Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1911-04-21
Miseellansuus &eaains.

HOW OUR "MoNEY" ORIGINATED
Ancient Coins Used to illustrate Events
of History.
1t Is to Lydia that Europe owes the
invention of coinage. In all times and
in all countries the privilege of coming
has been allowed the sovereign
Croesus. of Lydia, was the first mon
arch to introduce a bimetallic system
of coinage-gold and silver in the pro-
] portion Of about three to four. This
was some time between $50 and 546 b
c. Darius of Persia, Is said to have
later adopted this idea also.
| At a very early age the ancients
found 1t necessary to discover some
definite medium Of exchange to take
the place of the inconvenient method
of bartering-the most primitive
means of carrying on trade. Metal
was chosen doubtless by reason of its
durability, and in the case of gold and
silver, by reason of their intrinsic
value. Silver and brass were first
used, particularly in Greece, from a
lack of sufficient gold. Later, however
this deficiency was overcome in a man.
ner to be described further on.
The less liable a metal Is to change
in value the better it is suited for a
standard.
The first method of using precious
metal as a medium of exchange was
impracticable and inconvenient. 1t was
simply weighed and exchanged, in full
| for commodities Of various sorts
Soon as commercial transactions in
| creased and became more complicated
1t was found necessary to divide the
mass into units of various weights
which took the form Of rough coins
To this day there is one surviving relic
| lin name only Of this first system OF
payment by weight. 1t Is the word
pound. This division proved unsatis-
factory also, since no two merchants
were likely to have split their store OF
silver into pieces Of equal weight
Their units could not be taken as a
standard, since a piece Of weighed
metal becomes a coin only when 1t is
stamped by the state, and Is thus
guarded to have its professed weight
and purity.
The Greeks first issued real coin
some time during the seventh century
B. c. BY the fourth century the entire
civilized world used money. 1t Is sup
posed that the priests played an i'm
portant part in the introduction OF
money, for 1t Is highly characteristic
of them that their coins were from the
start marked by religious association
So ancient coins in a great measure
confirm history and have been, and in
the years of discovery yet to come will
doubtless continue to be, of the great
est help to historians
In addition to illustrating events OF
history, these coins have also direct
and valuable bearing on the religious
beliefs of the nations and tribes by
which they were issued. The myth
ology Of the Greeks has not been re-
corded by them in sacred books to any
extent, nor handed down to later gen.
erations by a faithful and studious
priesthood. Their mythology ran on
unchecked, and having grown out OF
the beliefs of scores Of various tribes,
reaches us in a condition which scarce
ly admits of systematiZing. The Greek
coins up to the death of Alexander
bear only sacred subjects. Every coin
| issued bears a reference to some deity
| Coins of Miletus. for instance, bear a
lion; those of Eretria show cow and
sucking calf; those of Cyzicus show a
funny fish, etc. All these were SYM
bols of the goddesses. The coins is
sued under the empire bear, as rule,
the imperial portrait on one side, and
on the other a sacred emblem. The
whole, then, affords us invaluable as
sistance in reconstructing Greek
mythology.
| Ancient coins are of almost equal
value to the geographer as to the his
torian.
| Then, too, the art of sculpture, OF
which coin engraving is an offspring
receives great illustration from a care
full study of these coins. The memory
| Of lost statues is preserved for us, and
particularly in the case of Greek coins
we are afforded an example Of that
skill by which her sculptors attained
| such renown.
| The history of Greece Is one Of q
people continually torn by civil dis
senson. Their story is one of war and
| strife, forever between themselves, and
in later years with outsiders. War Is
an expensive thing in more senses than
one, though we have needed to take
note here of pecuniary costs alone. AS
| the various states were jealous and al
| ways at odds, so were men and as a
| consequence the religious temple was
resorted to as a depository for the safe
keeping of precious metals and jewels
| These religious institutions played nc
unimportant part in the development
of the earlier Greek commerce. They
held vast sums of gold plate, and this
| together with fortunes of their own
derived from votive offerings, they
employed productivity for their own
use. They loaned money at a high
rate of interest, and this custom very
likely suggested to others the idea oil
doing likewise. Passion was probably
the first to do this. He founded house
at Athens, operating with capital OF
so talents. He established for himself
first rate credit at all centers of Greek
commerce. In this way business could
| be transacted by the exchange of
sort of letter of credit in place of pay
ment in coin.
The introduction of this system des-
pite it's small scale, shows the growth
of commercial activity. Money was
now more plentiful, and all prices
higher than ever before. This was due
| i'm a measure to the amount OF pre-
cious metals, chiefly gold, which had