金钱使世界走向“圆：古希腊硬币

今年年初，我遇到了一篇文章Virginian Pilotthat discussed a coin collection held at the Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum in Hatteras, NC. All of the coins, 55 in total, were found on the beaches of the Outer Banks by a couple who visited the barrier islands starting around 1940. Impressively, some of the coins are over 2,000 years old and come from Ancient Greece and Rome. My mind raced – I immediately wondered if our own museum held similar coins.

说我很惊讶会轻描淡写。我们有来自古代世界的几枚硬币，其中有些处于良好状态，例如上面的银片。在这款超过2300年历史的硬币上，我们看到了一个反面的漂浮厨房，正面是一个奇怪的人物。来自腓尼基城市阿拉多斯（Arados）的类似硬币的一些记录将其男性形象标记为波塞冬（Poseidon），有时是宙斯（Zeus），但这些都是希腊神灵。

Rather, I think this bearded figure wearing a laureate is Melqart. This deity, whose name translates to “King of the City,” was the patron god and head of the pantheon of Tyre, a Phoenician city-state which was located across the water from Arados. He was also referred to asBa’al de Sor, Lord of Tyre, and was associated with the monarchy, commercial trade, the sea and colonization. Interestingly, Melqart was well-known in Semitic religions, and could likely be the Ba’al mentioned in the Tanakh. Additionally, he is linked to the Greek Herakles and Roman Hercules, often being called the Tyrian Hercules. But despite the shiny draw of this particular silver piece, this was not the coin or collection that caught my eye; instead I was taken by a more unassuming numismatic (the study or collection of coin and paper currency) collection.

Commodore rodgers & his demure wood box

While I searched through our online catalog for Greek coins, one image that popped up in the search was the box pictured below. “How curious,” I thought, “for a box to be revealed in a search for coins?” I quickly clicked on this object and discovered that this box, whose lid is decorated with simple Regency-style inlay and a metal inset-medallion engraved with “J. Rodgers”, housed the coin collection of Commodore John Rodgers.

The Rodgers family, as a whole, was key in the foundational efforts of the American Navy. Commodore Rodgers’ father, Colonel John Rodgers, was a Scotch emigre to the American colonies prior to the American Revolution, and was a proponent of the patriot cause. Commodore Rodgers followed in his father’s footsteps and served for nearly 40 years and under 6 presidents in the Navy’s nascency. He was a prominent war hero who served in the Quasi War, the First and Second Barbary Wars, and in the War of 1812. From 1815-1837 he served on the Board of Naval Commissioners, and died one year after his retirement. His son, John Rodgers Jr, and four of his grandsons, all served in the United States Navy.

But let’s get back to the box and the coins held within. There are 16 coins in total, and all appear to originate from antiquity (roughly two-thirds of these coins are from Greece or neighboring semitic city-states). It is my belief that Rodgers collected the Greek and Roman treasures while he was commanding the Mediterranean Squadron from November 1824 – May 1827. All of the coins show a decent amount of wear, or what I like to think of as love from Commodore Rodgers. So I spent some time looking through various coin records and collections to find matching coins with similar details to a few of Commodore Rodgers’ coins.

一点钱币历史

So far as we have any knowledge, they [the Lydians] were the first people to introduce the use of gold and silver coins, and the first who sold goods by retail.- 希罗多德

Something about history that I love – it is always changing as archaeologists continue to uncover more of world history through discovered artifacts. So, we typically say “the oldest已知…”因为总有机会我们找到较旧的东西。实际上，就在两周前，科学家发现了最古老的洞穴绘画，这是一头45500年前在印度尼西亚苏拉威西绘画的猪（在此之前，最早的已知洞穴绘画也来自苏拉威西洞穴综合体，可追溯到44，000年前）呢因此，最古老的已知铸造硬币是在公元前625年左右在当今土耳其的莉迪亚（Lydia）生产的。这些是由电气，银和金合金制成的，通常在正面上有狮子的图像，而背面有两个不一的正方形。切开痕迹是在铸造过程中使用的锤子制成的标记；当反面有图像时，这些标记不存在。

This was not, however, the first time that a precious metal was used for currency. Prior to the Lydian government minting coins, rings or ingots (bars) of metal could be used in trade; but in order to discern their value, these bits of precious metal would need to be weighed. With a government entity in charge of minting, coin standards and weights were put into place, thereby eliminating this time-consuming task. Around the year 550 BCE, King Croesus replaces electrum with pure silver (or occasionally gold) coins.

首选的硬币标准是雅典drachma，重量为4.3克银，所有其他硬币的重量都基于此。例如，科林斯的Stater重8.6克银。有趣的是，drachm（a）一词翻译为“少数”或字面上的“掌握”。Drachma由6个Obols组成，希腊语用于吐口水 - 像烤肉店的吐口水一样 - 少数吐口水，这表明史前希腊人使用吐口水作为交易货币的手段。所有这些都意味着，直到2002年被欧元取代的希腊使用的货币Drachma的命名法直接与数量前的时间有关！

The Rodgers’ Coins

现在，我们有了历史，我想在罗杰斯（Rodgers）的收藏中分享一些我特别喜欢的硬币。希腊的钱币时期遵循同一时期的希腊艺术：古老，古典，希腊化和罗马（称为罗马省份硬币）；我将以这种顺序介绍我们的硬币，以及其他收藏品的类似硬币的图像。

有几件事了解希腊硬币that help us verify authenticity, and also determine their locale. All Greek coins are handmade, and therefore they are all imperfect! If a coin appears to be machined, we can instantly tell that it is counterfeit. Additionally, Greece was composed of more than 2000 independently regulated city-states and roughly half of these each produced their own coin. Typically, each city-state would mint their coin with their specific patron deity on the obverse and a symbol or important emblem of their city-state on the reverse.

