It is difficult to ascertain the precise value of the Ro man sestertius ; but it is supposed to have been worth about two-pence of our money. Numismatologists, in general, have been in use to reckon the sestertius among the number or silver coins; but Mr. Pinkerton censures this idea, and contends, principally upon the authority of a passage from Pliny, that the sestertius was of brass. Is it not possible that the sestertius may have been coin ed at different times, both of' silver and of brass ; just zs our copper coins of the present day were of silver in the reign of Henry VIII ? The general denomination of the silver money among the Greeks was the drachma, or eighth part of an ounce . which according to Mr. Pinkerton, was about nine-pence Sterling. The Roman denarius, although generally con sidered as equivalent to the Greek drachnza, was only worth eight-pence. From the drachma were derived the num: didrachmi, tridrachmi, tetradrachnzi—coins of the value of two, three, and four drachmas. The small er silver coins were the °bolus, diobolus, triobolus, and henziobolus, tte. The most minute coin yet met with is the tetraobolion dichalios, or quarter obolus.
In Greece, large sums were reckoned by Minx and Talents. The minx contained 100 drachmas ; and the ta lent 60 minx ; so that the talent contained 6000 drach mas. The mina is supposed to be a pound weight of the country to which it belonged. The standard of the ta lent varied in different countries.
Gold, according to Pliny, began to be coined at Rome about sixty-two years after the introduction of silver money. During the period of the commonwealth the quantity was very inconsiderable; but it increased greatly from the time of Julius Cxsar downwards. The Roman Atreus, or gold coin, was of the value of 25 denarii, or 100 sesterces. Its weight and value. however, unde- went several variations. Of the gold coinage of Greece little is known.
With respect to their size, brass coins were generally divided into three classes, corresponding, in some degree, to Nos. 3, 4, and 5, in Plate CCCCXX. They are call ed in Latin, numi I. II. III. forme, or moduli. Those which considerably exceed the first size are called Ille dallions, nunti maxima. formte, or moduli. The same classification is also adopted in silver and gold coins.
Anciently., various Dames were given to different classes of coins, in consequence of particular circum stances. 'Many of them have been preserved by Julius Pollux ; but we shall tnerely notice a few of them, which can be verified by an inspection of the coins themselves. They sometimes received their name from the image impressed upon therm Thus, the Athenian coins were called owls, because this bird was represented on their re verse, (Plate CCCCXXII. Fig. 41.) Hence, it was said
of money concealed under the rool of a house ; multe noctu sub ceramic° (id est, te,gulis) czebant. For the same reason, there ivas a species of coin in the Pelopon nesus which bore the name of 7'ortoise, (Plate CCCC XX. Fig. 10.) Ilence the proverb—virtiacitz et sajzientiam cunt testudines. The Persians had an archer on their coins, (Plate CCCCXX. 11.) When Agesilaus, king of Sparta, attacked the Persians in Asia, the latter, by a secret distribution of money, induced the towns of Greece to declare war against the Spartans. Agesilaus being. on this account obliged to retreat, he complained that 30,000 archers had forced him to quit Asia. In Asia Minor, there was a small silver coin which had the name of Cistonhorus, because it was impressed with the mys terious Chest of Bacchus, (Plate CCCCXXI. Fig. 12.) The Romans had their victoriati, from the image or Victory; their ratili, from the image of a ship, (Plate CCCCXX. Fig. 3 ;) their bigati and quadrigati, from the impression of a o or feur horse chariot.
Coins sometimes derived their names from the person who first caused them to be struck. Thus, Philip 11. of NIacedon introduced a gold coinage; and Darius, king of Persia, caused the archers, above mentioned, to be coined of gold ancl silver. Hence the Phitined and Da rks, which are so often mentioned by the classical writ ers ; corresponding, in some degree, to the modern Louis-d'or of France, the Frederic d'or Prttssia, the Caroline of Brunswick, Eac.
Coins Wel e occasionally named from some circum stance attending their form or workmanship. Thus the Romans had their Mani serrati—coins of silver, so called because they were cut round the edge like a saw, (Plate CCCCXX1. Fig. 1.) It has been thought that the Ro mans introduced this practice, in order to frustrate the unlawful designs of the false colliers. At the same time, it may have been merely a fashion which prevailed for a time at Rome; far, at ()be period, saw-edged coins of brass wete struck in Syria, which could not have been done with a view to prevent fraud. The numi incusi are such as have the same figure on both sides; on the one side raised, and on the other hollow. Of these there are two kinds. They are either intentionally hollow on one side—a practice which prevailed in many of the cities of Magna Grxeia from the earliest times, as we have already observed with respect to a coin of Sybaris ; or they have become so in consequence of an oversight of the artist, who had placed the coin to be struck above another coin, the impression of which had been commu nicated to the under pait of the superineumbent metal.