DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49262#0105
ch. iv] THE COINAGE AND THE STATE 85
is that struck by Themistocles (Pl. IV. 1) when in exile at
Magnesia \
Ptolemy Soter allowed to the province of Cyrenaica con-
siderable privileges in the matter of coinage. Thus, under his
rule (b. c. 321-308) there seems to have been no limitation of
the coinage, which is found in all three metals. From the
time of Ptolemy IV, Philopator, down to the acquisition of
Cyrenaica by the Romans in b. c. 96, there is, however, no
autonomous coinage, Gyrene being used as a royal mint.
The letter of Antiochus VII to Simon Maccabaeus 1 2 is an
interesting record of a grant of the right of coinage made by
a ruler to his vassal. The tenor of the letter shows that it was
only when Antiochus was in need of help that he thought fit
to grant this privilege, which he retracted as soon as he could
safely break with the Jewish prince3.
The grant of the right of coinage was occasionally accom-
panied by the condition that the head of the sovereign should
appear on the coins. Such was the case with the autonomous
coinage of several cities of Cilicia and Northern Syria under
Antiochus IV4. But the reason for the appearance of regal
portrait-heads on autonomous coins is often merely compli-
mentary : such is the case with the head of Cleopatra on the
coins of Patrae (where M. Antonins stayed the winter b. c. 32-31).
§ 5. Home and her Subjects. Restriction of Gold.
The regulation by Rome, from the time that she became an
extra-Italian power, of the coinage of her subjects, is a matter
which can only be briefly touched upon here. In this respect,
a more or less definite line may be drawn between the western
1 Waddington, Melanges, i. Pl. I. 2 ; Head. Brit. Mas. Catal., Ionia, p. 158
(the latter a plated specimen ; the Berlin Museum has recently acquired
a third specimen (Zeitschr.f. Num. xxi. p. 73 note).
2 1 Macc. XV. 5 νυν ουν 'ίστη. ι σοι πάντα τά άφαιρίματα, ά άφηκάν σοι οί προ
ΐμον βασίλεΐ?, και όσα άλλα άφαιρίματα άφηκάν σοι, ποιησαι κόμμα ίδιον νόμισμα
ττμ γώραί σου.
3 The correctness of the attribution to this period of the well-known
Jewish shekels and half-shekels (Fig. 7, p. 34) has rightly been doubted.
They are rather to be given to the first revolt of the Jews under Nero
(see the references to recent literature on this subject in Num. Chr.
1893, p. 75).
1 Lenormant, ii. 34 ; Babeion Rois de Syr. p. ci. if.
is that struck by Themistocles (Pl. IV. 1) when in exile at
Magnesia \
Ptolemy Soter allowed to the province of Cyrenaica con-
siderable privileges in the matter of coinage. Thus, under his
rule (b. c. 321-308) there seems to have been no limitation of
the coinage, which is found in all three metals. From the
time of Ptolemy IV, Philopator, down to the acquisition of
Cyrenaica by the Romans in b. c. 96, there is, however, no
autonomous coinage, Gyrene being used as a royal mint.
The letter of Antiochus VII to Simon Maccabaeus 1 2 is an
interesting record of a grant of the right of coinage made by
a ruler to his vassal. The tenor of the letter shows that it was
only when Antiochus was in need of help that he thought fit
to grant this privilege, which he retracted as soon as he could
safely break with the Jewish prince3.
The grant of the right of coinage was occasionally accom-
panied by the condition that the head of the sovereign should
appear on the coins. Such was the case with the autonomous
coinage of several cities of Cilicia and Northern Syria under
Antiochus IV4. But the reason for the appearance of regal
portrait-heads on autonomous coins is often merely compli-
mentary : such is the case with the head of Cleopatra on the
coins of Patrae (where M. Antonins stayed the winter b. c. 32-31).
§ 5. Home and her Subjects. Restriction of Gold.
The regulation by Rome, from the time that she became an
extra-Italian power, of the coinage of her subjects, is a matter
which can only be briefly touched upon here. In this respect,
a more or less definite line may be drawn between the western
1 Waddington, Melanges, i. Pl. I. 2 ; Head. Brit. Mas. Catal., Ionia, p. 158
(the latter a plated specimen ; the Berlin Museum has recently acquired
a third specimen (Zeitschr.f. Num. xxi. p. 73 note).
2 1 Macc. XV. 5 νυν ουν 'ίστη. ι σοι πάντα τά άφαιρίματα, ά άφηκάν σοι οί προ
ΐμον βασίλεΐ?, και όσα άλλα άφαιρίματα άφηκάν σοι, ποιησαι κόμμα ίδιον νόμισμα
ττμ γώραί σου.
3 The correctness of the attribution to this period of the well-known
Jewish shekels and half-shekels (Fig. 7, p. 34) has rightly been doubted.
They are rather to be given to the first revolt of the Jews under Nero
(see the references to recent literature on this subject in Num. Chr.
1893, p. 75).
1 Lenormant, ii. 34 ; Babeion Rois de Syr. p. ci. if.