The numismatic chronicle and journal of the Royal Numismatic Society

80 NUMISMATIC CHRONICLE.
well as numismatists, to require a detailed description.
It is remarkable that so complete a transition from the
one class to the other appears to have been made abruptly,
and must therefore, without doubt, have coincided with
some marked change in the political circumstances and
situation of Athens. But we are, nevertheless, unable to
determine with any approach to certainty the exact date
at which it took place.
M. Beule*, indeed, has attempted
to prove that this change was connected with the settle-
ment of affairs at Athens that ensued after the Lamian
war and the death of Alexander (B.C. 323).
But it must
be confessed that his arguments are very inconclusive.
At the same time, there is every reason to believe that the
alteration may be referred to about this period, or the
interval from the death of Alexander to the visit of Deme-
trius Poliorcetes to Athens, when the number of the
Athenian tribes was raised from ten to twelve, and other
changes were made in the constitution (B.C. 303).
It must be borne in mind that though Athens enjoyed
no real freedom after the time of Alexander, she always
retained her nominal independence and municipal liberty
down to the time of Augustus, and even under the Roman
Empire. The right of striking silver coins, however,
certainly was withdrawn from her after the settlement of
the Empire under Augustus, when this privilege was
limited to a very small number of cities. It may probably
have ceased at a somewhat earlier period, but of this there
is no proof.
The latest tetradrachms to which a date can
be assigned on any satisfactory grounds are those struck
under the temporary dominion of Mithridates, B.C. 88 ;
and the attempt of M. Beule" to attribute the series bearing
the names of Karaichos and Ergokleides to the time of the
triumvir M. Antonius (about B.C. 60) has certainly very