The use of coined money cannot be traced further back than the 9th c. B. C. Money, however, as a medium of exchange, existed much earlier, and when of metal it passed by weight, no piece being adjusted to any precise weight, and all money being during the emigration of the people. Fig. 1. repreweighed when exchanged. Early metallic money sents a very early double stater of Miletus, in was in the form of bars, spikes, and rings; the ring | Ionia, of which the type is the lion's head, derived

NUMISMATICS.

from Persia and Assyria, and associated with the worship of Cybele, a symbol which is continued in the later coinage of Miletus. Types of this kind were succeeded by portraits of protecting deities. The earliest coins of Athens have the owl, as type of the goddess Athene; at a later period, the head; of the goddess herself takes its place, the owl afterwards re-appearing on the reverse. The punch-mark, at first a rudely-roughed square, soon assumed the more sightly form of deep, wedge-like indents, which in later specimens become more regular, till they form themselves into a tolerably symmetrical square. In the next stage, the indents become shallower, and consist of four squares forming one large one.

Fig. 2.

on the reverse of the staters of Philip of Macedon, known as Philips, and largely imitated by other states. Coins of Alexander the Great are abundant, many having been struck after his conquests in the Greek towns of Asia. A rose distinguishes those struck at Rhodes, a bee those struck at Ephesus, &c.; these are all types generally accompanying the figure of Zeus on the reverse; on the obverse is the head of Hercules, which has sometimes been supposed to be that of Alexander himself. It would rather seem, however, that the conqueror's immediate successors were the first who placed their portrait on the coins, and that under a shallow pretence of deification, Lysimachus as a descendant The surrounding of the punch-of Bacchus, and Seleucus of Apollo, clothed in the mark with a band bearing a attributes of these deities. Two most beautiful and name, and the introduction of important series of Greek coins are those of the a head in its centre, as in the Seleucidæ, in Asia, of silver, and of the Lagida or annexed figure (fig. 2), gradu- Ptolemies, in Egypt, of gold. ally led to the perfect reverse. There is a remarkable series of so-called 'encased' coins struck in Magna Græcia, of which the reverse is an exact repetition in concave of the relief of the obverse. These coins are thin, flat, sharp in

relief, and beautifully executed.

The leading coin of Greece and the Greek colonies was the stater, so called because founded on a standard of weight generally received before the introduction of coined money. There were double staters, and half, third, and quarter staters, and the stater was equivalent in value to six of the silver pieces called drachmæ. The obolus was one-sixth of the drachma, at first struck in silver, in later times in

copper.

The inscriptions on the earliest Greek coins consist of a single letter, the initial of the city where they were struck. The remaining letters, or a portion of them, were afterwards added, the name, when in full, being in the genitive case. Monograms sometimes occur in addition to the name, or part name, of the place. The first coin bearing the name of a king is the tetradrachm (or piece of four drachmæ) of Alexander I. of Macedon.

Among the early coins of Asia, one of the most celebrated is the stater Daricus or Daric, named from Darius Hystaspes. It had for symbol an archer kneeling on one knee, and seems to have been coined for the Greek colonies of Asia by their Persian conquerors. In the reign of Philip of Macedon, the coinage of Greece had attained its full development, having a perfect reverse. One of the earliest specimens of the complete coin is a beautiful medal struck at Syracuse, with the head of

In Palestine there is an interesting series of coins founded on the religious history of the Jewish nation, and assigned to Simon Maccabæus. They are shekels and half-shekels, equivalent to two Attic drachmæ and one drachma respectively. The shekels bear on the obverse the pot of manna, with the inscription 'Schekel Israel' (the Shekel of Israel); on the reverse is Aaron's rod with three flowers, and the legend Ierouschalim kedoschah' (Jerusalem the Holy). The inscriptions are in the Samaritan character. The successors of Simon assumed the title of king, and placed their portraits on the coins, with inscriptions in Greek as well as in Hebrew.

Roman coins belong to three different series, known as the Republican, the Family, and the Imperial.

The so-called Republican, the earliest coinage, began at an early period of Roman history, and subsisted till about 80 B. C. Its standard metal was copper, or rather as or bronze, an alloy of

copper. The standard unit was the pound weight divided into twelve ounces. The es, or as, or pound of bronze, is said to have received a state impress as

Proserpine accompanied by dolphins, and for reverse | as, the a victor in the Olympic games in a chariot receiving head of a wreath from Victory-a type which is also found (fig. 4),

early as the reign of Servius Tullius, 578 B. C. This gigantic piece was oblong like a brick, and stamped with the representation of an ox or sheep, whence the word pecunia, from pecus, cattle. The full pound of the as was gradually reduced, always retaining the twelve (nominally) uncial subdivisions, till its actual weight came to be no more than a quarter of an ounce. About the time when the as had diminished to nine ounces, the square form was exchanged for the circular. This large copper coin, called the 'as grave,' was not struck with the punch, but cast, and exhibited on the obverse the Janus bifrons; and on the reverse, the prow of a ship, with the numeral I. Of the fractions of the sextans, or sixth part, generally bears the Mercury, and the uncia, or ounce piece that of Minerva; these pieces being further

NUMISMATICS.

