The invention of coinage and the monetization of ancient Greece / David M. Schaps.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Schaps, David M.

Contributor:

Michigan Publishing (University of Michigan), publisher.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Coins, Greek.

Coinage--Greece--History--To 1500.

Coinage.

History.

Greece.

Genre:

Electronic books.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xvii, 293 pages) : illustrations

Place of Publication:

Ann Arbor : University of Michigan Press, c2004.

System Details:

text file

Summary:

The invention of coinage was a conceptual revolution, not a technological one. Only with the invention of Greek coinage does the concept "money" clearly materialize in history. Coinage appeared at a moment when it fulfilled an essential need in Greek society, bringing with it rationalization and social leveling in some respects, while simultaneously producing new illusions, paradoxes, and elites. In an argument of interest to scholars of ancient history and archaeology as well as to modern economists, David M. Schaps addresses a range of issues pertaining to major shifts in ancient economies, including money, exchange, and economic organization in the Near East and Greece before the introduction of coinage; the invention of coinage and the reasons for its adoption; and the development of using money to generate greater wealth. Book jacket.

Contents:

1 The Revolutionary Invention 1

2 Questions and Controversies 18

3 Money before Coinage The Ancient Near East 34

4 Greece before Money The Bronze Age 57

5 Homer Tripods and Oxen 63

6 The Archaic Age Cauldrons, Spits, and Silver 80

7 The First Coins 93

8 Money and the Market 111

9 The Monetization of Politics 124

10 War by Other Means 138.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 247-272) and index.

Description based on information from the publisher.

ISBN:

9780472025336

047211333X

Publisher Number:

10.3998/mpub.17760

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license.