengal. Bahar, the Turki, of the family of Timur, seeking a kingdom, adventured on the conquest of Hindustan; and after long wars with Shér Shall, carried on by Bahar’s son Humayιin, the famous Shah Akbar, grandson of the invader, was at length peaceably settled on the throne of Delhi, and he and his successors, the so-called Moguls of Delhi, practically subdued the whole of India. They retained the existing standard, but used the Arabic and Persian languages like the shahs of Persia. Akbar (1556) issued a splendid coinage in gold and silver, far more elegant than that of the Pathans, but the money of his son, Jahangir, is still more remarkable. He issued the famous zodiacal mohurs and rupees, as well as those astonishing Bacchanalian mohurs on which he is represented holding the winecup. Scarcely less strange is the money of the beautiful queen Nur-Jahân. Under Shah Jahan there is a visible falling away in the merit of the coins, and an ordinary modern style is reached in the reign of Aurungzeb. To the close of the rule of Shah 'Alam, the last Mogul who actually reigned, gold and silver money is abundant. Latterly, native states coin with Arabic and also with Sanskrit inscriptions. The most important are the kings of Oude, the nizams of the Deccan, and the kings of Mysore, besides the maharajas of Indore and the kings of Nepal. The coinage of Tipu Sultan (Tippu Sahib) is extremely curious from his innovations in the calendar. Besides these there are a multitude of small states. Most of the Indian princes acknowledged the emperor of Delhi, but some struck independently. At last the English coinage of India has swept away nearly all these moneys, though some native states still issue their own, while those under English protection occasionally acknowledge on their coins the supremacy of the queen as empress.

It is not yet possible to give a full summary of the strange coinages of China and the farther East, the published researches having been generally uncritical and unsupported by the examination of native literary sources. Thus only some general facts may be safely stated.

The money of China, more certainly than the square punch-marked coinage of India, may claim an origin independent of the Lydian and Greek issues. The oldest specimens may be assigned to the 6th century before our era, a time at which the existing coins of other nations could scarcely have been known in the far East; nor is there any connexion in form, type, or metal with the other currencies. Like nearly all subsequent Chinese money, the earliest is of bronze and cast. The shapes of the coins are most eccentric, representing knives, and, in De la Couperie’s opinion, mining-tools. To these succeed the well-known round pieces with a square hole in the centre for the purpose of stringing them together, the coins to which the name “cash” is applied by Europeans. The value of these coins depended on the weight, which is inscribed upon them. We must, however, bear in mind that we have frequently to deal with a merely conventional weight and value due to financial schemes. Thus the inscription always records official value, but not always true weight or true value. There is no type whatever, but always an inscription on one or both sides. The occurrence of an occasional symbol cannot be held to be a deviation from this rule. The main inscription is usually placed opposite the four sides of the central square on the obverse. As a rule this inscription at its fullest gives the emperor’s official name during life, and the value of the coin and an indication of its authoritative exactness. When a reverse inscription is introduced, it gives the value of the coin. The inscriptions are in Chinese characters of different kinds, and under the present dynasty Manchu has also been employed. Some coins bear indications of mints. The most interesting Chinese coins are those of small rival dynasties and of rebels, the study of which is important for the elucidation of the obscurities of the history of the country. The Chinese medals are talismans, usually larger than the coins, and bear both subjects and inscriptions. They are distributed by Taouist and Buddhist priests of temples. The money of Corea and Annam is similar to that of China, and Chinese coins were long the currency of Java, which more recently has issued the money of its Mohammedan princes.

The empire of Japan shows in its coinage that Chinese source modified by the influence of native independence which marks all its institutions. Thus, while the copper currency closely resembles that of China, there is also a gold and silver coinage. The gold consists of plates of the form of a flattened oval with large inscriptions in indian ink painted on the surface, and small contermarks punched into it. The “cobang,” which is the largest coin, was chiefly used for presents by the Japanese princes. Its intrinsic value is about £25. There are several lesser denominations in gold, and a series of silver pieces, the larger, ingots, used as presents to inferiors, and the smaller, which are sometimes of a long rectangular shape, more properly a silver currency. There are also temple medals of a magical character like those already noticed as cast in China.

Bibliography. Periodicals: Numismatic Chronicle, London; Zeitschrift für Numismatik, Berlin; Numismatische Zeitschrift, Vienna; Revue Numismatique, Paris.

