The Theory of Money and Credit

Note on Silver Demereteia

Money_501-544.indd 41 6/17/08 9:30:19 AM SILVER DEMERETEIA OF SYRACUSE (48cr-479 B.C.) The silver Demereteia, which is used in the jacket design, was struck by Gelon, Lord of Syracuse, celebrating his victory over the Carthaginians in the decisive battle of Himera in Sicily. On one side of the coin is a charioteer, symbolizing Gelon's forces, with the winged goddess of Victory, Nike, crowning the chariot with laurel. The lion in flight below represents the defeated Carthaginians. On the other side is a head, possibly that of the goddess Arethusa, since the dolphins surrounding her stand for the sea around the island of Ortygia on which the goddess was worshipped. Or, the head could be that of Gelon's queen, Demerete, whose name was given to the coin (Demereteia) and all others of the same issue (Demereteion ) in honor of her gift of personal jewelry to the treasury of Syracuse in the war with Carthage. Another legend has it that Demerete gained favorable terms for the vanquished Carthaginians and received from them a hundred talents of gold which she contributed to financing the striking of the Demereteia. The Greeks had learned the art of coinage from the Lydians who had invented it around 700 B.C. The Lydian Empire comprised most of what is now Turkey. The first Lydian coinage was developed by private individuals-goldsmiths, bankers, merchants-not by authority of the Emperor. The need for coinage as a reliable medium of exchange derived from Lydia's position as the industrial power of the ancient world. Prior to the development of coinage, media of exchange were clumsy bars or pieces of metal. The Greek city states adopted coinage but habitually and shamelessly debased their coins. Said Demosthenes: "the majority of states are quite open in using silver coins diluted with copper and lead." Only Athens, excepting its one major devaluation by Solon, maintained throughout its history the purity of its coinage, a fact which does much to explain the extension of Athenian commercial and political power over all of Greece. 541 Money_501-544.indd 42 6/17/08 9:30:19 AM Money_501-544.indd 43 6/17/08 9:30:19 AM ...