In concluding these somewhat desultory remarks on the art displayed on the Greek coinage, it may be observed that the time of its greatest perfection occurred probably about the age of Alexander the Great. The Greek states in Europe and Asia, at that time, still maintained their autonomous privileges to a great extent, and art was at its highest pitch of refinement, especially in those minutiæ so applicable to the types of the coinage; while in the Greek cities of Ita.y and Sicily, the arts had attained an extraordinary degree of excellence, the power of Rome being still confined within the narrow limits of a petty state, and the Greek cities of southern Italy and Sicily not yet dreaming of the Roman name which was so soon to absorb not only the population of all Italy, but of all the civilised world. The specimens of Magna-Græcian coins of the finest period, engraved in Plate V., probably belong to the period immediately preceding that in which the lava of Roman power overflowed its native crater, and pursued its irresistible course, conquering and to conquer, over a great portion of three quarters of the earth.

One of the principal characteristics of ancient Greek coins, even of the fine periods, when compared to modern money, is a certain rudeness of aspect arising from the irregular form of the coin, which is never perfectly circular, as the Greek moneyers did not understand the principle of the collar, by which an accurate circle is obtained in modern coins. Arising from the same cause, is the frequent accident by which part of the inscription, or part of the bead border does not find its place on the coin: the perfect placing of which is rendered inevitable by the aid of modern machinery. But when from these minor imperfections, partly mechanical, we turn to a comparison of the art displayed in the types, all modern coinages sink into insignificance, and the grandeur and simplicity, often sublimity, of the most ordinary types, in the hands of a Greek artist, become evident, beyond the power of the veriest caviller for modern supremacy to dispute; the principal and most striking characteristics of the ancient examples being their high relief and severe simplicity of design.

CHAPTER XX

JEWISH COINS.

As I have shown in the earlier chapters of this work that, the Jewish people, though they used the precious metals as a medium of exchange, had no positive coinage, the "pieces of silver," frequently spoken of, passing by weight and not by tale. This state of things, in monetary matters, continued till the time of the subjection of the country to the kings of Syria, of the Seleucidan dynasty, about 312 B.C., at which time Greek currency, established throughout the East since the Macedonian conquest, circulated also in Judæa, until the tyranny of Antiochus Epiphanes, in 176 B.C., caused the revolt of Mattathias, the chief priest; when, his son, Judas Maccabeus, heading the revolt, eventually re-established the long lost independence of Judæa, and to his successor, Simon, was conceded by Antiochus, the son of Demetrius, the right of striking national money.

The money now struck is the earliest money known, bearing Hebrew inscriptions and types, and the pieces are the well-known shekels, found in most collections-the old national weight giving its name to the new coin. There are pieces of one, two, and four silver shekels, bearing different types, all relating to the ceremonial of Judaic worship. The earliest money of Simon Maccabeus was issued about

the year 144 B.C. On the specimen engraved above, the types are on the obverse the sacred cup of manna, which

Moses was directed to preserve in commemoration of the food furnished to the Israelites in the wilderness: on the reverse is "the rod of Aaron," on which three flowers are shown. The most usual inscriptions are- bpw (Schekel Israel), Sheke. of Israel: on the reverse, pob (Jeroushalem Kedoshah), Jerusalem the Holy; others are marked, half-shekel, &c. Other types have no nyow (Scheschimeon Maschi Israel), Simon Prince of Israel; or, sometimes, such inscriptions as, "the first year of the Deliverance of Israel," or "the Redemption of Sion," &c.

All these inscriptions, expressed in modern Hebrew characters above, are, on the coin, in the Samaritan character, as it is termed, that is, the ancient Hebrew as it existed before the captivity in Babylon, where it was modified by the introduction of much of the cuneiform style of character in use in Babylonia, Persia, and Assyria. The modified

form adopted during the captivity, is with but slight variation that of the Hebrew now in use, from which the characters on the coins are very distinct. The ancient character, it appears, was constantly preserved for monumental and sacred purposes which accounts for its appearance on the national coin.

All the money bearing Hebrew types is either of silver or copper, no gold having been issued during the short period of Hebrew monetary existence.

The pieces issued by Simon are generally dated from the "year of independence," as of the first, second, and third year; but none later than the fourth, and these latter are only of bronze.

