DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5253#0195
COLONIZATION, COINAGE, TRADE. 163
smelting of metals, and the fabrication of vases. In the neighborhood of the
spot where these tablets were found, the white clay of which they were made
is still to be seen; and the now deserted shafts they depict, witness to the im-
portance of metal in ancient Corinth.
As early as 785 B.C., Ionian colonists from Miletos, taking with them their
religion and culture, settled on the shores of the Black Sea. About fifty years
later, still others took possession of the peninsula, rich in mines, to the north
of Greece ; and a century still later others founded Kyrene, in Northern Africa.
About the same time a new Greece was established along the shores of Sicily
and Southern Italy by colonists from the Asiatic coast, soon followed by others
from Chalkis and the mainland of Greece, probably bringing those metal
fabrics found so abundantly in Etruria, and now recognized as the works and
types of the early Greeks, and not of the Etruscans.227
Trade, that most important factor in developing the material resources of
a land, was not at first carried on in the Greek world by the convenient system
of a well-regulated and officially stamped coinage. Rings of gold, pellets, and
small obelisks of metal adjusted to fixed weights, but probably without any
stamp to guarantee them, were, it seems, first used.22S The addition of the
official stamp creating coinage, and thus greatly facilitating trade, was probably
made by the wealthy Lydians during the latter half of the seventh century
B.C., a time when they ruled Western Asia Minor up to the very gates of the
Greek cities on the seashore. The metal which they used was not gold or
silver, but electrum, a mixture of the two, found in the bed of the Pactolos, and
other rivers of Asia Minor, and considered by the Greeks to be an independent
metal. Two standards are traceable in this early Lydian coinage, — one follow-
ing the Babylonian silver standard, and the other the Phoenician ; the former,
doubtless,' having wandered to Lydia by land, and the latter by sea.229 This
invention was at once adopted by the enterprising Ionian cities of the neigh-
borhood ; and most probably these Ionians it was who improved upon the crude
Lydian method, substituting for primitive punches engraved dies, bearing an
emblem of the temple or city issuing them, and in time an inscription, and the
mark of the magistrate under whom they were minted. Among the Ionian
cities, Phocaia is said to have first issued coins ; but the invention was not long
confined to the Asia-Minor shores. It must rapidly have spread to Greece,
where, according to story, Pheidon of Argos was the first to coin money on
^Egina.23° Euboia and Corinth must have issued coin at about the same time ;
the rising Athens soon followed their example, the custom rapidly spreading
to the distant colonies : and thus, by a wide-spread colonization, and improved
means of trade, riches could be accumulated. From this primitive coinage has
sprung a world of art, which, beautiful in itself, has also proved invaluable in
throwing light upon the larger works of sculpture.
In state the eighth and seventh centuries B.C. were formative in their
smelting of metals, and the fabrication of vases. In the neighborhood of the
spot where these tablets were found, the white clay of which they were made
is still to be seen; and the now deserted shafts they depict, witness to the im-
portance of metal in ancient Corinth.
As early as 785 B.C., Ionian colonists from Miletos, taking with them their
religion and culture, settled on the shores of the Black Sea. About fifty years
later, still others took possession of the peninsula, rich in mines, to the north
of Greece ; and a century still later others founded Kyrene, in Northern Africa.
About the same time a new Greece was established along the shores of Sicily
and Southern Italy by colonists from the Asiatic coast, soon followed by others
from Chalkis and the mainland of Greece, probably bringing those metal
fabrics found so abundantly in Etruria, and now recognized as the works and
types of the early Greeks, and not of the Etruscans.227
Trade, that most important factor in developing the material resources of
a land, was not at first carried on in the Greek world by the convenient system
of a well-regulated and officially stamped coinage. Rings of gold, pellets, and
small obelisks of metal adjusted to fixed weights, but probably without any
stamp to guarantee them, were, it seems, first used.22S The addition of the
official stamp creating coinage, and thus greatly facilitating trade, was probably
made by the wealthy Lydians during the latter half of the seventh century
B.C., a time when they ruled Western Asia Minor up to the very gates of the
Greek cities on the seashore. The metal which they used was not gold or
silver, but electrum, a mixture of the two, found in the bed of the Pactolos, and
other rivers of Asia Minor, and considered by the Greeks to be an independent
metal. Two standards are traceable in this early Lydian coinage, — one follow-
ing the Babylonian silver standard, and the other the Phoenician ; the former,
doubtless,' having wandered to Lydia by land, and the latter by sea.229 This
invention was at once adopted by the enterprising Ionian cities of the neigh-
borhood ; and most probably these Ionians it was who improved upon the crude
Lydian method, substituting for primitive punches engraved dies, bearing an
emblem of the temple or city issuing them, and in time an inscription, and the
mark of the magistrate under whom they were minted. Among the Ionian
cities, Phocaia is said to have first issued coins ; but the invention was not long
confined to the Asia-Minor shores. It must rapidly have spread to Greece,
where, according to story, Pheidon of Argos was the first to coin money on
^Egina.23° Euboia and Corinth must have issued coin at about the same time ;
the rising Athens soon followed their example, the custom rapidly spreading
to the distant colonies : and thus, by a wide-spread colonization, and improved
means of trade, riches could be accumulated. From this primitive coinage has
sprung a world of art, which, beautiful in itself, has also proved invaluable in
throwing light upon the larger works of sculpture.
In state the eighth and seventh centuries B.C. were formative in their