Among other titles of towns, we find the following: ATTONOMOI, when a town possessed the privilege of being, regulated by its own laws; EAETOEPA, free, when the Romans had remitted the tribute in favour of a Greek town ; IEPA, holy ; or IEPA KAI AETAOS, a holy town, and an asylum. A town was called holy because of some divinity who was there principally worshipped, and who stood in general reverence. Thus Nicopolis in Epirus was holy on account of the temple of Apollo, and the Actian games which were celebrated there. Thus, too, on the Hebrew coins, Jerusalem is called the holy Jeru salem, as we shall afterwards see. An Asylnm, or place of refuge, was a town which had the privilege of protect ing criminals who fled thither. NATAPICIY, was a title assumed by maritime towns, whose ports harboured a Roman fleet. Many Greek towns, and particularly the Asiatic, assumed the name of one or several emperors, either on account of some benefits conferred upon them, or from mere flattery. Thus, the city. of Tarsus, in Ci licia, on several coins, is called by the names of A6PI ANH, from Hadrian ; KOMMOAIANH, from COmMOdus ; 5:ETHPANH, from S,tverns; ANTO.NEIMANH, from An toninus Caracalla ; MAKPEINIANH. from Macrinus; and AAEEAN.M'IANH, from Alexanner Severus.
The names and titles of magistrates frequently ap pear upon ancient coins of cities. These titles are vari ous ; such as APX2N, ZTPATHPOZ, TIPTTANIE, S;C. and also Roinan magistrates, who presided for a time over the government of a province, ANOTHATOZ, Proconsul ; or such as were devoted to the duties of religion, as IEPETY., Priest, APKIEPETT., .4rch-priest.
Chronological dates on ancient coins are exceedingly useful to the philosopher, as they clear up many doubt ful points in history. These consist principally in the year of a particular epoch, or of the reign of an emperor or king.
Next to the Olympiads, which, however, never ap pear upon coins, the principal epoch among the orien tal Greeks was that of the Seleucides. Seleucus, one of the most distinguished generals of Alexander, pos sessed himself of the city of Babylon in the year 312 B. C. The most of the oriental Greeks began to com pute from this period. After the whole known world had been subjected to the domination of Rome, many im portant events in the empire induced the Greeks to form new epochs. Thus, several Greek towns commenced a new computation from the date of the battle of Phar salia, and that of Actium.
Iti their computations, the Greeks, after thc primi tive practice of the orientals, made use of the letters of their alphabet ; out of which thev formed 'Monads, De cades and Centenaries, (or units, tens, and hundreds,) in the following manner: Monads : A. )1. r. 6. E. T. Z. II. O.
I. 2. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.
Decades I. K. .1. M. N. o. n. 9.
le. 2t.). SO. 40. 50. 60. 70. 80. 90.
Cent. P. T. Y. X. SI. A.
100. 200. 300. 400, 500. 600. 700. 800. 900.
The characters representing 6, 90, and 900, are not to be found in the present Alphabet. As every letter de F ignates of itself a particular number, these three kinds of numerals may be transposed at pleasure. Conse quently, to express the number 237, we may set down or ZAE. On coins, the word ETOY):, annus, is generally prefixed to the numerical letter ; or, instead of it, the letter L (the old form of the Greek Lambda,) as the initial letter of the word Acmcci7c“, which also sig nifies year. Thus we read : ETOYI, or L. E.—L. the year The Romans, indeed, had a peculiar epoch of their own, namely, the building of their city, 753 years B. C. ; but we know only- a single coin in which it occurs. It has, upon the obverse, a head of the emperor Hadrian, and, upon the reverse, a woman sitting on the earth hold ing in her right hand a wheel, and with her left em bracing three obelisks, NI ith the inscription : ncectxxiitr. Natoli Urbis PriMUM Circenses Constituti; that is, in the year of the building of Rome, 874, the Cir censian s-ames were first introduced in crder to celebrate :he birth-day of the city. The obelisks represent the cir cus, which had three of them placed together at both ends, round which thc chariots turned. The wheel re presents the circus—pars pro tJtO. Plate CCCCXX. Fig. 14. In general, however, the Romans marked their dates by the names of their consuls ; as the Greeks did by the names of their archons. On the coins of Da cia, and the colony Viminacium, the epoch is marked thus: ANNO v.--ANno xi. S;c. Plate CCCCXXI. Fig. 45.
On the Roman monuments, the years of the reign of their emperors are not immediately marked, but the numher of the tribunicia potestas, which was renewed every year, and which, therefore, comes to the same thing. For when WC read upon an imperial cnin : Tr. Pot. x.r. it means the 20th year of his reign. The Greeks, how ever, marked directly the yCal'S of the reign of the emperors, or of their kings : Thus, ETOYI, or L. r.—L. 1.—or at full leng-th, L. TP1TOY. LEKATOY.
e. in the third or tenth year of the reign. Of this de scription we have the beautiful and extensive collection of imperial medals, from Aug,ustus to Dioclesian, which was struck at Alexandria in Egypt, and which have the year of the reign of the emperor inscribcd upon them. Thus, on the reverse of a coin of Trajan, the river-god Nilus is represented in a recumbent posture, with a cornucopia in his right hand, and in his left a reed ; un der hitn is a crocodile, and at the very bottom L. A. sig nifying the 4th year of the rcign. Above stands the number is-. or 16, to denote that, in that year, the Nile had risen 16 ells. Plate CCCCXX. Fig. 13. But of this more hereafter.