THE COIN COLLECTOR - World eBook Library

GREEK COINS
Lydia.—The most ancient coined money of Greek
type and character was of Asiatic origin, and we have
to cross over into another continent in search of the
germs of the archaic gold currency of Bceotia and the
Hellespont. In the seventh century b.c. it is tradi-
tionally believed that Gyges, king of Lydia, founder of
the dynasty of the Mermnadae, first struck at Sardis
electrum staters and their divisions on the Babylonic
and Phoenician standards for respective use in different
parts of his dominions. The stater of the former weight
(about 167 gr.) constitutes, perhaps, the earliest pre-
cedent for the usage of adapting a coinage to the
region or object for which it was designed, as this light
piece is supposed to have been limited in its circulation
to the interior, while the Phoenician (about 220 gr.)
was reserved for commercial purposes, where the other
would not have been acceptable. The electrum coinage
was superseded after the Persian conquest by the gold
daric, and the latter by the cistophori, struck by the
Romans here and elsewhere upon their formation of the
province of Asia, in the second century b.c. We pos-
sess, of later times, imperial and alliance coins (cisto-
phori) only, with a few exceptions, where cities such as
Sardis and Philadelphia continued to issue autonomous
bronze money, doubtless under Roman sanction, and
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generally inscribed with magistrates'
names.
Phrygia.—The coinage is largely of Roman imperial
origin, but merits attention and study from its interest-
ing elucidations of geography and mythology. Pro-
bably the most curious type is that of Apameia, with
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