THE COIN COLLECTOR - World eBook Library

THE COLLECTOR SERIES
diffused religious feeling, varying in its incidence in
different localities ; and, secondarily, the evils arising
from foreign or domestic wars, changes of government,
and financial depression. The earliest coins are the
most attractive, if for no other reason, because they
reflect most vividly and sincerely the daily worship of
the simple populations among which they were intended
to circulate. It is impossible to overestimate the share
which strong religious faith, even to the point of super-
stitious credulity, had in the making of the Greek
people.
Dr. Head divides into five periods the rise, progress,
and later stages of Greek numismatic production : (i.)
Archaic ; (ii.) Transitional ; (iii.) Finest Art ; (iv.) Later
Fine Art ; (v.) Decline of Art. This method of dis-
tribution is, of course, susceptible of modified treat-
ment and liable to exceptions. The Archaic era Dr.
Head places between u.c. 700 and 480; the Transi-
tional, between 480 and 415; the Finest Art, between
415 and 336; the Later Fine Art, between 336 and
280; and the Decline, between 280 and 146. All
these figures are necessarily approximate and tentative;
the broad feature in the question appears to be, that we
have in our hands for study a progressive succession of
monuments, which, from the seventh centurv B.C. to
somewhere about the middle of the fourth, afford evi-
dence of a continuous onward movement, culminating
in the noble Sicilian coins and medallions of Kvmon
and other known engravers at Syracuse and elsewhere,
who often transferred to their dies masterpieces of sculp-
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