Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1881-07-28
MON EY.

'i0oo - SOhfOI1iCAlSC5 tlAiu oO luuCli
a necessity Of commerce, that it
appears almost inconceivable that
d people Who created the Sphinx
and the Pyramids, the temples of
lpsamboul and Karnac, should
have been entirely ignorant of
coins. Yet it appears from the
statements Of Herodotus, and the
evidence of the monuments them
selves, that this was really the
casa.
As regards the commercial and
banking systems of ancient Egypt
we are almost entirely without in
formation: Their standard of
value seems to have been the
"outen'' or "ten'' Of copper ca Sc
grammcs,) which circulated like
tho ms rude Of the Romans, by
weight, and in the form of bricks,
being measured by the balance,
1t was obtained from tho mines of
Mount Sinai, which were worked
as early as the fourth dynasty
Gold and silver appeared to have
been also used; though loss frc-
qucntly. Like copper, they wore
sometimes in the form of bricks,
but generally in rings, resembling
the ring money Of the ancient
Celts, which is said to have been
employed in Ireland down to the
twelfth century, and still holds it's
own in the interior Of Africa.
This approximatcd very nearly to
the possession Of money, but it
wanted what the Roman lawyers
called "thc law" and "tho FORM"
Neither the weight nor tho pure
ness was guaranteed by any pub
lie authority. Such state Of
things seems to us very inconven-
lent; but after all it is not very dif
fercnt from that which prevails in
China even at the present day.
The first money struck in Egypt,
and that for the use rather of the
Crock and Phocnician merchants
than Of The natives, was by the
Satrap Aryandcs.
AS regards the Hebrews, Mr..
Poole tells us there is no distinct
allusion to the coined money in
the books of the Old Testament
before the return from Babylon.
Shckcls, Of course, arc often mon
toned; but the word, like our
pound, denotes weight as well
as a coin, andi the older Scrip
lures it appears to have been used
in the former sense. The earliest
distinct mention Of coins in the
Bible is supposed to refer to Per-
sian money, the word "trachm'
which appears in our version, be-
ing a mistake for 'daric." These
darics have on the diverse the
king knccling, holding a bow and
arrow. The reverse shows arudc
incuse. They were probably struck
in the fifth century B. c. At a
much earlier date, indeed, we
read that Abimclech gave Abra--
ham a thousand pieces Of silver in
oxpiation of his treatment of Sa-
rah; and again, that Joseph was
sold to the Ishmaclitcs for "twenty
pieces of silver" But in both
these cases it will be observed
that the word pieces is in italics,
and there is much doubt about the
word. In the Septuagint it is
sshekels.' One type Of the an
cient shekels has on the diverse,
in Hebrew, 'Shekcl of Israel, year
d" above O chalice; on the reverse
"Jcrusalcm, the Holy Triple City.n
Somo numismatists ascribe these
coins to Ezra. The first Jewish
coins were apparently struck by
Simon the Maccabec, under a
grant from Antiochus tho Sey :
enth.
The earliest coinage in the
Western world is generally as
cribed to Phcidon, the king of
Algina, who has also the great
merits Of having introduced
weights and measures. Accord
ing to Herodotus, however, we
owe this invention of money to
the .Lydians, probably in the rcign
| Of Gunnr about r0H II ~ III