NumismA-roLocy,(from a coin or piece of mo ney, and a discourse,) is that branch of historical science which treats of coins anti medals. The study of nurnismatology, especially or ancient coins and medals, is of singular importance in illustrating the history; chro nology, geography, mythology, as well as the manners and customs or the states of antiquity. The historical evidence which they afford is superior to every other, be cause their testimony is contemporaneous ; and, unlike the works of ancient authors, they are not liable to be corrupted by the negligence of transcribers. Coins and medals also afford us a pretty certain criterion of the progress of the fine arts at different periods, and among various nations. Thus we arc enabled to determine, not only from historical records, but likewise from an ex amination of ancient coins, that the golden age of the arts in Greece commenced about the time of Philip II. of NIaccdon, that it continued under the reign of his son, Alexander the Great, and maintained itself for a con siderable period under his succcssors. Farther, his tory gives us little information with respect to the state of the arts in several ancient countries, such as Alagna Grmcia, Sicily, Etc. while with reentd to others, such as Bccotia, Bithynia, &.c. historical testimony seems to deny them all. pretension to taste. But we know from existing monuments, that in Magna Gra3cia, and Sicily, the arts must have flourished in a very high degree, for even their coins in most common use are executed in a style of singular beauty. From the same source we learn that the natives of Bccotia and Bithynia, as well as the more celebrated states of Greece, possessed a finc feeling of all that is beautiful in art.
But this taste prevailed not merely in the larger cities of Greece, where it might be fostered by wealth and lux ury ; it extended to their remotest colonies, and their most insignificant communities. How unimportant, for example, is the history of Sybritia, one of the smallest towns in Crete! Yct the coins struck there will stand a comparison with the finest that ever were executed in Greece. The same may be said of the Ionian colony which established itself in Gaul, and founded the town of 'Marseilles ; of the Cyreneans in Africa, and of the AIacedonian colony which Alexander the Great left be hind him in Bactt iana.
After the conquest of Greece by the Romans, and the transference of its treasures to Rome, the arts and .sti ences in the former country rapidly declined. This is easily observable in the state of their coinage during the period of the Roman emperors, which scarcely af fords a trace of the pure tase which had been previously exhibited by that ingenious people in the fine arts. 'The Greek artists emigrated to Rome, where they sought that encouragement which was no longer to be found in their own country ; and the arts revived and flourished once 11101'C 2MidSt the wealth and luxury of the capital of the western empire. So long as Rotne preserved its
internal strength and independence, its coinage was, for the most part, exceedingly beautiful. This period com menced about the latter days of the republic, and con tinued down to the reign of the Emperor Commodus. From that time, however, the art gradually declined, until, under the last emperors, the taste displayed in their coinage became perfectly barbarous.
Ancient coins have been found buried in the earth, at various times, in considerable quantities. In Sicily, the silver coins with the head of Proserpine, are said to have been found in such numbers as to weigh 600 French livres. In the sixteenth century, 60,000 Roman coins were found at Modena, supposed to have been a mili tary chest hid after the battle of Bedriacum, when Otho was defeated by VileIllus. Luz, a trust-worthy author of Vienna, mentions that, in his time, that is, in the reign of the Emperor Ferdinand I. there was found buried in a river in Transylvania, a treasure consisting of upwards of 40,000 gold coins, most of which bore the Greek name of the Thracian king Lysimachus. In the year 1760, near 30,000 Roman coins were found in earthen vessels, near Brest in Bretagne. By such accidental discoveries as these, such a surprising number of an cient coins has come into our hands, that it is easier to exhibit one hundred coins of Augustus, or Nero, or of Dyrrachium, a town once of no great importance in Illyria, than one of Charlemagne, or any of the other German emperors of the middle ages.
Thc most ancient coins, the antiquity of which can be ascertained, are those of some of the kings of Macedo nia, of whom Alexander I. and Archelaus I. belong to the fifth century before Christ. At the same time, there is a great number of coins of towns, particularly in Magna Grzecia and Sicily, which bear unquestionable traces of a much earlier origin. To these belongs the coin (Plate CCCCXX. Fig. 1.) which bears the impres sion of an ox, raised on one side, and hollow on the other ; a style of coinage which appears to have prevailed in :Vlagna Grxcia in remote antiquity. The inscription VM points to those times when NI was written instead of Z, and V instead of T; and when the original oriental practice of writing from right to left was still retained. For VM is here the same as ZY, the initial letters of the well-known town of Sybaris in Magna Grmcia. But of this kind of coins nothing farther can be deter mined with precision, because they afford no chronolo gical data to enable us to ascertain their exact age.
The ancient numismatology extends from the earliest times to the fall of the western empire ; the numisma tology of the middle ages commences with Charlemagne ; and that of modern times with the emperor Maxi .nilian I.