128 ΝΑTURAL HISTORY OF PRECIOUS METALS, &c.
in
Italy, very rarely exceeded the dimensions of the double-drachm. The
silver of the Macedonian conquerors of Asia, the Seleucidse and the
Ptolemies, is for the greatest proportion of it on the same enlarged
scale as that of the Athenian : in fact, Alexander even went so far as
to double its module, for a few eight-drachma pieces of his are
extant. It must be borne in mind that the coins of the largest
denominations are naturally the first to disappear upon any recoinage,
and therefore leave the fewest representatives of their class behind
them. Even these, for the age, monster medals, were in the next
generation surpassed by the renowned ' Syracusan Medallion,' a coin
ever regarded, both for its beauty as well as dimensions, as the
greatest triumph of the Grecian mint. Its weight of 668 grains troy,
shows it to have been issued as a ten-drachma piece : and at the same
time the panoply, together with the explanatory legend ΑΘΛΑ, in the
exergue, declares the object for issuing a coin of this large intrinsic
value ; as constituting the units of the money-prize proposed together
with a suit of armour for the reward of the victor in the chariot race.
The
four-drachma piece, as the most important, is distinguished by the
Hellenistic writers by the title of άργόριον specially. This is the
meaning of the word whenever it is used by the Evangelists. A singular
proof of this is deducible from the miracle of St. Peter's capture of
the gurnet, which enabled him to pay the tribute for his Master and
himself. This tax being half a shekel per head, it is a necessary
consequence that the àpyópuov supplied by the piscine banker was a shekel in value, that is, a coin equivalent to four drachmas.
The Romans adopted a Silver currency at a somewhat late period of the Republic, not until 269 b.c. Their standard was as high as the Greek during t'ie Republic
