Smith, William: A smaller dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities (London, 1871)

ARGENTUM.

40

4RGENTUM (apyvpos), silver. The rela-
tive value of gold and silver differed consi-
derably at different periods in Greek and
Roman history. Herodotus mentions it as
13 to 1 ; Plato, as 12 to 1 ; Menander, as
10 to 1 ; and Livy as 10 to 1, about b. c.
189. According to Suetonius, Julius Caesar,
on one occasion, exchanged silver for gold in
the proportion of 9 to 1 ; but the most usual
proportion under the early Roman emperors
was about 12 to 1. The proportion in modern
times, since the discovery of the American
mines, has varied between 17 to 1 and 14
to 1. In the earliest times the Creeks ob-
tained their silver chiefly as an article of
commerce from the Phocacans and the Sa-
mians; but they soon began to work the rich
mines of their own country and its islands.
The chief mines were in Siphnos, Thessaly,
and Attica. In the last-named country, the
silver mines of Laurion furnished a most
abundant supply, and were generally regarded
as the chief source of the wealth of Athens.
The Romans obtained most of their silver
from the very rich mines of Spain, which
had been previously worked by the Phoeni-
cians and Carthaginians, and which, though
abandoned for those of Mexico, are still not
exhausted. By far the most important use of
silver among the Greeks was for money.
There are sufficient reasons for believing
that, until some time after the end of the
Peloponnesian war, the Athenians had no
gold currency. [Avrvm.] It may be remarked
that all the words connected with money are
derived from apyupos, and not from xpvij°s, as
/caTapyvpow, "to bribe with money;" apyt'-
pap.oijSo';, " a money changer, " &c. ; and
dpyvpos is itself not unfrequently used to
signify money in general, as aes is in Latin.
At Rome, on the contrary, silver was not
coined till b. c. 269, before which period
Greek silver was in circulation at Rome ; and
the principal silver coin of the Romans, the
denarius, was borrowed from the Greek
drachma. For further details respecting
silver money, see Denarius, Drachma.
From a very early period, silver was used
also in works of art; and the use of it for
mere purposes of luxury and ostentation, as
in plate, was very general both in Greece and
Rome.

ARGYRASPIDES (apyvpaaTriSe;), a division
of the Macedonian army, who were so called
because they carried shields covered with
silver plates.

ARGYROCOPEION (ipyvpoKonelov), the
place where money was coined, the mint, at
Athens.

ARIES (xpto's), the battering-ram, was used
to batter down the walls of besieged cities.

It consisted of a large beam, made of the
trunk of a tree, especially of a fir or an ash.
To one end was fastened a mass of bronze
or iron (/ce^aAij, en/3oAr;, 7rpoi-o/j.7j), which
resembled in its form the head of a ram.
The aries in its simplest state was borne
and impelled by human hands, without other
assistance. In an improved form, the ram

Aril's, Battering Ram. (From Column of Trajan.)

was surrounded with iron bands, to which
rings were attached for the purpose of suspend-
ing it by ropes or chains from a beam fixed
transversely over it. By this contrivance
the soldiers were relieved from the necessity
of supporting the weight of the ram, and
could with ease give it a rapid and forcible
motion backwards and forwards. The use of
this machine was further aided by placing
the frame in which it was suspended upon
wheels, and also by constructing over it a
wooden roof, so as to form a " testudo,"
which protected the besieging party from
the defensive assaults of the besieged.

ARISTOCRATIA (apioroicpaTi'a), signifies
literally "the government of the best men,"
and as used by Plato, Aristotle, Polybius, &c,
it meant the government of a class whose
supremacy was founded not on wealth merely,
but on personal distinction. That there should
be an aristocracy, moreover, it was essential
that the administration of affairs should be
conducted with a view to the promotion of
the general interests, not for the exclusive or
predominant advantage of the privileged class.