The ancient world, from the earliest times to 800 AD . of the Halys Eiver underhis sway. This made the Lydian Empire for a time one ofthe great world-powers (see map following). The region wasrich, especially in metals; and the wealth of the monarch soimpressed the Greeks that rich as Croesus became a by-word. Croesus counted among his subjects the Greek citiesthat fringed the western coast of Asia Minor. We have noticedthat, shortly before, Greeks had been brought into close touchwith Egypt. From this time, history has to do with Europe aswell as with Asia and Egypt; and soon that new field w
The ancient world, from the earliest times to 800 AD . of the Halys Eiver underhis sway. This made the Lydian Empire for a time one ofthe great world-powers (see map following). The region wasrich, especially in metals; and the wealth of the monarch soimpressed the Greeks that rich as Croesus became a by-word. Croesus counted among his subjects the Greek citiesthat fringed the western coast of Asia Minor. We have noticedthat, shortly before, Greeks had been brought into close touchwith Egypt. From this time, history has to do with Europe aswell as with Asia and Egypt; and soon that new field was tobecome the center of interest. Lydias own gift to the world was the invention of coinage*As early as 650 , a Lydian king stamped upon pieces ofsilver a statement of their weight and purity, with his nameand picture as guarantee of the truth of the statement. Untilthis time, little advance had been made over the old Egyptianmethod of trade, except that the use of silver rings and barshad become more common. The Babylonians, along with their 82. i §72] RISE AND GROWTH 83 other weights and measures, had taught the world to countriches in shekels^ — a certain weight of silver, — but there wereno coined shekels. The ring and bar money had to beweighed each time it passed from hand to hand; and even thenthere was little security against cheaper metals being mixedwith the silver.^ The true money of Lydia could be receivedanywhere at once at a fixed rate. This made all forms oftrade and commerce vastly easier. Other states began toadopt systems of coinage of their own. Ever since, the coinageof money has been one of the important duties of governments. We must not suppose, however, that the old sort of barter vanishedat once. It remained the common method of exchange in all but thegreat markets of the world for centuries; and in new countries it hasappeared, in the lack of coined money, in very modern times. In ourearly New England colonies there were times when people pai
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjecthistoryancient, booky
