DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.45277#0038
xxxiv
INTRODUCTION.
Lydian
electrum.
may be inferred from the munificence of his gifts to the Delphic shrine, con-
sisting of golden mixing cups and silver urns, and amounting to a mass of gold
and silver such as the Greeks had never before seen collected together k
It i$, in conformity with the whole spirit of a monarch such as Gyges, whose
life’s work it was to extend his empire towards the west, and at the same time
to keep in his hands the lines of communication with the East, that from his
capital Sardes, situate on the slopes of Tmolus and on the banks of the Pactolus,
both rich in gold, he should send forth along the caravan routes of the East into
the heart of Mesopotamia, and down the river valleys of the West to the sea, his
native Lydian ore gathered from the washings of the Pactolus and from the
diggings on the hill sides.
This precious merchandize (if the earliest Lydian coins are indeed his) he
issued in the form of oval-shapecl bullets or ingots, officially sealed or stamped
on one side as a guarantee of their weight and value. For the eastern or land-
trade the light mina was the standard by which this coinage was regulated,
while for the western trade with the Greeks of the coast the heavy standard
was made use of, which, from its mode of transmission, we may call the
Phoenician, retaining the name Babyionic only for the weight which was
derived by land from the banks of the Euphrates.
The earliest Lydian coins were composed of a metal called by the Greeks
electrum (Sophocles, hnfi 1037) or white gold (Herod, i. 50). This was a
natural compound of gold and silver, and seems to have been recognized by the
ancients as a metal distinct from either. It was obtained in large quantities
from the washings of the river Pactolus and from the mines on the mountain
slopes of Tmolus and Sipylus. It consisted of about 73 per cent, of gold and
27 per cent, of silver (Hultsch, Metrologie, 2nd ed. p. 579), and therefore stood
in a different relation to silver1 2 from that of pure gold to silver. Thus while
gold stood to silver as 13.3 : 1 electrum would stand at 10 : 1 or thereabouts.
This natural compound of gold and silver possessed some advantages for
purposes of coining over gold. In the first place it was more durable, being-
harder and less subject to injury and waste from wear; in the second place it
was more easily obtainable, being a native product; and in the third place,
standing as it did in the proportion of about 10 : 1 to silver, it rendered needless
the use of a different standard of weight for the two metals, enabling the
authorities of the mints to make use of a single set of weights and a decimal
system easy of comprehension and simple in practice.
On this account electrum appears to have been weighed according to the silver
standard, one Talent, one Mina, and one Stater of electrum were consequently
considered as equivalent to 10 Talents, 10 Minae, or 10 Staters of silver of the
same weight.
The weight of the electrum stater in each district would depend therefore
upon the standard which happened to be in use there for silver bullion or silver
in the form of bars or oblong bricks, the practice of the new invention of
stamping or sealing metal for circulation being in the first place only applied
to the more precious of the two metals, electrum representing in a conveniently
1 Curtius, Gr. Gesch., Bd. i. p. 466; Herod, i. 14.
2 ‘Ubicumque quinta argenti portio est, et electrum vocatur,’ Pliny, H. N. 33. 4. 23.
INTRODUCTION.
Lydian
electrum.
may be inferred from the munificence of his gifts to the Delphic shrine, con-
sisting of golden mixing cups and silver urns, and amounting to a mass of gold
and silver such as the Greeks had never before seen collected together k
It i$, in conformity with the whole spirit of a monarch such as Gyges, whose
life’s work it was to extend his empire towards the west, and at the same time
to keep in his hands the lines of communication with the East, that from his
capital Sardes, situate on the slopes of Tmolus and on the banks of the Pactolus,
both rich in gold, he should send forth along the caravan routes of the East into
the heart of Mesopotamia, and down the river valleys of the West to the sea, his
native Lydian ore gathered from the washings of the Pactolus and from the
diggings on the hill sides.
This precious merchandize (if the earliest Lydian coins are indeed his) he
issued in the form of oval-shapecl bullets or ingots, officially sealed or stamped
on one side as a guarantee of their weight and value. For the eastern or land-
trade the light mina was the standard by which this coinage was regulated,
while for the western trade with the Greeks of the coast the heavy standard
was made use of, which, from its mode of transmission, we may call the
Phoenician, retaining the name Babyionic only for the weight which was
derived by land from the banks of the Euphrates.
The earliest Lydian coins were composed of a metal called by the Greeks
electrum (Sophocles, hnfi 1037) or white gold (Herod, i. 50). This was a
natural compound of gold and silver, and seems to have been recognized by the
ancients as a metal distinct from either. It was obtained in large quantities
from the washings of the river Pactolus and from the mines on the mountain
slopes of Tmolus and Sipylus. It consisted of about 73 per cent, of gold and
27 per cent, of silver (Hultsch, Metrologie, 2nd ed. p. 579), and therefore stood
in a different relation to silver1 2 from that of pure gold to silver. Thus while
gold stood to silver as 13.3 : 1 electrum would stand at 10 : 1 or thereabouts.
This natural compound of gold and silver possessed some advantages for
purposes of coining over gold. In the first place it was more durable, being-
harder and less subject to injury and waste from wear; in the second place it
was more easily obtainable, being a native product; and in the third place,
standing as it did in the proportion of about 10 : 1 to silver, it rendered needless
the use of a different standard of weight for the two metals, enabling the
authorities of the mints to make use of a single set of weights and a decimal
system easy of comprehension and simple in practice.
On this account electrum appears to have been weighed according to the silver
standard, one Talent, one Mina, and one Stater of electrum were consequently
considered as equivalent to 10 Talents, 10 Minae, or 10 Staters of silver of the
same weight.
The weight of the electrum stater in each district would depend therefore
upon the standard which happened to be in use there for silver bullion or silver
in the form of bars or oblong bricks, the practice of the new invention of
stamping or sealing metal for circulation being in the first place only applied
to the more precious of the two metals, electrum representing in a conveniently
1 Curtius, Gr. Gesch., Bd. i. p. 466; Herod, i. 14.
2 ‘Ubicumque quinta argenti portio est, et electrum vocatur,’ Pliny, H. N. 33. 4. 23.