“The Lydians,” says Herodotus, “were the first of all nations we know who struck gold and silver coin[350],” a tradition also attested by Xenophanes of Colophon, according to Julius Pollux[351]. These statements of the ancient writers are confirmed by an examination of the earliest essays made in Asia in the art of coining; from which the best numismatists have been led to ascribe it to the seventh century B.C. and probably to the reign of Gyges, who from being a shepherd, by means of the “virtuous ring” became the founder of the great dynasty of the Mermnadae, and of the new Lydian empire as distinguished from the Lydia of a more remote antiquity. The first issues of the Lydian mint were rudely executed coins of electrum, being staters and smaller coins of the standards usually known as the Babylonian and Phoenician, of which the earliest staters weigh about 167 and 220 grs. respectively[352]. It is most likely that the Babylonian standard was intended for commerce with the interior of Asia Minor, and the Phoenician for transactions with the cities of the western seaboard, to coincide with the silver standards in use in these respective regions. The proportion of gold and silver in electrum is exceedingly variable: according to Pliny[353] any gold alloyed with one-fifth of silver (and by implication any containing any higher proportion of silver) was called electrum. We shall soon find that the electrum staters of Cyzicus contained about an equal amount of either metal; but the analysis of Lydian electrum gives a proportion of 73 per cent. of gold to 27 per cent. of silver, or practically 3 to 1. As gold in the central parts of Asia Minor stood to silver as 13·3:1 in the reign of Darius and probably long before, we may not unreasonably assume that such also was the relation between them in the reign of Gyges, at least in the interior. In this case electrum would stand to silver as 10:1, a proportion exceedingly convenient for exchange, as a single standard served for both metals, one electrum ingot of 168 grs. being equal to 10 silver ingots of like weight. We have already seen that one gold unit of 130 grs. was equivalent to 10 silver units of 168 grs., therefore the gold ox-unit was exactly represented in value by the electrum ingot of 168 grs., for, according to our statement of the composition of the Lydian electrum, 168 grs. of that alloy would contain 126 grs. of pure gold. If we were certain that on the coast of Asia Minor the relation between gold and silver was 13·3:1, we should be compelled to follow Brandis and the rest in making the double gold shekel of 260 grs. equal to 15 silver shekels of 220 grs. each; again, if we accept as universal the relation of gold to electrum as 4:3, and accordingly make one piece of electrum of 220 grs. equal to 10 silver pieces of the same standard, we shall find it impossible to obtain any convenient relation between the gold stater of 130 grs. and the electrum stater of 220 grs. But from this difficulty it is not hard to find an escape: 224 grs. of electrum = 168 grs. of gold; that is exactly 1⅓ gold shekels (129 ÷ 3 = 43 × 4 = 172). The division into thirds and sixths is of course a well-known feature in the coinage of the Asiatic coast-towns. Thus there would be no practical difficulty in the ordinary monetary transactions, for three Phoenician drachms of electrum (= 168 grs.) would = 1 gold shekel; and 4 gold Thirds (Tritae), or 8 gold Sixths (Hectae), would equal one electrum stater of 224-220 grs.

If on the other hand silver held a lower value in relation to gold on the coasts of the Aegean, and the electrum employed in that quarter was alloyed to a greater extent with silver, two disturbing elements are introduced. The probabilities are in favour of silver being cheaper in Cilicia and the contiguous region, and most certainly at Cyzicus the electrum was half silver, whilst the Phocaic electrum had a bad name in antiquity, since according to Hesychius Phocaic gold was synonymous with bad gold. Is it then possible that 220 grains of electrum were equivalent to 130 grs. of pure gold? This gives about 60 per cent. of gold. If gold was to silver as 13·3:1, the gold unit of 130 grs. is equal to 8 silver pieces of 220 grs. (130 × 13·3 = 1765 ÷ 8 = 220·6). In our present state of knowledge it is impossible to decide in favour of either view, but it is at least evident that some such relation and adjustment must have existed between the three metals. In fact the problem which the Lydians tried to solve was not merely that of Bimetallism, but of Trimetallism.