The

The successors of Simon assumed the title of King, and even "King of Kings," and placed on the coinage Greek as well as Hebrew inscriptions. These are poor copper coins, and very rare. Such are those of Alexander Jannaeus, and of Antigonus, son of Aristobulus. coins of Herod, appointed governor of the country after 'ts subjection to Rome by Pompey, are also confined to small copper, and have generally Greek inscriptions only, such as ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΗΡΩΔΟΥ, "of the King Herod," dated in the year of his reign, as Lr (the third year). The types are small and insignificant, and very rarely a portrait. The title of Tetrarch appears on those of his

coins issued before the title of King was conceded to him by the Romans. After Herod, the coins of the Roman empire circulated almost exclusively in the simple province of Judæa; but some coins appear to have been struck for especial circulation, as Hebrew types are found on some small coins bearing the names of Nero, Britannicus, &c.

At the revolt so fearfully subdued by Titus (131 A.D.) every vestige of nationality was swept away from Judæa, the coins issued by Barchocébas, the leader of the rebellion, being the last bearing any reference to the ancient Jewish types. These coins bear the same types as those of the prosperous time of Simon Maccabeus, and are sometimes mistaken for them by the inexperienced; but they are easily detected by a numismatist, and are most frequently found to have their types struck over those of a Roman denarius.

CHAPTER XXI.

THE ROMAN COINAGE.
(THE REPUBLIC.)

THE ORIGIN OF THE "AS," AND ITS SUB-DIVISIONS IN ROME AND
OTHER PARTS OF ITALY.

IN the early chapters of this volume, we have seen gold become the first, and for long afterwards, the principal metal employed in the establishment of a system of coinage in Asia Minor, while silver assumed its place in European Greece and her dependencies. We have now to witness the origin of a great national coinage, not based upon either of these metals, but upon copper, or rather, it would seem, on a mixed metal, termed "Es," of which the modern word bronze appears a more satisfactory translation than brass, so long used to express the metal of the great Sestertian coinage of Rome. In treating of the coinages founded on the relative values of gold and silver, we have seen the drachma and the obolus become the weights by which the size of the

pieces were regulated; but in the less precious copper, we shall find the litra and the ounce forming the standard weights, and a coinage of enormous bulk resulting therefrom..

We have no records or monuments of a Roman coinage, till long after that of Greece was widely established. The heads of Romulus and of Numa, found upon ancient Roman coins, belong to a much later period than that of either of those kings of Rome. Coins bearing those portraits being money struck by persons claiming descent from those princes, who were triumviri monetarii, or officers of the mint, towards the end of the republic. But though no monuments exist of a Roman coinage, as early as the time of Numa, about 715 B.C. there existed, without doubt, an ancient copper currency at that time, and even earlier, which however, cannot be considered in the light of a coinage, as it passed by weight and not by tale. The use of copper for this purpose appears to have been general throughout Italy and Sicily at a very remote epoch; and the unit from which all other sums or weights were calculated was the Es libra, or pound-weight of copper. This weight in Sicily was termed litra, and by some ancient authorities, the Italians are said to have derived both the weight and the term from the Sicilians.

Italy, and no doubt Sicily also, received Phoenician and Lydian colonies* at a period considerably anterior to the Grecian emigration, and the degree of civilisation thus introduced was apparently the means of establishing a metallic currency in the form of weighed money, the Phonicians not being then acquainted with the art of coinage in its perfect form. That copper should have formed the monetary standard in the Italian peninsula and Sicily, in preference to the more precious metal, is accounted for by the rich mines of copper which had been extensively worked even in Homer's time, who mentions the exportation of copper from Temesa, in Italy, while rich mines are still in activity near Castro Giovanni (the ancient Enna), in Sicily.

* Etruria ;-the Tuscia or Etruria of the Romans, was the Tyrrhenia of the Greeks, and hence ever considered a Lydian colony. Whether it was a colony founded by Tyre or by the Lydians, it is evident that a knowledge of metals, and the mode of working them, had been early introduced there from the East. The Etruscan name of Tarquin, and the chief Etruscan city, Tarquinii, were by the Greeks called Tuppηvos (Tyrrhenos), ir licating the origin of the people from the Tyrrhenian Pelasgi cf Asia Minor.