VOL. XXII JANUARY 1909 THE MONEY OF THE ILIAD AND ODYSSEY. A Theory by M. Svoronos. No. 1 THEORY which gives cause for thought and which will no doubt be one for record in future references to supposed commercial mediums of exchange before the era of coined money is advanced by the eminent Greek numismatist, M. N. Svoronos. In a recent issue of La Revue Belge Numismatique, M. Svoronos has written very ably in support of his theory that certain thin circular bracteates, ornamented with more or less geometrical patterns: leaves, complicated spirals, labarynths and outlines of butterflies, cuttle-fish, etc., found in the tombs of Mycene by Professor Schliemann, are the talents spoken of by Homer, and consequently coined money centuries in advance of the daric or the incused coins of Aegina. The illustrations here given are characteristic patterns of the Greek bracteates which M. Svoronos believes to have been the money of the Iliad and Odyssey. Actual size: two inches to two and three-fourths inches in diameter. Homer, who flourished in Greece about 1,000 B. C., is generally accepted as the most authentic writer we have of his day, and most numismatic writers, dealing with early commercial methods, have referred to him as an authority in substantiating their statements that coined money was not in use until the eighth or ninth century before the Christian era. As generally referred to or quoted, Homer makes no mention of a coined money medium of exchange, and refers to measures of value in his day having been in commodities other than what we would call money. "A woman slave was as of the value of four oxen, and an ox as of the value of a three-foot bar of copper or brass." In describing purchases for the feasts before Troy they are mentioned as having been made with live stock, metal by measure, etc. That the precious metals, particularly gold, were prized from the earliest times, there is no doubt, and that they were carried about the person and to a great extent in the form of ornaments, is more than a theory, and which makes it quite probable that the ornamental bracteates found in the ancient tomb may have performed functions in commercial exchange, but that they are the "talents" mentioned by Homer, as claimed, has small basis for theory, unless we accept his use of the word "talent," in this instance, was only to denote prized value. These pieces were not of a talent in value, that is, accepting the minimum weight and value of a talent as it is presented by the accepted authorities. |