These early electrum coins are simply bullet-shaped lumps of metal, like the so-called bean money formerly employed by the Japanese, having what is termed the obverse plain or rather striated, as a series of lines in relief run across the coin, whilst the reverse has three incuse depressions, that in the centre oblong, the others square. The coin here figured (from the British Museum specimen) is on the Babylonian silver standard (166·8 grs.), but it is on the staters of Phoenician standard that we first find any attempt at types or symbols. The idea of engraving some symbol on the punches used for stamping the incuse depressions was in truth the grand step towards the creation of a real coin. Thus a stater of 219 grs. which bears in the central incuse a running fox, in the upper square a stag’s head, and the lower an X-like device, may be regarded as the first complete coin as yet known. It would seem from this, therefore, that it was on the coast-region, where the Lydians came into contact with the artistic genius of the Greeks, that the real start in the art of striking money took place. Electrum was employed because it was found native in great quantities in the whole district which lay around Sardis, in the valleys of Tmolus, and the sands of Pactolus. The ancients found considerable difficulty in freeing the gold from the associated silver (p. 97).

Once known, Miletus and other important Ionian cities were not long in improving on the Lydian invention. The advantages of a metallic currency were so obvious that an intelligent and progressive race hastened to avail themselves of it. “Only those,” says Captain Gill (speaking of the borders of Thibet and China), “who have gone through the weary process of cutting up and weighing out lumps of silver, disputing over the scale, and asserting the quality of the metal, can appreciate our feelings of satisfaction at being once more able to make payments in coin[354].” No sooner had the Ionians commenced coining than they appear to have adorned the face of the ingot with a symbol, probably both as a guarantee of weight and purity, and perhaps as a preventive of fraudulent abrasion. During this period it is not improbable that the arts of Ionia had made their influence felt in Lydia, and hence “it is impossible to distinguish with absolute certainty the Lydian issues from those of the Greek towns, but there is one type which seems to be especially characteristic of Lydia as it occurs in a modified form on the coinage attributed to the Sardian mint and to the reign of Croesus; this is the Lion and the Bull. These coins have on the obverse the forefronts of a lion and a bull turned away from one another and joined by their necks[355],” whilst the reverse shows three incuse depressions. This is Phoenician in weight (215·4 grs.). There are other coins, often attributed to Miletus, which may be assigned to Lydia; some with a recumbent lion on the obverse, and a reverse exhibiting the fox, stag’s head, and X of the coin already described. To these may be added a series of coins bearing a lion’s head with open mouth, and with what is commonly regarded as a star above it, but which is more probably part of the lion’s hair, and on the reverse incuse sinkings, in some cases containing an ornamental star[356]. These coins have now with great probability been assigned by the eminent numismatist, Mr J. P. Six, to the Lydian king, Alyattes, the father of Croesus.

When Croesus ascended the throne in 568 B.C., one of his earliest acts seems to have been an attempt to propitiate the Greeks both of Asia and Hellas proper by sending offerings of equal value to the two most famous shrines of Apollo, Delphi and Branchidae. In the course of some fourteen years he reduced under the sway of Lydia all the regions that lay between the river Halys and the sea. “It seems probable (says Mr Head) that the introduction of a double currency of pure gold and silver, in place of the primitive electrum, may have been due to the commercial genius of Croesus.” If this be so, the monarch seems to have acted with thrift in his offerings, for according to Herodotus his dedications at Delphi were all of white gold, i.e. electrum. Perhaps then he got no more than he deserved when, induced by the declaration of the Delphic prophetess that he would destroy a mighty kingdom, he made war upon Cyrus with disastrous issue. There however can be no doubt that Croesus made some important monetary change, for in after years there still remained a clear tradition of Croesus’ stater (Κροίσειος στατήρ), just as the famous gold stater of Philip of Macedon was known as the Philippean or Philippus[357]. In his monetary reform Croesus seems to have had regard to the weights of the two old electrum staters, each of which was now represented by an equal value, though not of course by an equal weight, of pure gold.