Greek. General :—Eckhel, Doctrina Numorum Veterum ; Sestini, Classes Generales ; De Dominicis, Repertorio Numismatico; Rasche, Lexicon ; Leake, Numismata Hellenica; Lenonnant, La Monnaie dans Γ Antiquité ; Mionnet, Description de Médailles Antiques Grecques et Romaines; Catalogue of Greek Coins in the British Museum, by R. S. Poole, editor, B. V. Head, and Professor Percy Gardner [Italy, Sicily, Thrace, Macedon, Thessaly to Epirus, Locri to Euboea, Seleucid kings, Ptolemies, in progress]; B. V. Head, Guide to Coins of A ncients; P. Gardner, Types of Greek Coins ; Kenner, Stift St Florian; Imhoof Blumer, Monnaies Grecques. Metrology Hultsch, Gr. u. Röm. Metrologie·, Brandis, Münz- Mass- und Gewichtswesen ; B. V. Head, papers in Num. Chron.; Michael Soutzo, “Systèmes Monétaires de l'Asie Mineure et de la Grèce," in Rev. Roumaine d'Archéologie, &c., Bucharest, 1883. Spain :—Heiss, Description générale des Monnaies antiques de l’Espagne; Delgado, “Nuevo Método de Clasificacion de las Medallas autônomas de Espafia,” in Memorial Numismatico ; Zobel de Zangrôniz, Estudio historico de la Moneda antiqua Espanola. Gaul :—Duchaiais, Description des Médailles Gauloises ; De la Saussaye, Numismatique de la Gaule Narbonnaise; Hucher, L’Art Gaulois; De Saulcy, in Revue Numismatique. Britain:—J. Evans, British Coins. ItalyCarelli, Numorum Ital. Vet. Tab. CCII., ed. Cavedonius, Leips., 1850; Sambon, La Presqu'île italique ; Millingen, various papers. Greece:—Beulé, La Monnaie d’Athènes; Hon. L. Warren, Greek Federal Coinage ; L. Millier, Numismatique d'Alexandre le Grand. Asia Minor :— Waddington, Voyage en Asie Mineure; Id., Mélanges; Pinder, Heber die Cistophoren; B. V. Head, “Coinage of Lydia and Persia,” “Syracuse,” “Boeotia,” “Ephesus,” in Numismata Orientalia; P. Gardner, “Samos,” ibid.; Due de Luynes, Satrapies ; Id., Numismatique et Inscriptions Cypriotes. Asia :—Six, “Monnaies phéniciennes,” in Num. Chron., 1877; De Saulcy, Numismatique de la Terre Sainte; F. Madden, “Jewish Coinage,” in Numismata Orientalia. Africa:—Zoega, Numi Aegyptii Imperatorii; L. Miiller, Numismatique de l’ancienne Afrique. Roman. Mommsen, Hist, de la Mon. Rom., Fr. trans by De Blacas and De Witte; Cohen, Médailles de la République romaine ; Id., Médailles de l’Empire; D’Ailly, La Monnaie romaine ; Frôhner, Médaillons de l’Empire ; H. Grueber, Catalogue of Roman Medallions in the British Museum ; De Witte, Empereurs des Gaules. Mediaeval and Modern. Lelewel, Numismatique du Moyen Age ; C. F. Keary, Coinage of Western Europe from Honorius to Charlemagne. Spain :—Heiss, Monnaies des Rois Wisigoths ; Id., Monedas Hispano-Christianas ; Cam paner y Fuertes, Numismatica Balear. France :—Gariel, Monnaies Carolingiennes ; Hoffmann, Monnaies royales de France ; De Saulcy, Recueil de Documents relatifs à l' Histoire des Monnaies depuis Philippe II. ; Poey d'Avant, Monnaies féodales; Trésor de Numismatique. England, &c. :—Hawkins, Silver Coins of England (2d ed. by R. Kenyon); Kenyon, Gold Coins of England ; Hildebrand, Anglo-Sächsiske Mynt, 2d etf., 18S1; De Saulcy, Histoire numismatique de Henri V. et Henri VI. d’Angleterre ; Ruding, Annals of the Coinage of Great Britain, 3d ed.; Cochran-Patrick, Records of the Coinage of Scotland; Aquilla Smith, various papers on Irish coinage. Holland :—Van der Chijs, Verhandelingen, uitgegeven door Teyler's Tweede Genootschap. Switzerland :—Von Haller, Schweizerisches Münz- und Medaillen-Cabinet; R. S. Poole, Catalogue of Swiss Coins in the South Kensington Museum. Italy:—Friedländer, Italiänische Schaumünzen ; Heiss, Mé- daUleurs de la Renaissance ; Armand, Medailleurs Italiens, 2d ed. Germany :— Dannenberg, Deutsche Münzen der Sächsischen u. Fränkischen Kaiserzeit ; Schlumberger, Bracteates d’Allemagne. Latin (East) :—Schlumberger, Numismatique de l’ürient latin. America :—Dickeson, American Numismatic Manual ; Weyl, Fonrobertsche Sammlung, Oriental. P. Gardner, “The Parthian Coinage,” in Numismata Orientalia ; De Longpérier, Les Médailles des Rois Perses de la Dynastie Sassanide ; Soret, “Numismatique musulmane,” and other papers chiefly in the Revue de Numismatique Belge ; Catalogue of Oriental Coins in the British Museum, by Stanley Lane-Poole, ed. R. S. Poole, vols, i.-viii ∙, Fraehn, Recensio Num. Muhammedan-orum ; Tiesenhausen, Monnaies des Khalifes orientaux (in Russian); Codera y Zaidin, Numismatica Arabo-espanola,; Thomas, Chronicles of the Pathans, and various papers; Rhys Davids, Ancient Coins and Measures of Ceylon.

Notwithstanding the general books covering many sections for which no special works are indicated, it will be felt that this list is very deficient. This is partly due to the multitude of essays in various periodicals, but mainly to the neglect of certain branches of the subject and to the want of full catalogues of the great collections of Europe. (R. 8. P.)