Judæa. The Colosseum appears on a sestertius of Vespasian. The coins of Trajan are noted for their architectural types. Hadrian's coins commemorate his journeys. The coins and medals of Antonine, Marcus Aurelius, and the two Faustine are well executed; as are also those of Commodus, of whom a remarkable medallion relates to the conquest of Britain. There is, a rapid falling off in design after the time of Commodus, and base silver comes extensively into use in the reign of Caracalla. Gallienus introduced the practice of coining money of copper

distinguished by dots or knobs, one for each ounce.
There were circular pieces as high as the decussis,
or piece of twelve asses, presenting a head of Roma
(or Minerva), but none are known to have been
coined till the weight of the as had diminished to
four ounces. The Roman uncial coinage extended
to the other states of Italy, where a variety of types
were introduced, including mythological heads and
animals. In the reign of Augustus, the as was
virtually superseded by the sestertius, called by
numismatists the first bronze, about the size of our
penny, which was at first of the value of 24, after-washed with silver.
wards of 4 asses. The sestertius derived its value
from the silver denarius, of which it was the fourth.
The half of the sestertius was the dupondius (known
as the second bronze), and the half of the dupondius
was called the assarium, an old name of the as.
The assarium is known to numismatists as the
third bronze.

Silver was first coined at Rome about 281 B. C., the standard being founded on the Greek drachma, then equivalent in value to ten asses; the new coin was therefore called a denarius, or piece of ten asses. The earliest silver coined at Rome has on the obverse the head of Roma (differing from Minerva by having wings attached to the helmet); on the reverse is a quadriga or biga, or the Dioscuri. Among various other types which occur in the silver of the Italian towns subject to Rome are the horse's head, and galloping horse, both very beauti ful. During the social war, the revolted states coined money independently of Rome, and used various devices to distinguish it as Italian and not

Roman money.

The earliest gold coins seem to have been issued about 90 B. C., and consisted of the scrupulum, equivalent to 20 sestertii, and the double and treble scrupulum. These pieces bear the head of Mars on the obverse, and on the reverse an eagle standing on a thunderbolt, with the inscription 'Roma' on the exergue. The large early republican coins were cast, not struck.

The Family Coins begin about 170 B. C., and about 80 B. C. they entirely supersede the coins first described. Those families who successively held offices connected with the public mint acquired the right first to inscribe their names on the money, afterwards to introduce symbols of events in their own family history. These types gradually superseded the natural ones; the portrait of an ancestor followed; and then the portrait of a living citizen, Julius Cæsar.

Under the empire, the copper sestertius, which had displaced the as, continued the monetary standard. A magnificent series exists of the first bronzes of the emperors from Augustus to Gallienus. While it was the privilege of the emperors to coin gold and silver, copper could only be coined ez senatusconsulto, which from the time of Augustus was expressed on the coins by the letters S.C., or EX S.C. The obverse of the imperial coins bears the portraits of the successive emperors, sometimes of the empress or other members of the imperial family; and the reverse represents some event, military or social, of the emperor's reign, sometimes allegorised. The emperor's name and title are inscribed on the obverse, and sometimes partly continued on the reverse; the inscription on the reverse generally relates to the subject delineated; and towards the close of the 3d c., the exergue of the reverse is occupied by the name of the town where the coin is struck. The coins of Augustus and those of Livia, Antonia, and Agrippina the Elder have much artistic merit. The workmanship of Nero's sestertii is very beautiful. The coins of Vespasian and Titus commemorate the conquest of

The colonial and provincial money of this period was very inferior to that coined in Rome. In the coins of the provinces which had been formed out of the Greek empire, the obverse bears the emperor's head, and the reverse generally the chief temple of the gods in the city of coinage; the inscriptions are in Greek. In the imperial coins of Alexandria appear such characteristic devices as the heads of Jupiter Ammon, Isis, and Canopus, the sphinx, the serpent, the lotus, and the wheat-ear. Colonial coins were at first distinguished by a team of oxen, afterwards by banners, the number of which indicated the number of legions from which the colony had been drawn.

After the time of Gallienus, the colonial money and the Greek imperial money, except that of Alexandria, ceased, and much of the Roman coinage was executed in the provinces, the name of the town of issue appearing on the exergue. Diocletian introduced a new piece of money, called the follis, which became the chief coin of the lower empire. The first bronze has disappeared after Gallienus, and the second disappears after Diocletian, the third bronze diminishing to th of an ounce. With the establishment of Christianity under Constantine, a few Christian types are introduced. The third bronze of that emperor has the Labarum (q. v.), with the monogram IHS. Large medallions, called contorniati, encircled with a deep groove, belong to this period, and seem to have been prizes for distribution at the public games. Pagan types recur on the coins of Julian; and after his time the third bronze disappears.

The money of the Byzantine empire forms a link between the subject of ancient and that of modern coins. The portrait of the emperor on the obverse is after the 10th c. supported by some protecting saint. The reverse has at first such types as Victory with a cross, afterwards a representation of the Saviour or the Virgin; in some instances, the Virgin supporting the walls of Constantinople. Latin is gradually superseded by Greek in the inscriptions, and wholly disappears by the time of Alexius L. The chief gold piece was the solidus or nomisma, which was long famed in commerce for its purity, and circulated largely in the west as well as the east of Europe.

Of the coins of the middle ages, the most important is the silver denier or penny, derived from the Latin denarius. Its half was the obole, first of silver, afterwards of billon. Coins of this description were issued in the German empire, France, England, and the Scandinavian states, and in many cases by ecclesiastical princes and feudal lords as well as sovereigns. The obverse of the regal coin of the early middle ages is generally the bust of the sovereign, and the reverse a Greek cross, accompanied by the royal name or title, and the place of mintage or the moneyer (see MINT). The arms of the country were introduced in the 12th c., in conjunction with the cross, and afterwards superseded it. In the 13th and 14th centuries, coins began to be issued by free imperial cities or corporations of towns; and there prevailed extensively throughout