History of Egypt, Chaldæa, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, Volume 9 (of 12) by Gaston Camille Charles Maspero
page 57 of 338 (16%)
page 57 of 338 (16%)
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each other; one consisted of the heavy stater, weighing about 14.20
grammes, perhaps of Phoenician origin, the other of the light stater, of some 10.80 grammes in weight, which doubtless served as money for the local needs of Lydia: both forms were subdivided into pieces representing respectively the third, the sixth, the twelfth, and the twenty-fourth of the value of the original. [Illustration: 056a.jpg COIN BEARING HEAD OF MOUFLON GOAT] Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a coin in the Cabinet des Médailles. [Illustration: 056b.jpg MONEY OF CROESUS] The stamp which came to be impressed upon the money was in relief, and varied with the banker; * when political communities began to follow the example of individuals, it also bore the name of the city where it was minted. * [The best English numismatists do not agree with M. Babelon's "banker" theory. Cf. Barclay V. Head, _Historia Nummorum_, p. xxxiv.---Tr.] The type of impression once selected, was little modified for fear of exciting mistrust among the people, but it was more finely executed and enlarged so as to cover one of the faces, that which we now call the _obverse_. Several subjects entered into the composition of the design, each being impressed by a special punch: thus in the central concavity we find the figure of a running fox, emblem of Apollo Bassareus, and in two similar depressions, one above and the other below the central, |
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