古时期：公元前7届 - 公元前480年

This coin is thePegasos Stater of Corinth, a Corinthian coin from the time period of King Croesus, and it is one of the oldest items in the Mariners’ Museum collection. On the obverse is the winged horse of the pegasus with a symbol below the horse called aqoppa，这是与科林斯名字相关的字母符号。硬币的相反，有4个未切入的标记，称为Quadrapartite标记，由swastika组成。在这种情况下，它是一个由四个γ（γ）组成的左侧swastikagammadion, and is an auspicious symbol. Below is an image of a similar coin with less aging.

Classical Period: 480 – 330 BCE

The above triobol coin dates to 478-460 BCE and comes from Phokis (or Phocis), an ancient federation of 20 townships that included the city of Delphi. It was located in central Greece and served as a crossroads for much of Greek history and religion, being divided by Mount Parnassus and including the pass of Thermopylae, the city of Doria, and the Oracle of Delphi. This coin features a bull on the obverse and profile image of the god Artemis on the reverse. Curiously, all records I have found name Artemis on the reverse, rather than the obverse.

正面的公牛可能是在毕毕蒂安社区节期间所做的公牛牺牲的代表。但是，我认为公牛可能是铜制牛雕像的代表，即科西拉人在公元前480年奉献了纪念金枪鱼的巨大捕获。据希腊地理学家帕萨尼亚斯（Pausanias）称，科富（Corfu）的牧民注意到，一头公牛每天逃离他的羊群，然后驶向水。他们跟随并发现了一条充满鱼的大海 - 但他们无法抓住任何。在向德尔菲（Delphi）的甲骨文（Oracle）寻求建议之后，他们牺牲了一头公牛到波塞冬（Poseidon），终于能够钓到鱼。然后，他们利用从鱼类的收益来架设铜牛，我相信（我相信）在下面的硬币上的清晰图像。

Hellenistic Period: 330 – 31 BCE

Typically, the symbol of a city-state is something they are known for, an export they have, or a symbol of their patron deity. For example, the symbol of Athens was the owl, which was their patron deity, Athena’s, symbol. Knossos would typically depict a labyrinth or a minotaur, Corinth would display the pegasus, and Esphesus would have the bee, the symbol of Artemis. But Rhodes was different; instead of a symbol of their city-state, they chose a play on words with a depiction of the rose, whose Greek word was Rhodon.

On the reverse of this coin, like the one below, we can see a small rose inside an incuse square. This series of coins, called the plinthophoric series, ran from ca. 190-84 BCE and derives its name fromplinthos, meaning brick. The rose design was carved on a small plinth, rather than taking up the entire reverse of the coin like others we have seen in this collection. On the obverse of the coin is a profile image of Rhodes’ patron deity Helios wearing a radiate crown.

罗马省份硬币：公元前31年 - 希腊城市国家的解散

The Hellenistic Period ends with the Roman conquest at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC and the subsequent fall of the Ptolemaic Empire in the year following. With this, coinage in Ancient Greece changes as Roman coinage is preferred and seen as more valuable. However, Imperial Rome still allows Greek city-states to produce their own coin for local trade and as a matter of expediency.

This coin from our collection is very worn and difficult to discern the images, but not impossible. Our catalog states that the obverse could feature Athena or Minerva, the Roman equivalent to Athena; and the reverse features some lumps that could be an owl. It is my hope and belief that this is correct, and it would fall in line with numismatics of the period. Below I have found what I think is a similar coin with Minerva on the obverse and an owl on the reverse. Additionally, both of these coins were made of bronze, something that was becoming more common during the Roman provincial period as silver was being phased out of coinage.

播放最爱和分开的想法

Normally it would be difficult for me to choose a favorite among such a wonderful collection, but in this case, it was easy because, quite frankly, I adore a little controversy. We have a coin from the Classical Period that features Herakles fighting the Nemean lion on the reverse, and on the obverse is an image of a deity, who our catalog names as Athena wearing a Corinthian helmet.

However, I wonder if this is correct, and I am going to pose some theories. For one, this helmet does not have the bulge above the crown of the head that is typical of the Corinthian helmet Athena wears. As for our mystery subject, the tag which accompanies the coin simply says “Miltiades,” likely referencing the Athenian general who, in 490 BCE, defeated the Persians at the Battle of Marathon. Could this be our obverse hero? Finally, my personal favorite theory is that the figure on the obverse is Herakles’ father, Zeus, like in the coin below. But without a little more research, we won’t know for sure!

And yet, this coin is not my favorite item in the Commodore Rodgers collection – that place is held by a very special miniature painting of the Commodore featuring a lock of his hair. But I think I will have to save hair miniatures for a different blog (our Victorian friends who made these would actually wear them!). So as I sign off, I implore you to do your own investigation into Greek numismatics – search our online catalog for all the coins we have, or look into other collections around the world. It might even lead you to something you’d never expect to find.