Thus the old Phoenician electrum stater of 220 grs. was replaced by a pure gold coin of 168 grs., equivalent like its predecessor in electrum to 10 silver staters of 220 grs. each, and the old Babylonian electrum stater of 168 grs. was replaced by a new pure gold stater of 126 grs., equal in value like it to 10 silver staters of 168 grs. each, “as now for the first time coined.” These gold coins bear as obverse the foreparts of a lion and a bull facing each other, and on the reverse an oblong incuse divided into two parts (Fig. 29). Of the Babylonian standard we find:

And of the light shekel:

Of Babylonian standard silver:

This double standard for gold is at first sight somewhat strange until we observe that the two systems are in complete harmony. For the gold piece of 168 grs. is nothing more than 1⅓ of the light shekel (168 ÷ ⁴⁄₃ = 126 grs.). The third of the light shekel (42 grs.) is the fourth of the Babylonian of 168 grs. There can be no doubt that the coins of 168 grs. were simply an experiment suggested by the coincidence that the number of grains (168) in the Babylonian silver shekel was exactly one-quarter more than those in the light gold shekel, in the hope doubtless of obtaining a single standard for gold electrum and silver. The division of the silver stater into thirds would facilitate the process of exchange, as 13 silver staters and one-third would be equivalent to the gold piece of the same Babylonian standard, whilst 10 silver staters would be equivalent to one of the old electrum pieces of 168 grs. It is at all events certain that the standard of 168 grs. was not a regular gold unit, for it simply makes its appearance for a brief space, there being no trace of it at any earlier period, nor does it afterwards appear save in its own legitimate province of silver. A perfectly analogous case is that of the gold pieces struck by the Ptolemaic kings, who, starting with the gold stater of Philip and Alexander and the Phoenician standard for silver (after the founder of the dynasty had for a short time used the so-called Rhodian standard), presently struck gold pieces on the same standard as their silver. But the experiment of Croesus, if such it was, did not succeed. For the eastern mind was still too much impressed with the necessity of cleaving fast to the original weight unit obtained from the ancient unit of barter. For whether the attempt had failed before the reign of Croesus was brought to a sudden end by the conquests of the great Cyrus, or whether he continued up to the very hour of the Persian conquest to coin, at least for one part of his dominions, the gold pieces of the Babylonian silver standard, it matters little. As we have no evidence on the point, we cannot say whether there were two gold minae and two gold talents in use, one being of course the ordinary gold talent (called Euboic) of 3000 light shekels of 130 grs., the other containing 3000 shekels of 168 grs. each. The probability I think is that only the former existed. As 50 of the latter shekels made 1⅓ minae, there was no practical difficulty in making any calculations; on the other hand, if there had been two separate minae, and two separate talents, it would have led to great complications. The fact that we hear nothing about any such second gold system existing in Asia, and that when Darius fixed the tribute from each region he did not make it the basis of his payment, which he would probably have done as he would thus have made a considerable gain, by causing the payments in gold as well as those in silver to be made on the Babylonian standard, seems to put beyond all doubt that the 168 grain gold piece was not a real unit, but was simply regarded as 1⅓ shekels, and was nothing more than a temporary effort to simplify the trimetallic monetary system of Lydia.

What system the Lydians employed for commercial purposes we have no means of knowing, but we may conjecture plausibly that the light royal mina of 60 shekels was the standard employed.

The Persian Standard.

