IX. COINS OF THE FIRST TWELVE CÆSARS, ETC.. X. COINS OF THE FIRST TWELVE CÆSARS, ETC. (CONTINUED) . 328 28 THE COIN COLLECTOR. 98 CHAPTER I ON THE INTEREST ATTENDING THE STUDY OF COINS. MUCH has been well and eloquently written on the interest of the study of coins, from the time of Petrarch to the present day, and yet the number of those who have sought amusement and instruction in that pursuit, has been, and still remains, but small. perhaps because there has been, with one or two exceptions, no recent work taking a middle course between the voluminous treatises which catalogue every coin belonging to each class, whether generally interesting or not, and slight works which do not contain sufficient detail to satisfy the curiosity of those whose interest in the subject has been excited. However this may be, I will again attempt to state briefly, some of the points of greatest interest connected with numismatic study. As historical records, coins have proved themselves of the highest importance, and even from the very infancy of the art, their valuable testimony commences. To the Greeks we owe, if not the invention, at all events, the very early general extension of a circulating medium in this form, and on their coins of the very earliest period we find records of the migrations, the mythology, and the manners and state of civilisation of this great and interesting people. For instance, on a gold coin of the most ancient fabric, we find the migration of the Phocean colony to Asia Minor, recorded in an unmistakeable manner, by what has been termed a "speaking type." Stephen of Byzantium relates that the ships of these Greeks were, on their voyage, followed by an immense number of seals, and it was, probably, on this account that the city they founded, received the name of Phocea, from wyn, the Greek name of a seal, and that they also adopted the seal as the type or badge of their coinage. These gold pieces of the Phoceans were well known among the Greek states and other neighbouring nations, and are frequently referred to by ancient authors; thus, from a single coin, we obtain the corroboration of the legend of the swarm of seals, of the remote epoch of the emigration in question, the coin being evidently of the earliest period (most probably of the middle of the seventh century before the Christian era), and also contemporary evidence of the state of Greek art at that period, as exhibited in the execution of the rude but expressive image, which it exhibits in bold relief on one side only, the other bearing merely a deep rough indent, the mark of the punch by means of which the lump of gold was driven into the die-The deities of the Greek mythology are at first symbolised on the coins of a state, by certain objects which were sacred to them; as Ceres, by the ear of barley; Bacchus, by the bunch of grapes; Diana, by the stag; but as skill in art increased, we find noble idealised heads representing the deities themselves, and having peculiar and suitable features and characters. At a somewhat later period it became customary to place the name of the chief magistrate, for the time being, on the public money, and we have thus preserved to us many names of high interest. As, for instance, on a Theban coin we have the first four letters of the name of Epaminondas -the names being seldom written in full-and many others of equal importance and interest; such names occurring long before portraits of princes or magistrates, or inscriptions relative to them, are found on coins. As affording interesting glimpses of mythology, I may remark, that some Athenian coins have, on the reverse, a poppy between ears of corn-both emblems of the worship of Ceres-and recalling, that in acknowledgment of the hospitality of Meganira, the wife of Celeus, she taught Triptolemus the art of agriculture. Poppies were also sacred to Ceres, not only as a symbol of abundance, as growing most profusely in the midst of corn-fields, but because Jupiter caused her by means of this flower to procure |