Abstract:
The introduction of Coinage constituted a major breakthrough in human
progress. There is a conceptual and factual divide between barter on the one
hand and proper sale through coinage currency on the other. Coinage integrated
all functions of money and thus ushered in a fully monetised economy. This
integration raised the level of intensity of economic activity in general.
The existence of a universally acceptable means of credit arrangements and
exchange facilitated on a grand scale financial and real economic transactions,
while it also stabilised prices in a more exact and objective system of value-
equivalencies. The utility of the new mighty instrument must have been great
and its rapid propagation led to an international system of concurrent
currencies that decidly enhanced it.
As a result, the value of the underlying monetary commodities, the precious
metals coins were made of, should have considerably appreciated as evidenced by
examination of numismatic and literary sources. In particular, a systematic
disparity between monetary and commercial weight standards, starting reputedly
with Solon s reforms, and other poorly understood salient facts seem to confirm
the hypothesis of a free market explanation of the early history of coinage.
This hypothesis calls for a reexamination of commonly held views on the
chronology, distribution and significance of early coinage currencies.
Correlations between the introduction of full money and other parallel
important cultural developments in art, poetry and the world of thought are
revealing. A perfectly "modernist" stand on the nature of ancient economy
requires further corroboration.
For more information about this event contact the MIT-Greece working group.
|
