The Osceola times., 1880-01-24
GREEK COINAGE.
The Beauty and Perfection of the Money
that was Produced.

Sir John Lubbock In Nineteenth Century.
Greek coinage, however rough at 6rst,
soon acquired beauty and perfection
surprising all our modern efforts. The
staters, for instance, of Philip of Alex
ander, the coins of Syracuse and Meta
pontum, present 10 us the most lovely
female face and deities--pertect models
of human beauty. Animals are also adj
mirably represented, not only the horse,
the lion, etc, but other smaller creatures,
as the harvest mouse on an ear of wheat
on Metapontum coin, and even insects,
as, for instance, the praying mantis.
The heads in the earliest coins represent
gods and godosses, the first human head
being that of Alexander the Great on
coin of Lysimachus, and even in this
ease the great conqucror is represented
in his divine character as descended from
Jupiter Ammol, which is indicated by
the rams horns. 1t would not, however,
be tair to modern mints TO attribute the
comparative poverty of modern coins to
want of skill. 1t is great convenience
that coins should lie fatty one on another
and the greater boldness of ancient
coins, however it may add TO their
beauty, necessarily rendered this i'm
possible. Not only were the Greek coins
admirable for their beauty, but they
were also made of pure metal and full
weight, offering in this respect a striking
contrast to those of most other countries.
There were, however, OF course, excep-
tions. Thus the money of PhocRa WAS
notorious for its bad quality. llerodo-
tus mentions, though with some Goub.,
that Polycrates, tyrant OF samos, having
to pay a large sum to Il, Laced9monians
coined large quantity of the county
money in lead, had it gilt, and gave it TO
them; and they, having received it,,
thercupon took their departure That
the true theory of coinage was well
understood in Greece, we may see from
the words of Aristotle, who thus de-
scribes the origin Of coins.
at became necessary, therefore, to
think of certain commodities, easily
manageable and safely transportable,
and of which the uses are so general and
50 numerous that they insured the GER
tainty of always obtaining for them the
articles wanted in exchange. The met
ais, particularly iron and silver and
several others, exactly correspond TO
this description. They were employed,
therefore by general agreement as the
ordinary standard Of value and the com
mon measure Of exchange, being them
selves estimated at first by their bulk
and weight. and afterwards stamped. in
order to- save the trouble of measuring
and weighing them"
In ancient Greece, rs now, the right
If coinage was prerOgative of Il sOYcr-
cign. and here we find a curious differ
ence between the BasiIeus and the Tur-
amos. The former coined in his own
name, hut the Turanuoi, however abso-
lutte, never did so; there money was is
sued in the name Of the people Coins
are, of course, very instructive from Il
historical point of view. Nevertheless.
it is somewhat remarkable that Greeks
do not seem to have ever struck CON-
memorative medals. Even on their
coins they did not fora long time admit
any illusions to contemporary events,
and then only in an indirect manner.
Almost the only exception Is the enorm-
Gus gold piece struck by Eucratides,
King of Bactriana, of which the French
possess the only known example. The
fact that it is just equal TO twenty staters
does not prove that it was ever intended
to serve as coin, against which its size
must have been great objection. More
over, it would appear that very few
specimens were struck. Indeed, there
is some reason TO suppose that the French
example is the only one ever made, as
the die appears TO have been broken in
striking it. Neither the Greeks nor Ro-
mans had any name for 'medal" as
distinguished from true coin.