We may adopt the generally received belief that the Persians, like the Medes and Babylonians, did not coin money (although they were probably acquainted with the Lydian stater) until after the conquest of Asia Minor and Egypt by Cyrus and Cambyses, and the reorganization of the empire by Darius the son of Hystaspes (522-485 B.C.). For although the learned savants MM. Oppert and Révillout[358] hold that Daric (Δαρεικός) is unconnected with the name Darius (Δαρεῖος), an opinion supported by Dr Hoffmann[359], and rather regard it as derived from the Assyrian darag mana, “degree (i.e. ⅟₆₀) of a mina,” and although Mr G. Bertin has read the word dariku on a Babylonian contract, dated in the twelfth year of Nabonidas, five years before the conquest of Babylon by Cyrus[360], it does not at all follow that either darag or dariku refers to a coin. That the unit was employed for gold ages before the Persians ever descended from the mountains there can be little doubt. But whether we adopt or reject the Greek tradition that the Daric (Δαρεικός) was named from Darius, as the Philippean and Croesean staters were called after the sovereigns who first struck them, it is perfectly certain that Darius organized the whole numbering system of the great empire to which he had succeeded, and that he coined gold pieces of the first quality: for Herodotus tells us that Darius, having refined gold to the greatest extent possible, had coin struck[361]. This would be very analogous to the course pursued by Croesus and Philip; gold in some form was current in the dominions of both these princes before their reigns, but it was owing to certain reforms introduced and to the issue of a gold coin of a certain pattern, that the names of both became associated with particular kinds of gold coins. By the time of Xerxes the son of Darius vast quantities of these Darics were circulating through Asia Minor, for Herodotus relates that the Lydian Pythius had in his own possession as many as 3,993,000 of them, a sum afterwards increased by Xerxes to 4,000,000. They became the gold currency of all the Greek towns not only of Asia Minor, but also of the islands, and made their way in considerable quantities into the great cities of the mainland of Hellas, and wrought as much harm in disuniting the various states of Greece as did the gold staters of Philip at a period a little later. Darics formed a regular part of the wealth of a well-to-do Athenian at the time of the Peloponnesian war. Thus Lysias[362] relates that when his house was entered and plundered by the minions of the Thirty, his money chest contained 100 Darics, 400 Cyzicenes, and 3 talents of silver. It is only necessary to enumerate some of the passages in the Greek authors, where mention is made of their coins, to show how wide an influence they exercised in the eastern Mediterranean. Besides Herodotus and Lysias already mentioned, Thucydides, Aristophanes, Xenophon, Demosthenes, Arrian, Diodorus and many others all make mention of these famous coins[363]. No classification of them according to the reigns of the monarchs by whom they were issued is possible, for this is precluded by the absence of all inscriptions, and the great uniformity of style. They bear on the obverse the king of Persia bearded crowned and clad in a long robe; he kneels towards the right on one knee; on his back is a quiver, in his right hand is a long spear, and in his outstretched left a bow (from which came the familiar Greek name of Archers for these pieces). The reverse is simply marked by an oblong incuse.

Their weight may be set at 130 grs., which of course is the light shekel or ox-unit. We have no difficulty in fixing the gold mina or talent. In fact we have already seen on p. 260 that the Persian talent of gold was the same as the Euboic-Attic talent. Hence

For silver currency the Persians employed half of the Babylonian silver stater of 168 grs., its usual weight being about 84 grs. This coin was in every way similar to the Daric and in fact is sometimes called by the same name by writers of a later age[364], but the more usual appellation in the classical writers was the Median siglos (Μηδικός σίγλος) or simply siglos. Twenty of these sigli were equivalent to one gold Daric, for Xenophon appears to count 3000 Darics as equal to 10 talents of silver, or in other words to 60,000 sigli (6000 × 10 = 60,000). The siglos may therefore be regarded as the Persian drachm or half-stater. As 130 grains of gold are thus made equal to 1680 grs. of silver (84 × 20), gold held to silver the old ratio of 13:1.

The Persian silver standard was formed thus:

As regards commercial weight we may fairly assume that the old light and heavy royal systems continued in use in the respective regions where they had been employed in early days.