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CHAPTER 8
The Polar Mysteries
THE UNITS OUR ANCESTORS used for measurements never had any
particular fascination for me, but I have always been attracted
by ancient coins—the pieces of gold, silver, and electrum that
were in circulation thousands of years ago. However, since all
coins are also units of weight and weight is derived from units of
volume, which in turn is derived from units of length, I got curious
enough one day to find out why some particular coins were
made of a certain weight of gold while others represented a
different weight in silver. While working on these problems, I
did not realize exactly what I was actually trying to discover, but
just kept going on.
To do my work right, I had first to make a list of all the coins
that had been in circulation since the time of King Croesus, who
is considered to be the inventor of money. He ruled Lydia, an
ancient Aegean country of Asia Minor, from 560 to 546 b.c. and
was defeated and killed by the Persians under Cyrus who
wanted his riches. Croesus minted the first coins from nuggets of
electrum, natural alloy of gold and silver that could be foimd in
the Pactolus River flowing by Sardis, the capital city of Lydia.
These electnmi coins are now almost 2,600 years old.
There might have been some more ancient coins, but so far
none have been found. Legends tell us that 12,000 years ago in
Atlantis coins were made of orichalch, a metal Hghter in color