Excerpt from The Types of Greek Coins: An Archaeological Essay Pollux, in his valuable chapter on coins, which in fact contains nearly all the information handed down to us from antiquity on the subject, says that it was among the Greeks a disputed point which was the first nation or prince to strike coins. Some, he says, ascribed the invention to the Athenians, some to the Naxians, some to Pheidon, king of Argos, some to Demodice, wife of the Phrygian Midas, some to the Lydians. We are able now, better than Pollux, better even than Aristotle, who was one of his principal authorities, to determine the respective claims of these pretenders. The Naxians certainly issued coin early, but both in type and weight it is only a copy of that of Aegina. Of the coinage of Athens no specimens which have reached us are of earlier date than the reforms of Solon, about b.c. 560, and it is almost certain that there were coins in Greece before that time. As to Midas we can only say that we do not know of any early Phrygian coinage. The Lydians and Pheidon, king of Argos, remain, and the claims of both to the invention of coinage are supported by grave authorities. Let us first consider what precise meaning is to be attached to the phrase 'invention of coinage.' A coin is, of course, a lump of any precious metal of fixed weight, and stamped with the mark of some authority which guarantees the weight and fineness of the coin, and so its value. The so-called leathern money of the Carthaginians, if it ever existed, did not consist of coins, because not of metal; a lump of gold or silver, such as still constitutes currency in China, is not a coin, because it is not stamped by authority. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.