Dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

5MONETA. MONILE. 767
Roman citizen had the right to have his gold and we have only one instance in which the state at a
silver coined, but none had the right to put his time of great distress used bad metal. This was
own image upon a coin, and not even Sulla in the archonship of Antigenes and Callias, B. c.
ventured to act contrary to this custom. The 407 and 406. (Aristoph. Ran. 673, with the Schol.,
coins apparently of the republican period with and 678.) Individuals who coined bad money
the portraits of individuals, were, according to were plnished with death. (Demosth. c. Lepot.
Eckhel, coined at a later time, and by the de- p. 508; NOMIINSATOS DIAPHORAS DIKE.) The
scendants of those persons whose portraits are place where money was coined is always indicated
given. Caesar was the first to whom this privi- on Greek coins; either the name of the place is
lege was granted, and his example was followed stated, or some symbolical representation of the
by many others, as we see from the coins of Sext. place, as the owl on Athenian and a peacock on
Pompeius. The emperors assumed the right to Samian coins. These symbols are generally of a
put either their own images or those of members of religious nature, or connected with the worship of
their families upon their coins. the gods or heroes.
From the time of Augustus, the triumviri, gene- For further information on this subject see
rally speaking, no longer put their names on any Eckhel, DoctrilnaNsu7monorm, V'eterenm, and especially
coin, and it became the exclusive privilege of the the Prolegomena generalia in vol. i.; Dureau de la
emperor to coin silver and gold. The senate en- Malle, Econzomie Politique des Ronseais.
trusted with the administration of the aerarium MONETA'RII, [MION:ETA.]
retained only the right of coining copper, whence:MONI'LE (bppos), a necklace. Necklaces were
almost all copper coins of this period are marked worn by both sexes among the most polished of,with S. C. or EX S. C. But this lasted only till those nations which the Greeks called barbarous,
the time of Gallienus, when the right of coining all especially the Indians, the Egyptians, and the Permoney became thle exclusive privilege of the em- sians. [AirMILLa.] Greek and Roman females
perors. As, however, the vast extent of the empire adopted them more particularly as a bridal ornarendered more than one mint necessary, we find ment. (Lucan, ii. 361; Claud. de vi. cons. Inoolr.
that in several provinces, such as Gaul and Spain, 527.)
Roman money was coined under the superin- The simplest kind of necklace was the mooSile
tendence of quaestors or proconsuls. Roman colo- baccltrun, or bead necklace (Virg. Aen. i. 657
nies and provinces now gradually ceased to coin Lamprid. Al. Sev. 41), which consisted of berries,
their own money. In the western parts of the small spheres of glass, amethyst, &c., strung toempire this must have taken place during the first gether. This is very commonly shown in ancient
century of our anra, but in the East tile Roman paintings. (See woodcut, p. 136.) The head of
money did not become mlliversal till after the time Minerva at page 566, exhibits a frequent modifiof Gallienus. From the time of the emperor cation of the bead necklace, a row of drops hanging
Aurelian a great number of cities of the empire below the beads. These drops, when Nworil, arrange
possessed millts in which Roman money was coined, themselves upon the neck like rays proceeding
and durinlg the latter period of the empire the su- from a centre. To this class of necklaces belongs
perintendents of mints are called procuratores or one in the Egyptian collection of the British Museum
praepositi monetae. (see the annexed woodcult), in which small golden
The persons who were employed as workmen in lizards alternate with the drops. The figure in the
a mint were called lnmoetarii. Their number at
Rome appears to have been very great during the _ _
latter period of the empire, for in the reign of
Aurelian they nearly produced a most dasgerous
rebellion. (Aurel. Vict. de Caes. 35; Vopisc
Amurel. 38.) They seem generally to have been
freedmen. (Murat. isiscript. 968. mn. 5.)
In Greece every free and independent city had J
the right to coin its own money. Sparta and
Byzantium are said to have only coined iron monley(Pollux, vii. 106), but no ancient iron coin has -
ever been found. Respecting the time when money p o,
was first coined in Greece, see APRGENTUM amid N, C, 0 O
N u; Ir us. Tihe Greek term for mononey eyst a, w as I!
firoml vd1os, because the determinLation of its value m [~
was fixed by law or contract. (Aristot. JLt#ic. v. 8.)
The mIint at Athens was called apyvpo~co7remov. 0
[ARGIaROCOPEON.] We do not hear of anys
officers connected with the management or the e
smiperintendence of the Athenian Imint. Howl ftir
tlhe right of coining money was a privilege of the
central government of Attica is unknown. But fo-, B
thle extant coins show that at least somle deimes of C
Attica had the right of coining, and it is probabl:' u
that the government of Athens only watched over
the weight and the purity of the metal, and that 1'i.l' I'.
the people in their assembly had the right of regu- th
lating everything concerminmg the coinling of i-oney.
(Aristoph. EFcles. 810, &c.) The Attic gold and
-ilver coimls were always of very pure metal, and